Manager, Spacecraft Mission Execution

Firefly Aerospace, Inc.; Cedar Park (TX); Sur place; USD 150 000 - 190 000; Plein temps

Avantages offerts par ce poste

Health benefits

Dental and vision plans

Parental leave

Relocation assistance

Educational reimbursement

Short term disability

Flexible PTO

Résumé du poste

Firefly Aerospace, Inc. is seeking an experienced Manager, Spacecraft Mission Execution to lead a team responsible for the technical and programmatic execution of customer missions across our spacecraft programs.

This role requires strong leadership in mission integration, payload integration, launch vehicle integration, systems engineering, and mission operations. The Manager will guide Mission Managers from formulation through launch and operations, providing mentorship, escalation support,

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading spacecraft missions across lifecycle phases.
• Strong program management and leadership with multi-stakeholder coordination.
• Deep knowledge of spacecraft systems engineering, requirements management, and mission operations.

Responsabilités

• Lead and develop a team of Mission Managers across multiple spacecraft programs.
• Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and escalation support for complex missions.
• Allocate resources based on mission complexity, risk, and development opportunities.
• Establish clear expectations, give feedback, and support career progression.
• Manage risks, interfaces, and customer commitments across portfolios.
• Represent Mission Management in reviews and with NASA, DoD, and commercial customers.

Connaissances

Team leadership

Program management

Systems engineering

Technical mentorship

Customer liaison

Cross-functional collaboration

Formation

Bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering or related technical field

Master’s degree in aerospace engineering, systems engineering, or related field

Description du poste

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.

SUMMARY

Firefly is seeking an experienced Manager, Spacecraft Mission Execution to lead a team of Mission Managers responsible for the technical and programmatic execution of customer missions across our spacecraft programs, including lunar landers and orbital vehicles. This individual will be an experienced spacecraft mission leader with a strong background in mission integration, payload integration, launch vehicle integration, systems engineering, integration and test, and mission operations.

The Manager, Spacecraft Mission Execution will be responsible for the performance, development, and technical leadership of the Mission Management team while providing senior-level oversight and support for the company’s most complex and strategically important missions. This role will ensure Mission Managers successfully execute customer missions from early formulation and requirements definition through integration, test, launch, and mission operations.

The successful candidate will combine strong people leadership with deep technical and programmatic judgment, providing mentorship and escalation support to Mission Managers, driving consistent execution across missions, and representing Mission Management in cross-functional and leadership-level decisions.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead, manage, and develop a team of Mission Managers responsible for customer mission execution across Firefly spacecraft programs.
• Provide technical and programmatic leadership, mentorship, and escalation support to Mission Managers across missions of varying complexity.
• Assign Mission Managers to programs and customer missions based on mission complexity, technical needs, workload, experience, and development opportunities.
• Establish expectations, provide regular feedback and coaching, conduct performance management, and support career development and progression of Mission Management personnel.
• Drive accountability across the Mission Management team for successful execution of customer commitments, mission milestones, technical deliverables, and overall mission objectives.
• Maintain visibility across the Mission Management portfolio and ensure mission requirements, interfaces, risks, customer commitments, schedules, and key decisions are effectively managed.
• Ensure consistent technical rigor and execution across missions, including requirements management, interface management, verification, integration and test, launch, and mission operations.
• Support Mission Managers in the resolution of complex multidisciplinary technical and programmatic issues spanning spacecraft subsystems, payloads, launch vehicles, ground systems, and operations.
• Review and provide guidance on significant mission-level decisions, requirement changes, waivers, deviations, technical trades, and risks with potential impacts to spacecraft performance, safety, cost, schedule, or mission success.
• Serve as a senior escalation point for NASA, DoD, government, commercial, and other customers and partners when issues require management or cross-organizational resolution.
• Provide technical leadership and coaching for major customer and mission reviews, including design reviews, integration reviews, test readiness reviews, launch readiness reviews, and mission readiness reviews.
• Partner closely with spacecraft engineering, program management, ATLO, mission operations, supply chain, contracts, business development, and other organizations to drive successful mission execution.
• Balance resources and priorities across concurrent missions and identify staffing, capability, or organizational gaps that could affect successful execution.
• Develop and continuously improve Mission Management standards, processes, tools, templates, and best practices across spacecraft programs.
• Capture and apply lessons learned across missions to improve execution, technical decision-making, and customer experience.
• Support new mission formulation, proposals, technical evaluations, customer engagements, and assessment of mission feasibility and execution approach.
• Participate in recruiting, interviewing, hiring, onboarding, and development of Mission Management personnel.
• Represent the Mission Management organization in cross-program technical and organizational initiatives and provide recommendations to leadership regarding mission feasibility, execution strategy, organizational capability, staffing, and risk.
• Provide senior-level support and oversight for particularly complex, high-value, or strategically important missions, including serving as an escalation point for significant technical, programmatic, or customer issues.
• Some travel (<25%) may be required.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering or related technical field.
• 12+ years of experience in aerospace, spacecraft, launch vehicles, payload integration, systems engineering, integration and test, mission operations, or related disciplines.
• Demonstrated experience managing spacecraft missions across the mission lifecycle, including formulation, design, integration and test, launch, and flight operations.
• Extensive experience leading complex spacecraft missions, payload integrations, launch vehicle integrations, or similar multidisciplinary aerospace efforts.
• Demonstrated experience leading and developing technical personnel, including coaching, mentoring, performance management, and career development.
• Demonstrated experience serving as a senior technical and programmatic interface with NASA, DoD, government, commercial, or other aerospace customers.
• Deep understanding of spacecraft systems engineering, mission integration, requirements management, interface management, verification, integration and test, launch, and mission operations.
• Demonstrated ability to provide technical leadership across multiple concurrent missions and effectively prioritize resources, risks, and organizational needs.
• Demonstrated ability to lead multidisciplinary teams through complex technical issues and high-consequence mission decisions.
• Strong understanding of aerospace qualification, acceptance testing, mission assurance, range safety, and system safety processes and standards.
• Demonstrated ability to assess technical decisions at the mission and system level, including impacts to performance, cost, schedule, and risk.
• Strong people leadership skills, including the ability to establish expectations, provide actionable feedback, develop personnel, address performance issues, and build effective teams.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills with demonstrated ability to communicate effectively with technical teams, customers, executives, and external organizations.
• Master’s degree in aerospace engineering, systems engineering, or related field.
• Previous formal people-management experience within an aerospace or highly technical organization.
• Experience leading lunar, deep-space, or other highly complex spacecraft missions.
• Experience leading multi-payload or multi-customer missions.
• Experience with NASA, DoD, or other government mission environments.
• Experience with proposals, business development, mission formulation, customer negotiations, and contract development.
• Experience developing organizational processes, technical standards, staffing strategies, or mission integration best practices.

Firefly offers outstanding benefits for our employees, including generous health, dental and vision plans with low plan deductibles, parental leave, relocation benefits, 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.