Project Manager - Turbojet Engineering

Project Manager - Turbojet Engineering

Destinus

Hengelo or Madrid

About the Role

Imagine this - you are driving the development of advanced turbojet engines from early concept through testing, qualification, and production. As Project Manager - Turbojet Engineering, you will bring structure, pace, and accountability to complex propulsion programs, ensuring engineering, manufacturing, suppliers, and stakeholders stay aligned around the same objectives.

You will own project planning and execution across multiple turbojet development programs, managing schedules, budgets, resources, risks, milestones, and deliverables. You will work closely with multidisciplinary engineering teams without needing to be the technical expert in the room. Your role is to understand the engineering context, anticipate challenges, remove roadblocks, and keep programs moving.

What You'll Do

• Lead turbojet engine development projects from concept through design, manufacturing, testing, qualification, and production;
• Build and maintain project schedules, budgets, resource plans, milestones, risk registers, and delivery plans;
• Coordinate multidisciplinary engineering teams and ensure priorities, dependencies, and deliverables remain aligned;
• Track project progress, identify risks and bottlenecks early, and drive actions through to resolution;
• Organize project meetings, technical reviews, and customer reviews while ensuring decisions and actions are clearly documented and followed through;
• Manage customer communication, project reporting, contractual deliverables, and key program milestones;
• Coordinate suppliers and external partners to secure the timely delivery of hardware, services, and technical documentation;
• Monitor project costs, resources, KPIs, and overall program performance and provide clear updates to management;
• Support the transition of propulsion systems from development into qualification, production, and customer delivery;
• Connect engineering, manufacturing, procurement, quality, and testing teams to keep execution moving at pace.

Requirements

What You'll Need

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline;
• 5+ years of experience managing complex engineering development projects, preferably within aerospace, propulsion, turbomachinery, or another advanced engineering environment;
• Experience with gas turbine engines, turbomachinery, propulsion systems, or complex mechanical products is highly desirable;
• Strong technical understanding to follow engineering discussions, challenge assumptions, identify dependencies, and translate technical progress into project decisions;
• Proven experience managing schedules, budgets, resources, risks, milestones, and customer deliverables;
• Strong project planning, technical documentation, stakeholder management, and problem-solving capabilities;
• Experience with Microsoft Project, Jira, or equivalent project management tools;
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and changing requirements in a fast-moving development environment;
• Fluent English, with additional European languages considered an advantage.

Who You Are

• You bring structure to complex engineering programs without slowing them down;
• You are proactive and take ownership rather than waiting for problems to escalate;
• You are comfortable working with highly technical teams and know how to ask the right questions without needing to design the engine yourself;
• You communicate clearly with engineers, suppliers, customers, and senior stakeholders;
• You spot risks and dependencies early and turn them into concrete actions;
• You stay focused when priorities shift, timelines tighten, and several workstreams need attention at once;
• You enjoy turning ambitious aerospace technology into executable plans and ultimately into delivered hardware.