Director, Launch Site

Firefly Aerospace; California; On-site; USD 195,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Dental and vision coverage

Parental leave

Educational reimbursement

Flexible PTO

Job summary

Firefly Aerospace, Inc. seeks a seasoned leader to shepherd the Vandenberg Launch Operations and Facilities team through launch campaigns. You will direct cross‑functional engineering and operations efforts, ensuring safe, on‑schedule executions and strong customer/range communications.

The role requires a Bachelor’s in engineering, 5+ years in aerospace leadership, and hands-on experience with launch campaigns and integrated schedules. ITAR compliance is mandatory.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or related field.
• Experience leading multi-disciplinary engineering and operations teams.
• 5+ years of aerospace leadership across complex systems.
• Experience with Atlassian products like Confluence & Jira.
• ITAR/compliance requirements for U.S. government space projects.

Responsibilities

• Direct launch campaigns from pre-vehicle arrival to on-pad operations.
• Lead daily tagups for vehicle and pad campaigns.
• Manage pad maintenance to maximize availability and reduce costs.
• Identify opportunities to reduce campaign durations.
• Develop Integrated Master Schedule with program teams.
• Participate in hiring for launch operations and facilities.
• Coordinate with Safety Teams to ensure deliverables.

Skills

Leadership

Aerospace operations

MS Excel

MS Project

MS Visio

Confluence

Jira

Python

LabVIEW

MATLAB

SVN/Bitbucket

Launch operations

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering or related

Tools

Jira

Confluence

SVN

Bitbucket

Job description

ABOUT FIREFLY AEROSPACE

Firefly Aerospace is a space and defense technology company on a mission to reliably and repeatedly launch, land, and operate space systems from Earth to the Moon and beyond. As the partner of choice for critical space missions, Firefly is the first commercial company to launch a satellite to orbit with 24-hour notice and the first company to achieve a successful Moon landing. Headquartered in north Austin, Texas, Firefly is looking for passionate, hardworking innovators to join our team and help fuel our successful trajectory into space.

SUMMARY

Firefly seeks a highly motivated leader to shepherd our fast-paced Vandenberg Launch Operations and Facilities team through each launch cycle. A successful candidate enjoys leading multi-disciplinary teams to deep dive technical problems and is comfortable attending to customer/range presentations to ensure all external needs our met. Launch Operations are the last step in any launch vehicle value stream and require precision in every operation.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Direct launch campaigns from pre-vehicle arrival pad preparations, integrated vehicle checkouts and on-pad launch operations
• Lead daily tagups for vehicle and pad campaign operations to ensure pad and vehicle work is on track.
• Manage pad preventative maintenance team to maximize pad availability and reduce operational costs
• Identify opportunities to reduce launch campaign durations and scope
• Work with vehicle and operations teams to ensure all relevant procedures, documentation and tools are updated for vehicle or site upgrades
• Develop weekly operating rhythm to ensure pad maintenance, repairs and updates are on track to complete prior to vehicle arrival
• Work with program team to develop Integrated Master Schedule for the vehicle and pad operations for each flight
• Lead intermittent schedule status reviews with the Program Managers and executive leadership showing progress, forecast and schedule metrics
• Develop financial and resource budgets to meet program directed launch cadences and upgrades
• Participate or lead hiring activities for the launch operations and facility team members
• Coordinate with SLD/30 Safety Teams to guarantee deliverables, reviews and support for each mission
• Coordinate with on base Operations teams 2ROPS, 2SLS etc for each mission
• Ensure that all documentation, coordination, contracts, commodities and other required items are established and in place for each launch campaign

QUALIFICATIONS

• Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Project Engineering or Aircraft Operations (equivalent military or operations experience may meet desire)
• Experience leading multi-disciplinary engineering and operations teams
• 5+ years of experience in aerospace leadership across complex systems
• Exceptional computer skills (MS Excel, MS Project, MS Visio)
• Strong communication skills in technical work environments
• Experience with Atlassian products like Confluence & Jira
• 5+ yrs running console operations for integrated vehicle and pad operations
• Familiarity with version control systems like SVN, Bitbucket, etc
• Prior launch vehicle operations at test or launch facilities
• Working knowledge of data viewing tools in Python, LabView, Matlab, etc
• Experience in development and/or operations of launch vehicles
• USG and Commercial launch proposal support
• Familiarity with AFSPCMAN 91-710, RCC 319/324
• Compensation: $195,000-240,000/year
• Firefly offers outstanding benefits for our employees, including generous health, dental and vision plans with low plan deductibles, parental leave, educational reimbursement, short term disability, and flexible PTO options.
• To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Firefly Aerospace, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Firefly is governed based on merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.