Mission Manager (Senior/Principal)

Reflect Orbital; Hawthorne (CA); On-site; USD 170,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical/dental/vision coverage

HSA/FSA/401K

Unlimited PTO

Healthy lunches

Job summary

Reflect Orbital is seeking a Senior or Principal Mission Manager to own the launch and regulatory execution required to get our spacecraft to orbit. This hands‑on senior IC role works across engineering, operations, legal, launch providers, regulators, and external partners to ensure timely schedules, deliverables, and successful missions.

Your job is to ensure Reflect never misses a launch or regulatory milestone because inputs arrive late, requirements are misunderstood, or critical tasks lack

Qualifications

• 5+ years in spacecraft mission management, launch integration, regulatory affairs, or similar aerospace PM roles.
• Experience owning launch-provider integration or regulatory processes for at least one spacecraft mission.
• Understanding of launch manifests, mission schedules, safety reviews, licensing, and spectrum coordination.

Responsibilities

• Own mission execution from launch‑opportunity through launch readiness and handoff to on‑orbit operations.
• Serve as primary interface with launch providers, regulators, legal, government agencies, and mission partners.
• Build and maintain the integrated mission schedule with external milestones and internal owners.
• Own FCC licensing and spectrum‑coordination workflows with engineering and outside counsel.
• Translate requirements into clear internal deliverables, identify owners, and drive inputs to completion.
• Coordinate spacecraft data packages, interface documentation, safety materials, analyses, and test evidence.
• Review submissions for accuracy, completeness, and consistency before they leave the company.
• Run mission reviews, maintain action‑item and decision logs, and ensure commitments are closed on schedule.
• Identify schedule, regulatory, and integration risks early; develop recovery plans and escalation paths.
• Maintain a clear source of truth for mission status so teams know what is due and what is blocked.
• Build lightweight, scalable processes to manage more spacecraft and launches without excess bureaucracy.
• Provide support for launch‑site and campaign activities as needed.

Skills

Mission management

Launch integration

Regulatory affairs

Program management

Cross-functional collaboration

Technical fluency

Job description

At Reflect, you will be expected to move fast, have a lot of ownership and, most importantly, be able to effect change. If this excites you, we are interested in hearing about your best work and accomplishments across any domain and from any points in your life.

About the Role

Reflect Orbital is hiring a Senior or Principal Mission Manager to own the launch and regulatory execution required to get our spacecraft to orbit.

This is a hands‑on senior IC role working across engineering, operations, legal, launch providers, regulators, and external partners. You’ll own mission schedules, launch‑provider interfaces, regulatory submissions, technical deliverables, reviews, action items, and the hundreds of details that must come together on time for a successful mission.

Your job is to make sure Reflect never misses a launch or regulatory milestone because an input was late, a requirement was misunderstood, or a critical task lacked a clear owner.

Responsibilities

• Own mission execution from launch‑opportunity selection through launch readiness, launch campaign, and handoff to on‑orbit operations
• Serve as Reflect’s primary interface with launch providers, launch integrators, regulatory counsel, government agencies, and other mission partners
• Build and maintain the integrated mission schedule, including external deliverables, regulatory milestones, technical reviews, launch‑provider deadlines, dependencies, risks, and internal owners
• Own FCC licensing and spectrum‑coordination workflows in partnership with engineering and outside counsel, including applications, modifications, technical exhibits, responses, reporting, and other required submissions
• Translate launch‑provider and regulatory requirements into clear internal deliverables, identify the correct owners, and drive inputs to completion
• Coordinate spacecraft data packages, interface documentation, safety materials, analyses, certifications, test evidence, and other launch‑readiness deliverables
• Review submissions for accuracy, completeness, and consistency before they leave the company
• Run mission reviews, maintain action‑item and decision logs, follow up relentlessly, and ensure commitments are closed on schedule
• Identify schedule, regulatory, and integration risks early; develop recovery plans and elevate decisions before a mission is threatened
• Maintain a clear source of truth for mission status so engineering and leadership always understand what is due, what is blocked, and what requires attention
• Build lightweight, repeatable systems that allow Reflect to manage an increasing number of spacecraft and launches without unnecessary process or bureaucracy
• Support launch‑site and campaign activities when needed

Ideal Qualifications

• You have 5+ years of experience in spacecraft mission management, launch integration, regulatory affairs, technical program management, satellite operations, or a similarly complex aerospace environment. We care more about demonstrated ownership than years.
• You have personally owned significant portions of the launch‑provider integration or regulatory process for at least one spacecraft mission
• You understand how launch manifests, mission schedules, spacecraft interfaces, safety reviews, licensing, spectrum coordination, and launch‑readiness reviews fit together
• You have experience with FCC spacecraft licensing, experimental licensing, spectrum coordination, earth‑station licensing, or similar regulatory processes
• You can turn a long, ambiguous external request into a complete list of internal actions, owners, dependencies, and deadlines
• You are exceptionally organized and can manage hundreds of details without losing sight of the mission’s critical path
• You write clearly, communicate directly, and are comfortable representing the company with launch providers, regulators, attorneys, engineers, and executives
• You do not need to be a practicing engineer, but you are technically fluent enough to understand spacecraft requirements, review technical deliverables, and recognize when an answer is incomplete or inconsistent
• You can drive work across teams without relying on formal authority and are comfortable following up until commitments are complete
• You move quickly in ambiguous environments and build enough process to create reliability without slowing the company down
• You have strong judgment and know when to resolve an issue independently, when to pull in technical experts, and when to ask a higher authority for help

Even if you don’t meet 100% of the above qualifications, we are likely still interested in hearing from you. Hiring exceptional individuals is our #1 priority, and we believe that exceptional people often have highly unusual backgrounds.

We are also interested in carving out unique roles for unconventional people that we are excited about working with.

Benefits

Reflect Orbital’s success will hinge on our team, which is why our compensation and benefits plan is designed to reward our employees and support their families as generously as we’re able.

• Broad choice of medical/dental/vision coverage, Reflect covers 100% of each base-policy
• Access to HSA, FSA, and 401K
• Unlimited paid time off, two-weeks per year encouraged
• Healthy lunches provided daily

Equal Opportunity

Reflect Orbital is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Reflect Orbital is governed on the basis of 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.

More about Reflect Orbital:

Learn more about our team here.