Jonathan Jiang

Career Accomplishments

As a college freshman during the 9/11 attacks, I found my early career shaped by a deep commitment to a larger mission: making the world a safer place. I decided then that I would always use my skills to serve a greater purpose. Whether developing innovative technologies for defense applications or leading cutting-edge EV battery programs, my focus has always been on contributing to a safer, cleaner, and better world.

Driven by a passion for technology, I love diving deep into how things work and exploring how innovations can be applied in meaningful ways. I can easily lose hours immersed in problem-solving and imagining real-world applications. At the same time, I’m equally passionate about helping others excel, a quality that has allowed me to succeed as a program manager and a leader of program management teams. My goal is to empower teams to be at their best, building extraordinary technologies and achieving remarkable results.

Outside of my professional life, I channel my love for adventure and mentoring into running an off-road motorcycle school. Through beginner skills classes, guided rides, and overnight camping tours, I help others discover the joy and freedom of exploring nature on two wheels. Seeing someone develop new skills and embark on their own adventures is incredibly fulfilling—it’s a reminder of the impact we can have by sharing our passions with others.

Whether leading a team, driving innovation, or teaching someone to navigate a dirt trail, I’m inspired by opportunities to make a difference, solve meaningful challenges, and help others reach their full potential.

I’m excited to bring this same energy and dedication to my next opportunity, combining technical expertise, leadership, and a people-focused approach to drive meaningful results.

Key Highlights:

• Senior Consultant, Booz Allen Hamilton

Early in my career at Booz Allen Hamilton, I served as the key technical lead in addressing a critical challenge in utilizing standard Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) over satellite communication (SATCOM) links. The inherent latency in SATCOM links causes significant delays in packet acknowledgments, leading TCP/IP to misinterpret the link as congested and throttle data rates, severely reducing throughput. This issue is analogous to having an eight-lane highway managed by a toll booth operator allowing only one car per minute.

To overcome this challenge, my team implemented the Space Communications Protocol Specification (SCPS), a protocol developed by NASA to optimize TCP/IP for non-congested, dedicated links like government-owned satellite systems. SCPS adjusts for the high latency of SATCOM links, enabling significantly improved data throughput while maintaining secure encryption integrity.

Our solution involved testing and deploying a Performance Enhancing Proxy (PEP), a utility that translates TCP/IP traffic to SCPS over SATCOM links. I traveled to SATCOM ground sites worldwide, including locations in the UK, Okinawa, California, and Virginia, to install PEP systems, train site staff on configuration and usage, and ensure seamless operation.

This experience provided valuable insight into secure and efficient data communication over satellite networks, laying the foundation for my future contributions in RF and satellite communications.

• Advanced Systems Engineer, General Dynamics

As a Systems Engineer at General Dynamics, I had the opportunity to contribute to a significant system upgrade and deployment project, enhancing the capacity of a critical system in Japan by expanding its RF Collection capability from 3 to 8 antennas. This involved installing five new 4.8-meter antennas as part of a comprehensive site upgrade.

To prepare for this deployment, I traveled to our antenna vendor in Texas to participate in a mock build and familiarize myself with the antenna construction process. During the deployment in Japan, I served as one of the engineers overseeing the foreign construction team responsible for assembling the antennas. My responsibilities extended beyond heavy construction to include the installation of all RF and electrical components, such as motor controllers, encoders, LNAs, BDCs, and RF cabling.

I was the primary integration and test engineer for the upgraded RF switch, which distributed 128 outputs to the site’s processing and recording subsystems. Over the course of four months in the field, I performed tasks such as RF path testing, building RF feeds, aligning sub-reflectors, tuning antenna motor controllers, and integrating the new systems with legacy hardware and subsystems.

This experience provided me with a comprehensive understanding of the end-to-end development, deployment, and delivery of a complex system upgrade. It was particularly rewarding to collaborate closely with the site team and end users, ensuring the successful implementation of this enhanced capability.

• Senior Manager, Engineering Program Management (EPM), Proterra

When I joined Proterra as the Senior Manager of the Engineering Program Management (EPM) team, the EV battery division had minimal program management infrastructure, with only one recently hired manager on the team. Within my first four months, I expanded the team by hiring and onboarding four additional Engineering Program Managers, enabling us to effectively oversee four concurrent battery development programs.

Recognizing the absence of standardized processes, I developed and implemented a suite of program management best practices. These included stage gate reviews, milestone schedules, multi-program reporting dashboards, and resource management tools across multiple programs. I also established regular executive and stakeholder reviews to ensure transparent program progress reporting.

Additionally, I introduced Agile methodologies to our program management and development teams, providing training on prioritization, milestone management, feature release planning, and scheduling. By the end of my first year, we had transformed from having no program management oversight to a fully functional EPM team. This team delivered clear program schedules, risk assessments, resource plans, and milestone tracking, giving both internal and customer stakeholders the visibility needed to understand program performance and address risks proactively.

I took pride in building and empowering a self-sustaining team. Through training, trust, and strategic guidance, each team member successfully organized and managed their respective programs, driving them toward efficient and effective outcomes.

Experience

Additional Experience