Company History: Fathom is one of the largest digital manufacturing platforms offering on-demand manufacturing in North America. With more than 90 large-platform industrial-grade 3D printing machines and a national footprint with more than 500,000 square feet of manufacturing capacity across 10 facilities, Fathom seamlessly blends in-house capabilities across plastic and metal additive technologies, CNC machining, injection molding & tooling, urethane casting, sheet metal fabrication, and design and engineering. With over 50 years of industry experience, Fathom is at the forefront of the industry 4.0 digital manufacturing revolution serving clients in the technology, defense, aerospace, medical, automotive and IOT sectors. Fathom’s extensive certifications include ISO 9001:2015, ISO 9001:2015 Design, ISO 13485:2016, AS9100:2016, NIST 800-171 and ITAR. Position Summary Fathom is seeking a Senior Technical Program Manager to serve as the technical expert for complex, programmatic Aerospace & Defense opportunities. This position is primarily focused on pre-sale activities, including technical discovery, manufacturing solution development, requirements flow-down, value-based selling, and bid/no-bid decisions. The Senior Technical Program Manager collaborates directly with customers and Fathom’s Engineering, Sales, Operations, Quality, and Supply Chain teams to develop technically sound, commercially competitive manufacturing solutions. The role is accountable for ensuring customer requirements are understood, technical risks are evaluated, and proposed commitments are supported by Fathom’s capabilities and execution plans. Following program award, this position provides a structured technical handoff to the execution team and remains available for targeted technical support, particularly for complex quality issues, nonconformances, and Return Material Authorizations (RMAs). The position emphasizes technical leadership and decision-making rather than day-to-day program administration or order management. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
- Serve as the assigned technical lead for complex A&D program opportunities involving multiple part families, qualification requirements, phased production releases, and recurring manufacturing demand.
- Lead technical discovery with customer engineering, procurement, quality, and program management stakeholders to understand the application, performance requirements, production expectations, qualification milestones, and criteria for supplier selection.
- Collaborate with customers and Fathom’s engineering team to develop and value-sell manufacturing solutions. Clearly communicate how the proposed approach can improve manufacturability, reduce total cost, strengthen quality, shorten lead times, and reduce program risk.
- Serve as a primary technical decision-maker in determining whether to bid or pass on an opportunity. Evaluate capability fit, technical feasibility, requirement compliance, qualification burden, capacity constraints, supply chain dependencies, and commercial viability. Document the decision rationale, unresolved risks, and conditions required to proceed.
- Lead the review and interpretation of customer drawings, models, specifications, GD&T, material requirements, special-processing requirements, inspection criteria, and quality clauses. Resolve ambiguities with the customer before assumptions become quote or production commitments.
- Establish and maintain a documented requirements flow-down process. Ensure applicable customer and program requirements are captured, reviewed by the appropriate functional owners, and incorporated into manufacturing plans, supplier requirements, inspection plans, and quotation assumptions.
- Partner with Applications Engineering, site engineering, Operations, and approved manufacturing partners to define the proposed manufacturing approach, including process selection, routing, tooling, fixturing, outside processing, inspection, and production scalability. Identify capability gaps and required technical validation.
- Lead design-for-manufacturability and design-for-assembly discussions. Develop alternatives and clearly explain technical, cost, quality, and schedule trade-offs, securing customer approval where changes to requirements or design are necessary.
- Work with Sales, estimating, Finance, and engineering to develop accurate technical inputs for proposals, including production assumptions, nonrecurring engineering, tooling, capital requirements, qualification activities, and lead times. Support customer presentations and technical negotiations while protecting feasibility and margin.
- Coordinate with Quality and Compliance to validate applicable quality-system, export-control, customer-specific, and approved-source requirements. Ensure proposed manufacturing locations, supplier participation, and technical-information sharing follow established approval processes.
- Lead pre-award technical reviews and provide a complete technical handoff following award. Transfer the approved requirements baseline, manufacturing concept, customer decisions, quote assumptions, technical risks, and qualification requirements to the assigned Program Manager and execution team.
- Re-engage after award to provide senior technical support for quality issues, nonconformances, and RMAs. Collaborate with the customer, Fathom engineering, Quality, Operations, and suppliers to assess technical evidence, determine root cause, and develop appropriate corrective actions.
- Support the technical evaluation of proposed rework, repair, replacement, process changes, and requalification activities, with dispositions and approvals managed through established Quality and customer processes. Incorporate lessons learned into future technical reviews, manufacturing approaches, and bid decisions.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, manufacturing engineering, or a related technical discipline, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
- A minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in Aerospace & Defense manufacturing, applications engineering, manufacturing engineering, or technical program management, including significant responsibility for pre-sale technical qualification and solution development.
- Demonstrated experience supporting complex, recurring manufacturing programs with multiple part families, interdependent technical requirements, and production qualification expectations - not solely individual orders or transactional quoting.
- Strong technical knowledge of precision CNC machining, multi-axis manufacturing, complex assemblies, aerospace materials, tooling, finishing, and inspection processes.
- Demonstrated ability to interpret engineering drawings, GD&T, specifications, quality clauses, and customer flow-down requirements and translate them into executable manufacturing requirements.
- Experience working in regulated A&D manufacturing environments, with working knowledge of AS9100, ITAR-controlled work, configuration management, traceability, and first-article inspection expectations.
- Proven ability to assess technical feasibility, challenge assumptions, identify manufacturing and supply chain risks, and make well-supported bid/no-bid decisions.
- Strong customer-facing and commercial skills, including the ability to present differentiated technical solutions, explain cost drivers, justify nonrecurring engineering investments, and support value-based selling.
- Experience investigating manufacturing quality issues and RMAs using structured root-cause analysis and corrective-action methods.
- Excellent communication, analytical, and cross-functional leadership skills, with the ability to influence decisions across customer organizations and internal teams without direct reporting authority.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience supporting aerospace OEMs, defense prime contractors, or major tier suppliers through technical capture, qualification, and production launch.
- Experience developing manufacturing solutions across multiple facilities and external supplier networks.
- Familiarity with Nadcap-accredited special processes and additional manufacturing technologies, including additive manufacturing, sheet metal fabrication, and molding.
- Experience developing technical business cases for tooling, automation, capital investment, or alternative manufacturing approaches.
Travel Requirements Periodic travel to customer locations, Fathom manufacturing facilities, and approved supplier locations is required to support technical discovery, manufacturing assessments, program reviews, and issue resolution.
What we offer:
Health Benefits: Medical, dental, and vision coverage. Company paid for Life insurance, short-term and long-term disability insurance. Additional Benefits: Paid time off, Floating Holidays, Volunteer time off, and sick time off (depending on state of employment). 401k Plan Employee Perks: Discounts on products and services.
Equal Opportunity Employer/Veterans/Disabled This employer participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. If E-Verify cannot confirm that you are authorized to work, this employer is required to give you written instructions and an opportunity to contact Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or Social Security Administration (SSA) so you can begin to resolve the issue before the employer can take any action against you, including terminating your employment. Employers can only use E-Verify once you have accepted a job offer and completed the Form I-9.