Associate Director Mission Engineering Department

The Aerospace Corporation; Chantilly (VA); On-site; USD 168,000 - 252,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Telework options

Relocation assistance

Education assistance programs

401(k) Plan

Job summary

The Aerospace Corporation seeks an Associate Director for the Mission Engineering Department to lead cross‑functional teams across MED and EED, ensuring top talent, strong customer partnerships, and rigorous mission engineering solutions. You will mentor staff, shape strategy, and oversee complex studies across multiple programs.

This on‑site, senior leadership role requires a robust background in space or defense, a technical BS, and a current TS/SCI clearance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science degree in a technical field or equivalent technical experience.
• 10+ years of substantive experience in space, intelligence, and/or defense domains.
• Demonstrated experience with team leadership and project planning.
• Experience with MBSE and modeling/simulation.
• Current TS/SCI security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Lead multi-disciplinary teams and foster innovation across MED and EED.
• Maintain robust relationships with peer organizations and program offices; apply best practices in enterprise systems engineering.
• Oversee tasks to ensure delivery of objectives and results for the customer.
• Identify risks and gaps; provide recommendations for priorities, funding, requirements, and resourcing.
• Mentor staff and develop department capabilities to meet emerging demands.

Skills

MBSE

SysML

DoDAF/UAF/UPDM

Leadership

Project planning

Education

Bachelor of Science in a technical field

Tools

Engineering modeling tools

Job description

The Aerospace Corporation is the trusted partner to the nation’s space programs, solving the hardest problems and providing unmatched technical expertise. As the operator of a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC), we are broadly engaged across all aspects of space— delivering innovative solutions that span satellite, launch, ground, and cyber systems for defense, civil and commercial customers. When you join our team, you’ll be part of a special collection of problem solvers, thought leaders, and innovators. Join us and take your place in space.

The Enterprise Effects Division (EED) drives integration of Aerospace’s strategic capabilities across the national space enterprise. The division leverages a broad array of engineering disciplines against a dynamic portfolio of programs, customers, and national challenges. EED spans the capability lifecycle from concept and architecture design to performance assessment to application of space and space-enabled capabilities.

The Mission Engineering Department (MED) provides technical expertise and leadership in mission engineering methods, processes, and tools to a broad range of customers, including DoD, NSS, NASA, NOAA, NNSA, and others. Members of the Mission Engineering Department evaluate and assess customer mission-integration needs and/or challenges, develop end-to-end mission threads, and provide timely advice, make recommendations to enterprise leaders on risks, issues, and gaps, and develop recommended solutions to enable desired mission outcomes. MED applies the mission-engineering tradecraft to characterize, build, and analyze end-to-end effects-chains.

The Associate Director will lead these efforts, build partnerships with customers, and ensure that MED is staffed with top talent to solve complex challenges. The Associate Director is expected to mentor and serve as a role model for MED and junior staff.

Work Model

This is a full-time, on-site position based in one of our Aerospace offices in. (El Segundo, CA or Chantilly, VA)

What You’ll Be Doing

• Lead multi-disciplinary teams and foster a culture of innovation and collaboration
• Ensure the department maintains a robust relationship with peer organizations and the program offices, leveraging expertise from across Aerospace and incorporating best practices in enterprise systems engineering
• Oversee tasks to ensure proper implementation resulting in delivery of key objectives and key results to the customer
• Identify risks, issues, and gaps in key deliverable; Provide recommendations that will inform customer decisions on priorities, funding, requirements, and resourcing for organizations, systems, and training
• Develop and lead project teams comprising of Aerospace, customer, and contractor personnel on multiple concurrent projects to elicit and identify needs, requirements, and constraints for studies and marshal technical expertise in multiple technical disciplines and domains to enable concurrent engineering approaches
• Mentor early career and experienced staff, serving as a role model and technical advisor to an exceptionally talented and highly motivated cadre of mission engineers to develop department capabilities and meet emerging demands for department expertise

What You Need to be Successful

Minimum Requirements for MED Associate Director:

• Bachelor of Science degree in a technical field, or a bachelor’s degree and equivalent technical experience
• Substantive experience in space, intelligence, and/or defense domains, typically 10 or more years
• Demonstrated experience with team leadership and project planning
• Exhibits exceptionally high level of initiative, innovation, and creativeness
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work effectively with customers, Aerospace program offices, and contractors; to collaborate with other functional organizations within Aerospace
• Experience developing and presenting strategic decision-making and strategic communications artifacts for senior-level management and technical architecture design artifacts for engineering-level reviews
• Time-management skills with the ability to manage multiple concurrent projects and to organize and lead cross-functional, cross-organizational teams to execute studies and assessments
• Proficient with engineering and analytic capabilities such as Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) or modeling and simulation
• Willing to travel domestically
• This position requires a current and active TS/SCI security clearance

How You Can Stand Out

It would be impressive if you have one or more of these:

• Demonstrated success in organizing and leading cross-functional, cross-organizational teams to execute studies and assessments and generate quality products
• Hands-on experience with system or enterprise modeling in the Systems Modeling Language (SysML), Unified Architecture Framework (UAF), or Unified Profile for DoDAF and MODAF (UPDM)
• Experience working closely with key Aerospace customer agencies in the defense and intelligence community, including strong knowledge of their domain and strong professional networks ranging from operations, requirements, resourcing, acquisitions, test and training
• Experience working large, complex issues and the ability to break down problems into meaningful steps, assigning the tasks to a team and ensuring the team provides the requisite deliverables on time

We offer a competitive compensation package where you’ll be rewarded based on your performance and recognized for the value you bring to our business. The grade-based pay range for this job is listed below. Individual salaries within that range are determined through a wide variety of factors including but not limited to education, experience, knowledge and skills.

(Min - Max)

$168,200.00 - $252,400.00

Pay Basis: Annual

Leadership Competencies

Our leadership philosophy is simple: every employee, regardless of level and role, can demonstrate leadership. At Aerospace, our commitment is our people. To cultivate our talent and ensure that we have a strong pipeline of future leaders, we want individuals who:

• Operate Strategically
• Lead Change
• Engage with Impact
• Foster Innovation
• Deliver Results

Ways We Reward Our Employees

During your interview process, our team will provide details of our industry-leading benefits.

Benefits vary and are applicable based on Job Type. A few highlights include:

• Comprehensive health care and wellness plans
• Paid holidays, sick time, and vacation
• Standard and alternate work schedules, including telework options
• 401(k) Plan — Employees receive a total company-paid benefit of 8%, 10%, or 12% of eligible compensation based on years of service and matching contributions; employees are immediately eligible and vested in the plan upon hire
• Flexible spending accounts
• Variable pay program for exceptional contributions
• Relocation assistance
• Professional growth and development programs to help advance your career
• Education assistance programs
• An inclusive work environment built on teamwork, flexibility, and respect

We are all unique, from various backgrounds and all walks of life, yet one thing bonds all of us to each other—the belief that we can make our best work at The Aerospace Corporation.

Equal Opportunity Commitment

The Aerospace Corporation is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, age, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, color, religion, genetic information, marital status, ancestry, national origin, protected veteran status, physical disability, medical condition, mental disability, or disability status and any other characteristic protected by state or federal law. If you’re an individual with a disability or a disabled veteran who needs assistance using our online job search and application tools or need reasonable accommodation to complete the job application process, please contact us by phone at 310.336.5432 or by email at [e-mail] . You can also review Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal.