Program Contract Manager

About the role

Imagine this. You are the person keeping contractual commitments and programme execution aligned across live defence programmes. Working hand in hand with the Programme Manager, you turn contractual scope, milestones and deliverables into executable plans, connect customers with internal teams, and ensure that every commitment stays on track as programmes evolve.

Destinus is a new kind of European defence manufacturer - vertically integrated, built for industrial tempo and designed for scale. We develop and produce autonomous drones, strike effectors and air-defence systems for European and allied forces. Our team of 800+ engineers and specialists works across the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, France, Ukraine and the United Kingdom, drawn from leading aerospace, defence and robotics companies.

We move fast because our customers cannot afford for us to move slowly. What you work on here reaches the field.

As Program Contract Manager you own the contract baseline across the programme lifecycle. You work hand in hand with the Programme Manager as a workstream lead, translating contractual scope, milestones and deliverables into an executable delivery plan - and keeping that plan aligned with reality as the programme evolves.

You are the connective tissue of the programme - the single point of truth between the Programme Manager, the customer and our internal functions. Contract status, delivery obligations, change requests, milestone evidence and payment triggers converge with you, and you make sure Finance, Commercial, Supply Chain, Production and Engineering are working from the same picture.

This is a delivery role, not a legal one. You will work closely with Legal and Commercial on contractual mechanics, but your centre of gravity is programme execution across our defence portfolio.

What You'll Do

• Own the contract baseline for one or more defence programmes - scope, deliverables, milestones, acceptance criteria and dependencies - and keep it current as the programme changes.
• Act as workstream lead within the Programme Management team, reporting to the Programme Manager, and break contractual obligations into executable work packages with clear owners and dates.
• Support the Programme Manager in the customer interface on contract delivery - status, milestone evidence, acceptance, correspondence and formal reporting.
• Lead commercial negotiations with customers - in the bid and offering process as well as in the change request process - and secure agreed terms on scope, price, schedule and risk, in coordination with Commercial, Finance and Legal.
• Align Finance, Commercial, Supply Chain, Production and Engineering around a single shared view of contractual commitments, payment milestones and delivery risk.
• Trigger change management - identify scope variations early and generate the input for our Change Management process - including the impact on cost, schedule and delivery - in coordination with Commercial and Legal.
• Maintain milestone and payment tracking together with Finance, ensuring invoicing triggers are evidenced and on time.
• Track obligations and flag risks before they become issues - delivery slippage, unmet dependencies, contractual exposure - and drive them to closure.
• Support programme and contract reporting for internal leadership and customer governance forums.
• Build the working routines, templates and cadence that let contract delivery scale as our programme portfolio grows.

Requirements

What You'll Need

• A degree in engineering or a comparable technical discipline - a specialisation or postgraduate focus in project or programme management is a strong plus.
• 2-5 years of experience in project, programme or contract delivery roles - ideally in defence, aerospace, or another complex hardware or systems environment.
• Proven stakeholder management - you are genuinely good with people and can hold a room that contains a customer, a finance lead and a production manager with competing priorities.
• The ability to read a contract and translate it into a delivery plan - comfortable with milestones, deliverables, acceptance criteria and payment terms.
• Structured, organised and reliable under pressure - you keep the single source of truth and people trust it.
• Strong written and spoken English.
• Willingness to work on-site and to travel to customer and production locations as programmes require.

Nice To Have

• Working knowledge of Dutch, German or Spanish.
• Exposure to government or military customers and defence procurement processes.
• Familiarity with earned value management, milestone-based contracting or ITAR/EAR and European export-control frameworks.
• Experience introducing structure into a fast-growing organisation rather than inheriting it.

Who You Are

You are structured, organised and reliable under pressure. You are genuinely good with people and can bring together customers, finance leads and production managers with competing priorities.

You take ownership, keep contractual commitments and delivery plans aligned, and identify risks before they become issues. You are comfortable working across technical, commercial and operational teams, introducing structure where needed and driving challenges to closure.