Senior Mission Manager, Spacecraft & Payloads

Firefly Aerospace; Cedar Park (TX); On-site; USD 130,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Dental insurance

Vision plans

Parental leave

Educational reimbursement

Short-term disability

Pet Insurance

Flexible PTO

Job summary

Firefly Aerospace in Texas seeks an experienced Mission Manager to oversee payload integration, launch vehicle interfaces, and customer mission coordination for lunar and orbital spacecraft programs.

The role requires systems, integration, test, and launch experience, with strong communication skills to interface with NASA, FAA, USAF, NOAA, and commercial customers. Occasional travel and deep collaboration across disciplines are essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering or related field.
• Experience integrating payloads or spacecraft.
• 7-10 years’ experience in the aerospace industry.
• Ability to effectively mentor junior engineers (Level 4).
• Experience working as the primary interface with an external aerospace customer or internal product team.
• Working knowledge of aerospace qualification and acceptance testing defined by GEVS.
• Working knowledge of AFSPCMAN 91-710, MIL-STD-882, RCC-319-14 and NASA Standards 8719.13.
• Excellent communications skills (written and oral).
• Masters degree or Ph.D. preferred.
• Experience integrating payloads onto spacecraft or spacecraft to launch vehicles.
• Experience with deployment mechanisms or with robotics and actuators for spacecraft.
• Experience working with vendors.
• Experience in writing proposals and in business development.
• Experience with risk management and change control.

Responsibilities

• Act as the primary engineering and programmatic interface between the Firefly engineering teams and NASA and other payload customers.
• Manage the development and coordination of the key mission performance and interface requirements.
• Build and maintain Interface Control Documents (ICD) for interfaces between the customer payload and spacecraft.
• Manage technical issues related to form, fit, and function of the payload(s), loads, dynamic environments, thermal, EMI/EMC, radiation, contamination, mass properties, mechanical interface, electrical interface, data interfaces, software APIs, and operations.
• Coordinate hardware and software related activities including fit checks, spacecraft integration, spacecraft acceptance testing, launch, and operations planning and execution for the full duration mission.
• Lead technical interchange meetings and design reviews with NASA and other customers. Some travel (<10%) may be required.
• Work closely with each engineering discipline within Firefly to help generate and evaluate acceptable analysis factors of safety and test plans that meet both Range requirements and Mission Assurance requirements.

Skills

Excellent communications skills

Mentor junior engineers

External interfaces

Payload integration

NASA standards knowledge

Education

Bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering or related field

Masters or Ph.D. preferred

Job description

Firefly Aerospace in Texas seeks an experienced Mission Manager to oversee payload integration, launch vehicle interfaces, and customer mission coordination for lunar and orbital spacecraft programs.

The role requires systems, integration, test, and launch experience, with strong communication skills to interface with NASA, FAA, USAF, NOAA, and commercial customers. Occasional travel and deep collaboration across disciplines are essential.