Employee Experience Program Manager

Hadrian is building autonomous factories that help aerospace and defense companies manufacture rockets, satellites, jets, and ships up to 10x faster and up to 2x cheaper. By combining advanced software, robotics, and full-stack manufacturing, we are reinventing how America produces its most critical parts.

We’re accelerating our mission with the launch of Factory 3 in Mesa, Arizona, a 290,000-square-foot facility creating 350 new jobs. We are expanding rapidly to support thousands of future hires, launching Hadrian Maritime to expand into naval production, and introducing a Factory-as-a-Service model that delivers complete systems instead of individual parts.

Hadrian is backed by leading investors including T. Rowe Price, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, and Andreessen Horowitz, our fast-growing team is united around reindustrializing American manufacturing for the 21st century and beyond.

The Role

As our Employee Experience Programs Manager, you’ll serve as both a culture carrier and a rigorous program operator – the architect of the end-to-end employee experience who owns the programs, rituals, and systems that shape how employees engage with the company across the full employee lifecycle, from onboarding through development, engagement, and retention. You’ll design scalable frameworks that strengthen clarity, connection, belonging, and alignment, ensuring our culture is consistently experienced, not just defined.

This role sits at the intersection of employee engagement, program management, internal communications, and culture-building. You’ll operate across strategy and execution simultaneously: building the operational backbone that makes programs run reliably at scale, while maintaining the creative and human sensibility that makes them land authentically. You’ll thrive here if you are a thoughtful, action-oriented builders who care deeply about people and organizational culture and who believe great companies are intentionally designed through both systems and experiences.

What You’ll Do

• Act as our culture carrier, translate company values into tangible programs, rituals, and moments that employees feel day-to-day; champion what makes our culture distinctly ours and protect it as we scale
• Design and run a rolling 12-month employee experience programming calendar, ensuring every month has at least one intentional, meaningful moment that reinforces connection, belonging, and company pride
• Own end-to-end production of monthly All Hands; from storytelling arc and run-of-show to speaker prep and post-event feedback; ensure every session sends people away more aligned than they arrived
• Lead planning and execution of company offsites, team events, and office presence programming – designed experiences employees want to show up for, not mandated ones
• Own the swag strategy end-to-end; sourcing, vendors, quality bar, and distribution cadence; new hire kits, milestone gifts, event giveaways, and seasonal moments that feel personal, not transactional
• Drive operational excellence across all programs by building the systems, calendars, and workflows that enable consistent delivery at scale; own the EX budget (events, swag, offsite, recognition) and manage it with rigor
• Measure what matters; own engagement metrics, run pulse surveys, synthesize findings into clear recommendations, and build a feedback loop that continuously improves what we ship

What We’re Looking For

• 8+ years of experience in employee experience, people programs, internal communications, or program management in high-growth environments
• Proven track record of designing and delivering high-quality, scalable employee programs and experiences – from the whiteboard concept through successful adoption
• Strong program and project management fundamentals: you can hold a complex calendar of overlapping initiatives, manage dependencies, flag risks early, and execute with precision
• Exceptional attention to detail and a high bar for quality – you care about how things feel as much as how they function
• Experience owning company-wide moments such as All Hands, large-scale events, or company offsites
• Strong communication and storytelling skills – able to translate strategy into clear, compelling employee-facing experiences and leadership-facing narratives
• Ability to build strong relationships and influence stakeholders across all levels without formal authority
• You excel in using data, feedback, and engagement metrics to inform decisions and improve programs
• Resourceful, adaptable, and comfortable operating in ambiguity within a fast-paced, scaling environment

What Will Set You Apart

• Experience building or scaling an employee experience or culture function from the ground up in a high-growth company
• Background in operationally complex environments – manufacturing, aerospace, defense, or similarly mission-driven organizations
• Experience designing onboarding programs, recognition frameworks, or company-wide engagement strategies that measurably moved the needle
• Strong eye for brand, design, and employee-facing physical experiences – you know what great swag, great events, and great environments look and feel like
• Experience managing vendors, events production, or logistics at scale (500+ person events)
• Familiarity with employee engagement tools, survey platforms (e.g., Lattice, Culture Amp), or HRIS systems
• Certifications or training in program management (PMP, PMI-ACP) or organizational development

Compensation

For this role, the target salary range is 150,000 – 200,000 (actual range may vary based on experience).

This is the lowest to highest salary we reasonably and in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range, and the range may be modified in the future. An employee’s pay position within the salary range will be based on several factors, including, but not limited to, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, performance, and business or organizational needs.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans for employees
• 401k
• Relocation support may be provided for certain situations, based on business need.
• Flexible vacation policy

ITAR Requirements

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.

Hadrian Is An Equal Opportunity Employer

It is the Company’s policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees. The Company does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race inclusive of traits historically associated with race (including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles, such as braids, locks and twists), color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, national origin (including, in California, possession of a drivers license), ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, height or weight, medical condition, family care status, military or veteran status, marital status, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, genetic information, exercise of reproductive rights, any other basis protected by local, state, or federal laws, or any combination of the above characteristics. When necessary, the Company also makes reasonable accommodations for disabled candidates and employees, including for candidates or employees who are disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.