Associate Principal Director, Space Warfighting Operations

The Aerospace Corporation; Colorado Springs (CO); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits and wellness plans

Holidays, sick time, vacation

401(k) plan with employer match

Flexible spending accounts

Variable pay program

Relocation assistance

Professional growth and education

Inclusive work environment

Job summary

The Aerospace Corporation is seeking a senior leader to serve as the integrating leader for USSPACECOM joint staff support, coordinating a geographically distributed technical team to ensure coherent prioritization and resourcing across the portfolio.

You will engage with senior leaders, drive strategic planning, and foster innovation to deliver trusted analytic support for space missions. A Top Secret/SCI clearance is required and U.S. citizenship is mandatory.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, physics, or other technical/STEM discipline.
• 15+ years of progressively responsible technical and/or operational leadership experience in space systems/operations or joint military operations.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary, multi-organizational teams.
• Leadership of geographically distributed teams including mentoring and development of staff.
• Proven ability to engage senior military and civilian leadership.
• Willingness to travel 10–20%.
• Ability to obtain Top Secret/SCI clearance and SAP/SAR access; U.S. citizenship required.

Responsibilities

• Serve as Aerospace's senior integrating leader for USSPACECOM/Joints Staff support.
• Lead a distributed technical team with strategic prioritization and resource allocation.
• Build trust across organization and develop talent ahead of need.
• Represent Aerospace with senior leadership across strategic planning venues.
• Identify opportunities to maximize warfighter impact with diverse perspectives.
• Coordinate with other commands to share lessons and pursue joint projects.
• Provide periodic reviews on program status and opportunities.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic planning

Staff development

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering/physics

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.

Defense Systems Group (DSG) provides analysis-based decision support to senior leaders on space architectures, policy and strategy, technology development, warfighter capability enablers, systems integration, defense industrial base, and threat reduction to help shape existing and future space missions across the national security space (NSS) enterprise. DSG is unique at Aerospace as it not only directly supports major customers, including the U.S. Space Force, U.S. Space Command, Air Force Materiel Command, and senior leadership at the Pentagon, but also provides a broad range of technical support across the national space enterprise, maintaining vertical responsibilities with customers’ portfolios as well as horizontal, matrixed responsibilities across the corporation. Additionally, DSG provides deep technical expertise to the Space Force Space Systems Command (SSC) in the conception, design, acquisition, launch and operations of satellite, launch vehicle, ground control, and range systems. Within DSG, our Space Warfighting Directorate provides high-quality analytic support to the United States Space Force (USSF), United States Space Command (USSPACECOM), and the USSF Space Component Field Commands.

What You’ll Be Doing

Serve as Aerospace's senior integrating leader for support to USSPACECOM's Joint Staff and S4S/CJFSCC's Joint Operations Centers (CSpOC, NSDC, JOPC), ensuring Aerospace's technical depth is focused on the most consequential problems facing space warfighters. Operates Strategically by anticipating and generating integrated solutions ahead of customer need. Lead a geographically distributed, technical team including a Systems Director currently supporting these customer sets, ensuring coherent prioritization and resource allocation across the combined portfolio. Engages with Impact by building trust across all levels of the organization and developing talent ahead of need. Serve as the senior Aerospace relationship-holder with USSPACECOM Joint Staff leadership and S4S/CJFSCC/Delta-level leadership, representing the Directorate in strategic planning venues critical to space domain operations. Leads Change by effectively influencing multiple stakeholders whose interests and priorities are not always aligned. Identify opportunities to maximize warfighter impact by applying varied experiences and inviting different perspectives to solve the hardest operational and technical challenges facing these organizations. Fosters Innovation by challenging conventional approaches to deliver decision-quality support at the speed of operations. Coordinate with Aerospace personnel supporting other USSF Component Field Commands to identify synergies, share lessons learned, and pursue common projects across theaters. Provide periodic execution reviews to Aerospace senior management and customer leadership on program status, accomplishments, challenges, and strategic opportunities. Delivers Results by making decisions with an enterprise mindset that considers strategic, operational, and financial factors.

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, physics, or other technical/STEM discipline from a recognized institution.
• 15 or more years of progressively responsible technical and/or operational leadership experience in space systems, space operations, joint military operations, or systems integration.
• Demonstrated experience leading or coordinating multidisciplinary, multi-organizational technical teams in support of complex analytic or operational tasking.
• Demonstrated organizational leadership experience for a disparate, geographically distributed team, including hiring, mentoring, and professional development of technical staff.
• Proven ability to establish, maintain, and evolve relationships with senior military and civilian customer leadership (O-6/GS-15 and above).
• Ability to travel, approximately 10-20% (as required).
• This position requires the ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret/SCI security clearance and SAP/SAR access, which is issued by the U.S. government.
• U.S. citizenship is required to obtain a security clearance.

What You Can Stand Out

• Master's degree or greater in engineering, physics, mathematics, space operations, or related field.
• 20 or more years of experience in space systems, space operations, or joint warfighting, with demonstrated progression into senior leadership roles.
• Direct experience with USSPACECOM headquarters staff (J3/J5/J7/J8), CSpOC, NSDC, JOPC, or JNWC.
• Experience with multinational space partnership efforts, foreign military sales, or international space cooperation.
• Working knowledge of Aerospace's ETG organizations, tools, and reachback capabilities.

Benefits

• 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

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

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.

Right Place

The Aerospace Corporation has over 26 locations nationwide, which allows us to build a workforce that will nurture the best ideas, and generate the most novel innovations and solutions to our nation’s toughest space enterprise challenges.

Right Path

Aerospace covers all stages of the space lifecycle, from concept to operations. We believe our people are our most valuable resource and that’s why we propel our employees forward in their careers through ongoing education, training, and professional development.

Right Purpose

We can all serve a mission much greater than ourselves, and at Aerospace that is exactly what we do. By hiring the industry’s most preeminent scientists and engineers, Aerospace advances emerging technologies that protect some of the most critical missions on Earth and above it.

Aerospace employees working in organizations with technical responsibilities are required to obtain a Security Clearance. U.S. citizenship is required for those positions.