Special Projects Lead

Castelion Corporation; Torrance (CA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading defense company seeks a Special Projects Lead to drive strategic direction and operationalize special projects, focusing on building physical infrastructure for next-gen defense systems. This role requires engineering expertise, project management skills, and a proven ability to deliver exceptional outcomes in challenging environments.

Benefits

Long-term stock incentives

Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental insurance

Three weeks of paid time off per year

Qualifications

• At least 2 years of professional experience in engineering, operations, product, or program management.
• Proven ability to work cross-functionally and drive complex projects from idea to execution.
• Ability to drive projects to exceptional outcomes in high-pressure environments.

Responsibilities

• Work directly with the founding team to define and articulate the company's strategic direction.
• Scope, launch, and operationalize special projects like R&D and manufacturing spaces.
• Shape internal processes to scale speed without compromising quality.

Skills

Creative Problem Solving

Project Management

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering

Job description

Castelion is bringing a new approach to defense development and production: one that focuses on short, iterative design cycles, rapid testing in development, and modern commercial manufacturing strategies for production at scale. Were designing, building, and testing next generation long range strike weapons systems to give America and its Allies a definitive edge and deter future conflicts.

Special Projects Lead

Were looking for a Special Projects Leada sharp, execution-oriented generalist who lives at the intersection of strategy, operations, and product. This role reports directly to company leadership and is a unique opportunity to help shape and scale Castelions long-term vision from the ground up.

Youll be our force multiplier across high-leverage efforts, with an initial focus on building the physical infrastructure to accelerate how we prototype and produce next-generation defense systems.

Castelion is at a rare inflection point. Weve proven that small teams can ship meaningful defense capability fast. Now, we're building the backbone to do it at scale. Youll help us get thereand shape what the next decade of defense innovation looks like.

Responsibilities

• Work directly with the founding team to define and articulate Castelions strategic direction.
• Scope, launch, and operationalize special projectsstarting with physical environments like R&D and manufacturing spaces that bring our vision into reality.
• Serve as connective tissue between product, engineering, and operationstranslating big ideas into precise execution.
• Shape internal processes to scale speed without compromising quality or clarity.
• Help tell the Castelion storyto internal teams, key partners, and the broader ecosystem.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in engineering, applied science, or a related technical field
• At least 2 years of professional experience in engineering, operations, product, or program managementideally in fast-paced, highly technical environments
• A proven ability to work cross-functionally and drive complex projects from idea to execution
• A track record of driving projects to exceptional outcomes, especially in ambiguous or high-pressure environments, whether through technical excellence, operational creativity, or sheer executional grit.

All employees are granted long-term stock incentives as part of their employment as Castelion. All employees receive access to comprehensive medical, vision, and dental insurance, and the company offers three weeks of paid time off per year.

Leadership Qualities

Bias to Action and Creative Problem Solving. Desire and experience questioning assumptions in ways that lead to break through ideas that are ultimately implemented. Successfully bring in applicable processes/concepts/materials from other industries to achieve efficiency gains. The ability to personally resolve minor issues in development without requiring significant support.

High Commitment, High Initiative. A successful candidate will have a genuine passion for Castelions mission and consistently look for ways to contribute to the companys technical goals and prevent hardware blockers. Ability to work in a fast paced, autonomously driven, and demanding atmosphere. Strong sense of accountability and integrity.

Clear Communicator. Proactively communicates blockers. Trusted in previous roles to be voice of company with regulators, suppliers, gate keepers and customers. Capable of tactfully managing relationships with stakeholders to achieve company-desired outcomes without compromising relationships. Emails, IMs and verbal interactions are logical, drive clarity, and detailed enough to eliminate ambiguity.

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.

Employment with Castelion is governed on the basis of 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.