Launch and Recovery Engineering Manager

vardaspace; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Varda Space Industries is seeking a Launch & Recovery Engineering Manager in El Segundo, CA to own the launch vehicle mechanical and electrical interfaces and capsule recovery operations for Varda Space Vehicles as the company scales its product lines and cadence.

You will lead a team of engineers, define interfaces, manage LSAs, and coordinate with mission operations and senior leadership to deliver contracts and mission objectives, expanding operations to 12+ vehicles per year.

Job description

About Varda

Low Earth orbit is open for business. Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules. Varda's W-Series vehicles are built, designed, and operated by Varda in-house, including the pharmaceutical processing payloads, the capsules, the C-PICA heat shields, and the satellite buses.

From life-saving pharmaceuticals to more powerful fiber optics, there is a world of products used on Earth today that can only be manufactured in space. Varda is accelerating innovation in the orbital economy by creating both the products and infrastructure needed so space can directly benefit life on Earth. Our mission is to expand the economic bounds of humankind.

Our team is uniquely suited to accomplishing this goal, with leadership and staff comprised of veterans from SpaceX, Blue Origin, major pharmaceutical companies and Silicon Valley. Varda was founded in January 2021 by Will Bruey and Delian Asparouhov with significant backing from world class investors including Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, Caffeinated Capital, General Catalyst, and Also Capital.

Varda is headquartered in El Segundo, California, where we have offices and a production facility where our vehicles, equipment, and materials are built, integrated, and tested. Varda also has offices in Washington, DC and Huntsville, AL.

Join Varda, and work to create a bustling in-space ecosystem.

About This Role

As a Launch & Recovery Engineering Manager you will have the primary responsibility for owning and defining the launch vehicle mechanical and electrical interface and capsule recovery operations for Varda Space Vehicles as the company innovates and scales its product lines for more advanced mission objectives along with a higher operational cadence. The role is responsible for launch vehicle and recovery requirements definition for Varda Space Vehicles, delivery of all technical and regulatory contract deliverables to the launch provider per the Launch Services Agreement (LSA), definition of launch vehicle ICD with the launch provider, and management and execution of launch site I&T and capsule recovery procedures. This role will report directly to the VP, W-Series Vehicles within Vehicle Systems, Integration and Test engineering interfacing with all subsystem engineering departments, mission operations engineers as well as senior leadership.

This is a people management role with direct reports. The Launch & Recovery Engineering Manager will be responsible for building and leading a team of engineers, with expectations that include:

• Directly managing, mentoring, and developing a team of launch and recovery engineers
• Setting individual goals, conducting performance reviews, and supporting career growth for direct reports
• Hiring and onboarding new team members as the launch cadence scales to 12+ vehicles per year
• Delegating and prioritizing work across the team to meet mission milestones and LSA commitments
• Fostering a collaborative, high-performance team culture aligned with Varda's mission and values
• Coordinating cross-functionally with subsystem leads, mission operations, and senior leadership on behalf of the team

Responsibilities

• Responsible for definition of Launch Vehicle Interface technical and regulatory requirements for Varda Space Industries vehicles through early mission lifecycle reviews (i.e. Design Criteria, Preliminary Design, Critical Design) leading to definition and execution of all contracted Launch Service Agreements (LSA)
• Serves as primary responsible engineer for all technical and regulatory contract deliverables through execution of an LSA from contract effective date to include mission integration, dynamics model, mass properties, mechanical & electrical interface specifications, launch vehicle separation configuration & analysis, Range Safety, FAA/FCC licensing, hazardous procedures, launch site campaign planning and integration and test procedure definition
• Chairs regular meetings (i.e. biweekly) with Launch Provider to ensure all LSA technical and regulatory deliverables are meeting their contractual commitments, coordinating any schedule impacts or trades with the VP, W-Series Vehicles
• Co-chairs specific anomaly investigations and corrective action with mission assurance that directly impact LSA contract technical deliverables to include the critical environmental test report
• Manages the execution of all launch site Integration and Test procedures for each Varda Space mission, leading a cross-disciplinary team to include parallel processing of multiple vehicles
• Develops capsule recovery concept of operations, plans and procedures, directly participating in capsule recovery operations at the Australian Koonibba test range and future recovery sites
• Works with executive management to scale launch and recovery planning and execution for an expected cadence of 12+ vehicles per year, which i