Senior Director, Canada Defence — Client & Program (ESCPP)

Telesat (Nasdaq and TSX: TSAT) is a leading global satellite operator, providing reliable and secure satellite-delivered communications solutions worldwide to broadcast, telecommunications, corporate and government customers for over 55 years.  Backed by a legacy of engineering excellence, reliability and industry-leading customer service, Telesat has grown to be one of the largest and most successful global satellite operators.

Telesat Lightspeed, our revolutionary Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite network, scheduled to begin service in 2027, will revolutionize global broadband connectivity for enterprise and Government users by delivering a combination of high capacity, security, resiliency and affordability with ultra-low latency and fiber-like speeds. Telesat is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, and has offices and facilities around the world. 

The company’s state-of-the-art Satellite fleet consists of 12 GEO satellites, the Canadian payload on ViaSat-1 and one LEO 3 demonstration satellite.  For more information, follow Telesat on X and LinkedIn or visit www.telesat.com

We are looking for an exceptional Senior Director to be the single face of this program from Telesat to DND – owning the customer relationship and orchestrating delivery from build through to operational service. If you are energized by high-stakes defence programs, thrive at the intersection of customer, commercial and engineering, and want to help shape a nation’s strategic communications capability, this is a rare and career-defining role. This is as much a technical and program-delivery leadership role as it is a customer role: you will bring genuine engineering fluency and deep program management discipline to steer a complex, multi-segment space and ground system from build through to in-service operation.

Role Summary

The Senior Director oversees the development, initial deployment, and ongoing engagement over the entire life of the ESCP-P program (LEO Mil-Ka and MEO UHF/X-band). You will be the primary relationship owner and “one face” of the program to DND – accountable for customer trust, implementation progress, program health, and the seamless coordination of every Telesat function that touches the mission. In the initial program phase, to succeed, you must pair strong technical background with deep, hands-on program management experience: you will engage credibly with engineering and systems teams on architecture, conops, design, integration, test and acceptance, while engaging with the Program Delivery team to hold the program to rigorous schedule, cost, risk and quality discipline.

This is a matrixed leadership role: while you own the customer-facing program, you will work laterally across sales, engineering, product, network operations, security, supply chain, legal, finance and program management teams and Telesat’s strategic partner MDA Space to keep commitments on track. Success depends on influence, orchestration and executive presence as much as direct authority. It also demands real technical depth and program management rigor: you will be trusted to translate between the customer’s mission needs and Telesat’s engineering and delivery teams, interrogate technical trade-offs, and keep a large, multi-year build predictable and auditable.

Key Responsibilities

Ideal Candidate Requirements

You are a seasoned program and customer leader who has carried the trust of major clients on complex, high-value programs. You combine that a solid technical background and deep, demonstrable program management experience on large, technically demanding programs. Specifically, you bring:

Why Join Us

The successful candidate must be able to work in Canada and obtain Canadian Government security clearance. 

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At Telesat, we take pride in being an equal opportunity employer that values equality in the workplace.  We are committed to providing the best candidate experience possible including any required accommodations at every stage of our interview process.   All qualified applicants that have been selected for an interview that require accommodations, are advised to inform the Telesat Talent team accordingly.  We will work with you to meet your needs.   All accommodation information provided will be treated as confidential.