Senior Manager of Test Operations

Muon Space, Inc.; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, vision coverage

Parental leave

Generous time off

401(k) plan + equity management

Fully stocked kitchen + catered lunch

Dog-friendly office

Job summary

Muon Space seeks a Senior Manager of Test Operations to lead and scale our Test Operations organization supporting growing spacecraft and subsystem production. You will oversee Spacecraft Test Technicians and Subsystems Test Technicians, staffing, shift coverage, operational execution, technician development, test capacity, and production throughput.

Based in San Jose, CA, this on-site role drives process standardization, capacity models, and continuous improvement to ensure safe, repeatable,

Qualifications

• Experience leading technical, production, integration, or test organizations.
• Experience directly leading technicians and hands-on teams.
• Experience in aerospace or complex hardware production and test.
• Strong understanding of flight hardware handling, quality, safety, and configuration control.
• Ability to scale teams, processes, and infrastructure in a growing production environment.
• Experience improving throughput, cycle time, utilization and schedule performance.
• Cross-functional leadership and communication skills.
• Workforce planning, staffing models, and shift operations.
• Spacecraft or launch vehicle I&T operations experience.
• Multi-shift production operations experience.
• Technician qualification programs and career ladders.

Responsibilities

• Lead and scale the Test Operations organization for spacecraft and subsystem production.
• Staff, plan shifts, and develop technicians and leads.
• Set daily priorities and ensure consistent execution across teams.
• Establish safety, quality, and ownership of flight hardware.
• Industrialize test operations with standardized processes and scalable capacity models.
• Transition new tests from development to production and resolve bottlenecks.
• Develop capacity and labor models for stations, shifts, and future demand.
• Collaborate with Test Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, and PM.
• Establish metrics for throughput, cycle time, utilization, and readiness.

Skills

Spacecraft Test Operations

Production leadership

Technician leadership

Aerospace industry experience

Throughput optimization

Cross-functional collaboration

Workforce planning

Shift operations

Test infrastructure scaling

Quality and safety

Program readiness (MRR/TRR/PRR)

Tools

Test stations tooling

EGSE

Instrumentation

Job description

• Muon Space is seeking a Senior Manager of Test Operations to lead and scale our Test Operations organization supporting growing spacecraft and subsystem production
• This role oversees Spacecraft Test Technicians and Subsystems Test Technicians, with responsibility for staffing, shift coverage, operational execution, technician development, test capacity, and production throughput
• The Senior Manager will establish the processes, infrastructure, and organizational capabilities needed to support increasing production volume and evolving spacecraft architectures
• You will work closely with Test Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, and Program Management to ensure test operations are safe, repeatable, efficient, and aligned with production priorities
• This role will also play a key role in industrializing test operations, including standardizing processes, developing scalable capacity models, improving cycle time and utilization, and transitioning new test capabilities from development into repeatable production operations
• This position is fully onsite and requires working in our San Jose, CA office five days a week
• Lead, mentor, and develop Spacecraft and Subsystems Test Technicians and technical leads
• Establish staffing plans, shift coverage, skill matrices, and technician development paths
• Set daily operational priorities and drive consistent execution across teams and shifts
• Build a culture of safety, accountability, quality, and ownership of flight hardware
• Own day-to-day execution of spacecraft and subsystem test operations
• Ensure tests are performed using approved procedures, configurations, tooling, and acceptance criteria
• Partner with Test Engineering to transition new or immature tests into stable production operations
• Identify and resolve operational constraints, bottlenecks, and resource conflicts
• Develop and implement the operating model required to scale test operations with production volume
• Establish repeatable processes, standard work, training, and qualification requirements
• Develop capacity and labor models for stations, equipment, shifts, and future production demand
• Partner with Engineering and Manufacturing to design test infrastructure, stations, EGSE, tooling, and facilities for scalable production
• Identify opportunities to reduce test cycle time, improve utilization, and increase throughput
• Support the transition of new spacecraft platforms, subsystems, and test capabilities into production
• Build organizational capability through cross-training, workforce planning, and scalable team structures
• Establish and manage metrics for throughput, cycle time, utilization, schedule adherence, rework, and test capacity
• Drive daily management and continuous improvement across Test Operations
• Use operational data to identify constraints and prioritize investments in people, equipment, and infrastructure
• Support MRR, TRR, and production readiness activities
• Ensure operational readiness for new programs, facilities, test stations, and production lines

Benefits

• 100% health, dental, and vision coverage for employees; 50% coverage for dependents (Concierge Medical offered through One Medical where available)
• Parental leave for primary and secondary caregivers
• Generous time off policy
• 401(k) plan through Betterment and equity management through Carta
• Fully stocked kitchen at our HQ and we cater lunch 3 days per week
• Dog-friendly office

• Experience with spacecraft, subsystem, avionics, electrical, functional, or environmental test operations
• 5+ years leading technical, production, integration, or test organizations
• Experience directly leading technicians and hands-on technical teams
• 10+ years of experience in aerospace, spacecraft, defense, advanced manufacturing, or complex hardware production and test
• Strong understanding of flight hardware handling, configuration control, quality, safety, and hardware protection
• Demonstrated experience scaling teams, processes, and infrastructure in a growing production environment
• Demonstrated ability to improve throughput, cycle time, utilization, and schedule performance
• Strong cross-functional communication and leadership skills
• Experience with workforce planning, staffing models, shift operations, and technician development
• Spacecraft or launch vehicle I&T operations
• High-rate spacecraft or satellite production
• Experience supporting multiple spacecraft platforms or subsystem families
• Multi-shift production operations
• Technician qualification programs, skills matrices, and career ladders
• Experience scaling contractor and/or contingent workforces
• Test stations, EGSE, tooling, fixtures, and instrumentation
• Environmental test operations including vibration and TVAC
• Digital work instructions, MES, production dashboards, or electronic travelers
• Capacity modeling and infrastructure planning
• Lean/Six Sigma or other continuous improvement methodologies
• MRR, TRR, PRR, and production readiness processes
• Experience industrializing development test processes into repeatable production operations