Mission Manager (Starshield)

Spacex; Hawthorne (CA); On-site; USD 155,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

SpaceX is seeking a Mission Manager for Starshield in Hawthorne, CA to serve as the core technical and programmatic contact for a government customer from early studies through launch and on-orbit activation.

You will coordinate internal SpaceX personnel to support all mission phases, assist proposal efforts, and develop mission designs while ensuring alignment with contract requirements and customer needs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering or science required.
• 5+ years in program management, project management, systems engineering, or operations.
• 2+ years experience with US government projects or acquisitions.

Responsibilities

• Lead all programmatic aspects of programs from contract award through integration, test, launch, and on-orbit operations to meet contract requirements.
• Support proposal efforts to align new work with long-term vision and engineering objectives, ensuring contract requirements are executable.
• Be primary contact for customer to resolve issues, negotiate requirements, coordinate changes, and maintain relationships.
• Plan and lead customer reviews with cross-company coordination, briefing technical content on complex designs, trade studies, risks, and issues.
• Collaborate with product engineering to understand vehicle readiness and impact of changes on requirements, risk, CONOPs, and launch dates.

Skills

Program management

Government contracts

Stakeholder communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering or science

Job description

SpaceX was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal ofenabling human life on Mars.

MISSION MANAGER (STARSHIELD)

Starshield leverages SpaceX’s Starlink technology and launch capability to support national security efforts. While Starlink is designed for consumer and commercial use, Starshield is designed for government use, with an initial focus on earth observation, communications, and hosted payloads.

As a member of our Mission Management team, you will serve as a core point of contact for customers from early capabilities studies through successful launch and on-orbit activation. You’ll support new business proposals from initial requirements verification through mission design, prototype development, and test. You’ll work directly with a small team of subject matter experts from diverse fields to quickly iterate on deployable solutions and ensure they meet all customer needs. Our development timelines are aggressive and you will be asked to rigorously explore solutions for previously unsolved problems. Our ideal candidate has a passion for making things work, is a self-starter, and is hungry to do work that matters.

As a Mission Manager, you will serve as the main technical and programmatic point of contact for a given customer. You’ll coordinate internal SpaceX personnel to support all phases of mission planning, integration, testing, and verification.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead all programmatic aspects of programs, from contract award through integration, test, launch, and on-orbit operations to ensure all contract requirements are met.
• Support proposal efforts to align new efforts with long-term strategic vision and engineering objectives, and to ensure contract requirements are executable.
• Be the primary point of contact for your customer, to resolve issues, negotiate requirements, coordinate technical and contractual changes, and maintain positive relationships.
• Plan and lead customer reviews through cross-company coordination, developing and briefing technical content on complex designs, trade studies, risks, and issues.
• Collaborate with product engineering groups to understand vehicle readiness and how changes impact requirements, vehicle risk, CONOPs, and launch dates.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in an engineering or science discipline.
• 5+ years of experience in program management, project management, systems engineering, or operations.
• 2+ years of experience with US government projects or acquisitions.

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• 8+ years of experience in program management or project management.
• Experience working with launch vehicles, spacecraft, or other aerospace systems.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, autonomously driven, and demanding start-up atmosphere.
• Experience with spacecraft mission design, development, integration, and/or test experience.
• Experience with management or program leadership experience.
• Strong penchant for innovation in process improvement and system design.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with direct experience negotiating technical deliverables or scope.
• Strong interpersonal skills, and an ability to tailor communications to the audience.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

• Must pass DoD level background checks for entry into various government facilities.
• Ability to travel up to 25% of the time.
• Active Top Secret or TS/SCI clearance, or the ability to obtain one

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

Pay Range:
$155,000.00 - $200,000.00

Your actual level and base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience.

Base salary is just one part of your total rewards package at SpaceX. You may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of company stock or long-term cash awards, as well as potential discretionary bonuses and the ability to purchase additional stock at a discount through an Employee Stock Purchase Plan. You will also receive access to comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, access to a 401(k) retirement plan, short and long-term disability insurance, life insurance, paid parental leave, and various other discounts and perks. You may also accrue 3 weeks of paid vacation and will be eligible for 10 or more paid holidays per year. Employees accrue paid sick leave pursuant to Company policy which satisfies or exceeds the accrual, carryover, and use requirements of the law.

• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.

SpaceX is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with SpaceX 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.

Applicants wishing to view a copy of SpaceX’s Affi cative Action Plan for veterans and individuals with disabilities, or applicants requiring reasonable accommodation to the application/interview process should reach out to [e-mail].

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. Learn more about ITARhere.

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey.Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiringprocess or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in aconfidential file.

As set forth in SpaceX’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

A \"disabled veteran\" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A \"recently separated veteran\" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An \"active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran\" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An \"Armed forces service medal veteran\" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.