Manager, Government and Community Affairs, Project Ranger

Cantos Ventures; Rio Rancho (NM); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Paid time off

Holidays

Health coverage

Parental leave

Fitness stipend

EV charging

Catered meals

Job summary

Castelion's Project Ranger in Rio Rancho, New Mexico is seeking a Manager of Government and Community Affairs. You will lead local and regional engagement, build trusted relationships with officials, workforce partners, educational institutions, and civic groups, and represent Castelion publicly.

This role spans public affairs, government relations, economic development, and community engagement to support hiring, reputation, and long-term regional growth.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in external affairs, public affairs, government relations, community relations, economic development, communications, or a related field.
• Strong understanding of New Mexico's political, civic, business, and community landscape, with familiarity with Rio Rancho, Sandoval County, Albuquerque, or state-level stakeholders.
• Proven ability to build trust with local officials, community leaders, business organizations, educational institutions, and other external stakeholders.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex technical, economic, and national security issues to non-technical audiences.
• Experience supporting or leading public-facing engagement for a major facility, infrastructure project, manufacturing site, economic development project, or high-growth company.
• Ability to work effectively across internal teams, including operations, communications, legal, facilities, finance, HR, recruiting, and senior leadership.
• High ownership and ability to manage multiple projects, events, and stakeholder relationships in parallel.
• Sound judgment, discretion, and ability to identify reputational or political risks before they become larger issues.
• Must be a U.S. Person due to potential access to U.S. export-controlled information or facilities.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a regional external affairs strategy for Project Ranger across Rio Rancho, Sandoval County, Albuquerque, and the broader New Mexico stakeholder community.
• Build and maintain relationships with local and state elected officials, county and municipal leaders, economic development organizations, chambers of commerce, business associations, civic organizations, and community groups.
• Serve as a local ambassador for Castelion and Project Ranger, helping explain the company's mission, the facility's economic impact, and its role in strengthening the U.S. defense industrial base.
• Identify and lead partnerships with workforce development organizations, technical schools, community colleges, universities, veteran transition programs, and training providers to support hiring and long-term workforce needs.
• Work closely with Castelion's Recruiting and Operations teams to support local recruiting, workforce pipeline development, employee onboarding, and community integration.
• Plan and execute site visits, briefings, community events, ribbon cuttings, facility tours, and stakeholder engagements related to Project Ranger.
• Support local and regional media engagement in coordination with Castelion's Communications team, including proactive storytelling around construction milestones, hiring, workforce development, and economic impact.
• Monitor local sentiment, media coverage, community concerns, and political developments that could affect Project Ranger's reputation, operations, or long-term growth.
• Help manage community investment, sponsorship, philanthropic, and civic partnership opportunities aligned with Castelion's business and community priorities.
• Coordinate with internal teams to ensure external messaging is accurate, consistent, and aligned with operational realities at the site.
• Prepare briefing materials, talking points, stakeholder maps, engagement plans, and readouts for senior leadership.
• Support engagement with local military, veteran, STEM, education, and manufacturing communities.
• Serve as an early-warning system for local issues that could create reputational, political, workforce, or operational challenges.

Skills

External affairs

Public affairs

Government relations

Community relations

Economic development

Communications

Stakeholder engagement

Leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Job description

Why Castelion, Why Now

Castelion is moving incredibly fast to develop and deliver advanced defense systems at a time when execution matters more than ever. We believe focus and technical excellence are decisive advantages - and we are building a team that can deliver real capability, not just concepts.

This is a rare opportunity to join at an early stage, where your work will directly shape critical systems, influence major technical decisions, and have immediate, real-world impact.

About Project Ranger

Project Ranger is Castelion's advanced manufacturing facility in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. When completed, it will be the world's largest purpose-built hypersonics manufacturing facilities, supporting high-rate production, local job creation, and the national security needs of the United States.

Project Ranger is a major long-term investment in New Mexico. Its success will depend not only on construction and production execution, but also on strong relationships with local communities, elected officials, workforce partners, educational institutions, business organizations, and civic leaders across Rio Rancho, Sandoval County, Albuquerque, and the broader state.

Manager, Government and Community Affairs, Project Ranger

In this role, the Manager, Government and Community Affairs, Project Ranger will lead Castelion's local and regional engagement strategy in New Mexico. This person will be responsible for building and maintaining trusted relationships with community leaders, local and state officials, workforce development partners, educational institutions, business groups, and other key stakeholders.

This role is both strategic and operational. The right candidate will be able to represent Castelion externally, manage community-facing priorities, anticipate reputational risks, support local media and site-visit opportunities, and help ensure Project Ranger is understood as a major economic development and national security asset for New Mexico. This is not a pure communications role or a purely government relations role. It requires someone who can operate across public affairs, community engagement, economic development, workforce development, local government relations, and site-level reputation management.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a regional external affairs strategy for Project Ranger across Rio Rancho, Sandoval County, Albuquerque, and the broader New Mexico stakeholder community.
• Build and maintain relationships with local and state elected officials, county and municipal leaders, economic development organizations, chambers of commerce, business associations, civic organizations, and community groups.
• Serve as a local ambassador for Castelion and Project Ranger, helping explain the company's mission, the facility's economic impact, and its role in strengthening the U.S. defense industrial base.
• Identify and lead partnerships with workforce development organizations, technical schools, community colleges, universities, veteran transition programs, and training providers to support hiring and long-term workforce needs.
• Work closely with Castelion's Recruiting and Operations teams to support local recruiting, workforce pipeline development, employee onboarding, and community integration.
• Plan and execute site visits, briefings, community events, ribbon cuttings, facility tours, and stakeholder engagements related to Project Ranger.
• Support local and regional media engagement in coordination with Castelion's Communications team, including proactive storytelling around construction milestones, hiring, workforce development, and economic impact.
• Monitor local sentiment, media coverage, community concerns, and political developments that could affect Project Ranger's reputation, operations, or long-term growth.
• Help manage community investment, sponsorship, philanthropic, and civic partnership opportunities aligned with Castelion's business and community priorities.
• Coordinate with internal teams to ensure external messaging is accurate, consistent, and aligned with operational realities at the site.
• Prepare briefing materials, talking points, stakeholder maps, engagement plans, and readouts for senior leadership.
• Support engagement with local military, veteran, STEM, education, and manufacturing communities.
• Serve as an early-warning system for local issues that could create reputational, political, workforce, or operational challenges.

Basic Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in external affairs, public affairs, government relations, community relations, economic development, communications, or a related field.
• Strong understanding of New Mexico's political, civic, business, and community landscape, with particular familiarity with Rio Rancho, Sandoval County, Albuquerque, or state-level stakeholders.
• Demonstrated experience building trust with local officials, community leaders, business organizations, educational institutions, and other external stakeholders.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex technical, economic, and national security issues to non-technical audiences.
• Experience supporting or leading public-facing engagement for a major facility, infrastructure project, manufacturing site, economic development project, or high-growth company.
• Ability to work effectively across internal teams, including operations, communications, legal, facilities, finance, HR, recruiting, and senior leadership.
• High ownership and ability to manage multiple projects, events, and stakeholder relationships in parallel.
• Sound judgment, discretion, and ability to identify reputational or political risks before they become larger issues.
• Ability to operate in a fast-paced, high-growth environment with evolving priorities.
• Must be a U.S. Person due to potential access to U.S. export-controlled information or facilities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Existing relationships with New Mexico local, county, state, business, education, workforce, or civic stakeholders.
• Experience in defense, aerospace, advanced manufacturing, energy, infrastructure, economic development, or technology.
• Experience working with workforce development boards, community colleges, technical training programs, or veteran employment organizations.
• Experience managing local media, site visits, public events, community briefings, or elected official engagements.
• Familiarity with defense industrial base issues, manufacturing workforce challenges, or national security policy.
• Prior experience supporting a company during major site construction, facility launch, or regional expansion.

Attributes for Success

• Locally credible and relationship oriented.
• Comfortable operating with senior executives, elected officials, community leaders, and site-level employees.
• Clear writer and disciplined communicator.
• Operationally practical, not just strategic.
• Able to represent Castelion with professionalism in public settings.
• Strong judgment on what should be escalated internally.
• Comfortable in a high-growth defense technology environment where speed, accuracy, and trust matter.

Other Duties

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Benefits And Perks

• All full-time employees are granted meaningful long-term equity, sharing in the company's significant growth trajectory.
• We offer four (4) weeks of paid time off, ten (10) company-paid holidays, and comprehensive health benefits - including 100% employee-covered medical and strong dependent coverage, along with dental and vision plans.
• We also provide paid parental leave to support growing families, a $100 monthly fitness stipend to promote health and performance, and onsite EV charging for convenience.
• In addition, employees enjoy perks like catered meals, company-covered food during high-demand periods, and a fully stocked kitchen to stay fueled throughout the day.

While this position does not currently require a U.S government-issued security clearance, it may in the near future. Therefore, the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government–issued security clearance is required. U.S. citizenship is required, as only U.S. citizens are eligible for a security clearance.

Affirmative Action/EEO Statement

Employment with Castelion is governed on the basis of 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.