Kyle Crathern

About Kyle Crathern

As a Technical Program Manager (TPM) focused on Operations Program Management (OPM) I am leveraging 10 years of defense industry experience and MBA to support the Amazon Project Leo transition from a Proof of Concept, Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) project to a Full Rate Production (FRP) commercial entity serving consumers, and business customers. Since joining Project Leo in January of 2025, I have been the OPM for the Solar Value Stream responsible for producing the solar arrays which power the Project Leo satellite as well as scaling the production from an LRIP to FRP system to support the target of 30 produced per week by the end of 2025.Prior to joining Project Leo, I served as a Senior Quality Systems Engineer in the Mission Assurance Directorate of Draper Laboratory where I lead the planning and implementation an Authenticity Program to ensure the integrity of critical materials and software utilized for the Trident Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile System. In addition to leading the Authenticity Program, I also served as the Mission Assurance Lead for a portfolio of Draper programs where I collaborated with program leadership produce proposals for new business, secure mission assurance resources during program planning, manage program execution, and produce program deliverables. I also served as the mission assurance representative during an organizational level effort to align the five Draper business units to a single, unified volume of policies and organizational goals. In this role I regularly interfaced with mission assurance senior and Draper executive leadership and lead one of the cross-functional tiger teams responsible for drafting business unit policy proposals which aligned to Draper corporate policy.Prior to my experience with Amazon and Draper, I was a Systems Engineer at the Raytheon Technologies Company where I supported the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Republic of Korea, Kingdom of Sweden, Kuwait, Qatar, and United States Patriot Programs. I served each program in a customer facing capacity at the factory level during program planning and execution and in the field to conduct system verification and validation testing to facilitate the final transfer of equipment to the appropriate customer defense equipment acquisition directorate. I deployed to Kuwait, Qatar, and Sweden on multi-month, and multi-year assignments to support and lead the final sale and transfer Patriot System equipment valued at 3-billion dollars.

Experience

1. Technical Program Manager - Operations Program Management

   Amazon

   Jan 2025 — Present · Kirkland, WA, US

   I am a Technical Program Manager (TPM) specializing in Operations Program Management (OPM) serving on Project Leo, Amazon\'s initiative to build a large-scale satellite internet constellation to provide fast, affordable broadband access to unserved and underserved communities globally. Functionally, I am the third member of the Solar Value Stream leadership team and am responsible for collaborating with the value stream lead and production manager to manage day-to-day production of the Leo Satellite solar array. In addition to my day-to-day responsibilities, I also lead the planning and execution of tactical and strategic initiatives utilizing the principles of Lean Manufacturing to transition the solar array manufacturing line from a Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) system to a Full Rate Production (FRP) system capable of producing 30 solar arrays per week to support the Project Leo program goal of producing 30 satellites per week. Leading project planning and execution requires cross-functional collaboration with internal stakeholders from the Engineering, Supply Chain, Operations, Finance and Security, as well as external stakeholders representing Equipment Vendors, and Shippers.I am also responsible for representing the Solar Value Stream at the organizational level where I report value stream production achievements, production projections, and line capability as the production line moves closer to a FRP system to Project Leo senior leadership.

Education

• University of Edinburgh Business School

  Master of Business Administration - MBA, Strategic Leadership

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute

  Bachelor of Science - BS, Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering

Skills

• Design of Experiments
• Powerpoint
• Microsoft Excel
• Six Sigma
• Labview
• Microsoft Word
• Matlab
• R&D
• Microsoft Office
• Teamwork
• Project Management
• Solidworks
• Validation
• Data Analysis
• Engineering