Staff Mission Manager

Kindredventures; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 161,000 - 221,000; Full time

Job summary

Inversion, based in Playa Vista, CA, seeks a Mission Manager to serve as the primary engineering and programmatic contact for customers from early capabilities studies through launch, on-orbit operations, re-entry, and recovery.

You will lead requirements verification, mission design, vehicle development and testing, collaborating with a diverse engineering team to meet customer requirements and ensure on-time mission success.

Qualifications

• Minimum bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering or related technical discipline.
• 9+ years of direct engineering experience in launch vehicles, reentry systems, or hypersonic flight regimes.
• Proven ability to bridge business objectives and hardware constraints in fast-paced environments.
• Strong written and verbal communication, with ability to author ICDs and verification plans.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical and programmatic execution from contract award through integration, test, launch, operations, and re-entry.
• Serve as the primary technical authority for the mission with deep understanding of vehicle design and subsystems.
• Support proposals by aligning missions with long-term strategic vision and executable requirements.
• Interface with internal teams to drive technical closure, risk mitigation, and on-time mission success.
• Collaborate with engineering to evaluate readiness and impact of changes on margins and schedules.
• Work with customers to resolve technical and programmatic issues with a results-oriented approach.
• Manage multiple programs and priorities concurrently.

Education

Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering

Master’s degree in engineering

Job description

Turning Space into a Transportation Layer for Earth

Who We Are:

Inversion builds advanced reentry systems to deliver next-generation capabilities from space.

Our mission is to make Earth radically more accessible by turning Low-Earth Orbit into an on-demand logistics domain. We see space not as a destination, but as a platform — one that unlocks unprecedented speed and global reach.

Our spacecraft are designed to deliver payloads anywhere on Earth in under an hour, operating through extreme reentry conditions and landing with high precision. These systems open the door to new ways of testing, delivering, and operating at hypersonic speeds.

Inherently dual-use, our technology is built to meet urgent national security needs while laying the groundwork for future commercial applications. Backed by leading investors including Y Combinator, Spark Capital, and Lockheed Martin Ventures, and working with partners such as the U.S. Space Force and NASA, Inversion is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in space-based defense and logistics.

What You’ll Do:

As a Mission Manager, you will serve as the primary engineering and programmatic point of contact for customers from early capabilities studies through launch, on-orbit operations, re-entry, and recovery. You will support new business proposals by leading initial requirements verification, mission design, vehicle development, and testing. You will work directly with the engineering team from diverse fields to quickly iterate on solutions and ensure customer requirements are met.

Responsibilities:

• Lead technical and programmatic execution from contract award through integration, integrated test, launch, operations, and re-entry, ensuring all contract requirements are met.
• Serve as the primary technical authority for the mission, deeply understanding the vehicle’s design, constraints, and subsystem dependencies (e.g., GNC, thermal protection systems, propulsion, avionics).
• Support proposal efforts to align new missions with long-term strategic vision, ensuring complex contract requirements are executable.
• Interface with internal engineering, production, and mission assurance teams to drive technical closure, anomaly resolution, and on-time mission success.
• Collaborate with engineering to evaluate vehicle readiness, performing risk and trade studies on how changes impact system requirements, margin, and launch schedules.
• Work with the customer to mitigate and resolve technical and programmatic issues that arise with a success-oriented approach and resolution.
• Manage multiple programs and competing technical priorities concurrently.

Required Qualifications:

• Minimum of a bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Typically 9+ years of direct engineering experience within launch vehicles, reentry systems, or hypersonic flight regimes, with a proven track record of leading complex aerospace projects or systems engineering blocks.
• Technical understanding of aerodynamics, aerothermal environments, high-temperature structures, or precision recovery operations.
• Experience acting as the primary technical and programmatic interface of a program to an external customer or government stakeholder.
• Proven ability to bridge the gap between business objectives and hardware engineering constraints in a fast-paced environment.
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, with a demonstrated ability to author technical interface control documents (ICDs) and complex verification plans.

Desired Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in an engineering discipline.
• Direct experience managing complex technical acquisitions or mission integration milestones with government agencies (e.g., DoD, NASA, FAA-AST).
• 12+ years of applicable aerospace experience spanning both hands-on hardware development and technical leadership.
• Strong interpersonal skills, with a proven ability to challenge technical assumptions constructively and align multi-disciplinary engineering teams toward mission-critical milestones.

Our office headquarters is located in Playa Vista, CA. This position requires in office presence.

The California annual base salary for this role is currently $161,000 - $221,000. Pay Grades are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual pay will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: interviews and an assessment of several factors that are unique to each candidate, job-related skills, relevant education and experience, certifications, abilities of the candidate and internal equity.

ITAR Compliance:

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 the ITAR here.

Equal Employment Opportunity:

Inversion provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, veteran status, or disability.

Inversion collects and processes personal data in accordance with applicable data protection laws. If you are a US Job Applicant see the CCPA Privacy Policy Notice for further details.