Director, Subcontracts

Firefly Aerospace, Inc.

Cedar Park (TX)

On-site

USD 170,000 - 250,000

Full time

4 hours ago

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Benefits offered by this job

Unlimited PTO

3-month sabbatical

Medical, dental, vision, life, and }

Disability insurance

Mental health services

Paid military leave

12 weeks paid maternity leave

4 weeks paid spouse leave

$20k towards family planning

Dog friendly workplace

$10k/year towards trade school or?

Stock bonuses

4% Safe Harbor 401(k) matching

$10k bonus for home purchase in Cedar

Job summary

Firefly Aerospace, Inc. seeks an experienced Director of Subcontracts to lead and scale our supplier subcontracting team, govern complex procurement, and drive strategic sourcing across commercial and government programs.

Reporting to the VP of Supply Chain, you will own subcontract strategy, templates, risk management, and KPI reporting, partnering with Legal, Finance, and Program Management to accelerate growth while safeguarding Firefly's interests.

Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Finance, Law or related field.
12+ years of progressive supplier subcontract or complex contract management experience.
Deep expertise in commercial supplier subcontracting with FAR/DFARS flowdown knowledge.
Proven track record negotiating complex, high-value subcontracts and sourcing agreements.

Responsibilities

Own and set the enterprise subcontracts strategy and governance.
Lead and scale the subcontracts organization with defined roles and levels.
Negotiate high-value supplier agreements and manage risk across portfolios.
Partner with Legal, Finance, Quality, and Program Management to ensure compliant execution.
Develop templates, playbooks, and terms libraries for efficient subcontracting.

Skills

Subcontracts leadership

Contract negotiation

Strategic sourcing

Executive communication

Cross-functional collaboration

Risk management

FAR/DFARS

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business / Supply Chain / Finance

Tools

ERP systems

Contract management software

Job description

At Firefly, we’re focused on making space attainable for everyone – including you! Each team member’s passion, dedication, and innovative ideas have a direct impact on fueling our successful trajectory into space. And there’s no shortage of meaningful projects to work on at Firefly. With launch, lunar, and orbital vehicles, Firefly has a diverse line of business with opportunities to get hands‑on experience launching rockets, operating in space, and landing on the Moon.

Our missions are powered by our incredible team ...

What does SciTec bring to the Firefly family?
...

Peep our Elytra orbiter being assembled in the ...

Start your week with another Manufacturing Minute! ...

This World Space Week, remember to look up and ...

The engine powering Alpha`s first stage is truly ...

Our Values

Headquartered in the Lone Star State, Firefly’s hardworking team reflects Texas’ GO BIG culture in everything we do. We build big, achieve big, and dream big. We’re building launch vehicles and spacecraft to provide rapid, reliable space access. We’ve achieved some incredible wins, including the first successful commercial Moon landing. And we’re dreaming bigger than this planet with ambitions to Mars, Venus, and beyond. Our core values are what drive us along the way.

Passion

Fireflies believe in perseverance, responsiveness, and mentoring others with a focus on inspiring a better future.

Accountability

Fireflies act with integrity and take ownership of our actions, commitments, decisions, and outcomes.

Fireflies work in alignment across teams and communicate clearly with mutual respect for one another.

Fireflies deliver high-quality work through technical rigor and timely disciplined execution for our customers.

We take care of our Fireflies with some of the best benefits in the industry. Our mission to make space for everyone starts with our employees and allowing them to make space for their family, their career, and their future.

Space for You

Unlimited PTO for exempt employees
3-month sabbatical for every 5 years of service
Medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance
Mental health services
Paid military leave

Space for Your Family

12 weeks paid maternity leave
4 weeks paid spouse leave
$20k towards family planning: fertility, surrogacy, adoption
Dog friendly workplace

Space for Your Career

$10k/year towards trade school or college
Ongoing coaching to advance leadership skills

Employee-ownership with stock bonuses
4% Safe Harbor 401(k) matching
$10k bonus for home purchase in Cedar Park, Texas

Job Openings

From launch technicians to propulsion engineers, Firefly has open roles across the company. We’re looking for passionate, bright innovators to join our team and help make space an achievable dream for everyone.

Firefly Aerospace is a space and defense technology company that enables our world to launch, land, and operate in space – anywhere, anytime. As the partner of choice for critical space missions, Firefly is the only commercial company to launch a satellite to orbit with 24-hour notice and the only company to achieve a successful Moon landing. Our launch vehicles, lunar landers, and orbital vehicles provide government and commercial customers with full mission services from low Earth orbit to the Moon and beyond. Headquartered in north Austin, Texas, Firefly is looking for passionate, hardworking innovators to join our team and help fuel our successful trajectory into space.

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.

As an end-to-end responsive space company, Firefly Aerospace enables our world to launch, land and operate in space — anywhere, anytime. Our launch vehicles, lunar landers, spacecraft, propulsion systems, and orbital vehicles serve commercial, civil, defense, and international customers across the entire mission lifecycle — from low Earth orbit to the Moon and beyond.

We are seeking an experienced Director of Subcontracts to build, lead, and scale Firefly's subcontracts function within Supply Chain. Reporting to the VP of Supply Chain, this executive will serve as the company's senior authority on subcontract strategy, structure, and execution across all supply chain and facilities business units — partnering with executive leadership to enable strategic growth while protecting Firefly's interests throughout the full subcontract lifecycle.

The Director of Subcontracts provides strategic leadership and organizational direction for Firefly's subcontracts organization, owning the negotiation, administration, compliance, and execution of the company's supplier subcontracts, strategic sourcing agreements, and complex procurement instruments. This leader sets the enterprise subcontracting strategy, establishes governance and delegation-of-authority frameworks, and builds a scalable, high-performing team.

The role partners at the executive level with Legal, Finance, Supply Chain, Facilities, Engineering, Quality, and Program Management to develop subcontracting strategies that accelerate Firefly's growth while managing contractual, financial, technical, and programmatic risk. The Director owns the development of subcontract templates, playbooks, and policies across a predominantly commercial portfolio that also includes government-funded programs, driving standardization across a rapidly expanding line of launch services, spacecraft, propulsion systems, and advanced space missions.

The ideal candidate brings deep, progressive experience in commercial supplier subcontracting and complex procurement, a demonstrated record of building and scaling teams, and the working knowledge of government compliance protocols needed to manage a mixed portfolio.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic Leadership & Organizational Direction

Own and set the enterprise subcontracts strategy supporting supply chain and facilities, aligning subcontracting approaches with Firefly's growth objectives, program milestones, and financial targets.
Build, structure, and scale the subcontracts organization to match Firefly's growth—defining the right team model, roles, and levels over time rather than inheriting a fixed structure.
Establish and maintain the subcontracts governance framework, including delegation-of-authority thresholds, approval workflows, and signature authority policies.
Serve as the company's senior executive advisor on all subcontract matters, providing counsel directly to the VP of Supply Chain and other executive stakeholders.
Define and report on organizational KPIs, cycle-time targets, savings goals, and risk metrics to executive leadership.

Subcontract Strategy, Negotiation & Business Growth

Direct and personally lead the most complex, high-value, and strategically critical subcontract negotiations.
Develop enterprise subcontracting strategies and scalable sourcing initiatives that balance cost, schedule, quality, and risk.
Lead make‑vs‑buy analyses in partnership with Engineering, Program Management, and Finance to inform sourcing decisions.
Structure fixed‑price, cost‑type, incentive, and hybrid subcontract arrangements appropriate to program risk profiles.
Own the commercial subcontracting framework, including standardized terms, risk allocation, indemnification, warranty, and liability provisions appropriate to a fast‑moving aerospace manufacturing environment.
Ensure appropriate contractual flowdown of applicable FAR, DFARS, NFS, export control, and quality requirements to suppliers on the subset of programs that carry government funding or prime‑contract obligations.
Set policy and provide authoritative interpretation on contractual rights, obligations, and risk mitigation across both commercial and government‑flowed subcontracts.
Establish standardized subcontract templates, playbooks, and terms libraries that improve efficiency while maintaining compliance and governance.
Partner with Legal and Compliance to manage organizational conflicts of interest, intellectual property, and data rights across supplier subcontracts.

Cross‑Functional & Executive Partnership

Partner at the executive level with Legal, Finance, Supply Chain, Facilities, Engineering, Quality, and Program Management to ensure successful subcontract execution.
Lead supplier engagement strategy throughout the subcontract lifecycle, resolving escalated contractual issues and maintaining strategic supplier relationships.
Provide senior contractual leadership during change management, claims, modifications, terminations, and dispute resolution.
Own and evolve the supplier onboarding, qualification, and compliance program in partnership with Supply Chain and Quality.
Maintain a documented FAR/DFARS flowdown interface with the Contracts function—receiving customer‑imposed obligations and ensuring correct flowdown to suppliers.

Organizational Leadership & Talent Development

Own career development, succession planning, performance management, and training programs to build organizational capability and bench strength.
Foster a culture of collaboration, accountability, customer focus, and continuous improvement.
Drive standardization, automation, and process improvement across the subcontracts organization, including systems and tooling investments.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Finance, Law, Engineering, or a related field.
12+ years of progressive supplier subcontract, procurement, or complex contract management experience, including a demonstrated record of building, scaling, and leading teams—whether through direct people management, matrixed leadership, or standing up a function from an early‑stage baseline.
Deep expertise in commercial supplier subcontracting, with working knowledge of FAR/DFARS flowdown sufficient to manage a mixed commercial/government portfolio.
Proven track record negotiating complex, high‑value supplier agreements, strategic sourcing agreements, and subcontracts across multiple commodity and service categories.
Strong command of intellectual property, data rights, export controls, organizational conflicts of interest, and risk allocation.
Exceptional negotiation, analytical, written, and executive communication skills, including experience advising senior executives.
Demonstrated ability to build trusted relationships with suppliers, executive leadership, and cross‑functional stakeholders.
U.S. Person status required due to export control regulations.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

Master's degree (MBA, JD, or related advanced degree).
Professional certification such as NCMA CPCM/CFCM, ISM CPSM, or equivalent.
Experience leading subcontracts or procurement for launch vehicle, spacecraft, satellite, defense, or aerospace manufacturing organizations.

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