Technical Product & Delivery Lead 3 (Ground Software - Automation)

United Launch Alliance, LLC.; Centennial (CO); On-site; USD 113,000 - 189,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) match + employer contribution

Discretionary annual incentive bonus

Generous paid time off

Flexible work environments

9/80 schedule work cadence

Job summary

United Launch Alliance seeks a Technical Product & Delivery Lead 3 (Ground Software - Automation) to translate program features into actionable stories for an engineering team. You will own the backlog, craft epics, and guide sprint planning with Tech Leads, Architects, and Product Managers to ensure delivery excellence.

You will collaborate on cloud, CI/CD, and automation initiatives, drive metrics for predictability, and mentor teammates to raise delivery quality.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a STEM field from an accredited college/university.
• Strong backlog management and story-writing discipline; execution-level detail.
• Ability to discuss feasibility and tradeoffs with Tech Leads and Architects.
• Clear communication between business stakeholders and delivery teams.
• Experience in Scrum/SAFe product ownership and delivery leadership.

Responsibilities

• Own and maintain team backlog aligned with program priorities.
• Write and refine epics and user stories with clear acceptance criteria.
• Represent customer/business needs in Agile ceremonies and decisions.
• Lead sprint planning, delivery, and roadmap execution; manage dependencies.
• Accept work against criteria and escalate conflicts as needed.
• Develop and maintain RAID logs and drive continuous improvement.
• Facilitate onboarding and upskilling for new members.
• Lead cross-team coordination for migrations, modernization, and ops readiness (GitLab migrations, cloud ops).

Skills

Backlog management

Story writing

SAFe/Scrum

Cloud infrastructure

CI/CD pipelines

SCM / DevSecOps

GitLab / Bamboo / SonarQube / JFrog

Metrics & delivery predictability

Education

Bachelor's degree in STEM

Tools

GitLab

Bamboo

SonarQube

JFrog

AWS / EKS

CI/CD pipelines

SCM tooling

Ansible (possibly)

Job description

Job Overview & Responsibilities

At ULA, the Technical Product & Delivery Lead 3 (Ground Software - Automation) is responsible for translating program-level features and priorities into actionable, well-defined stories for an engineering team within the Software Engineering organization at ULA. This role is pivotal in ensuring delivery excellence, technical alignment, and stakeholder satisfaction. The TPD operates at the intersection of business needs and technical execution, collaborating closely with Tech Leads, Solution Architects, Product Managers, and end users.

Key Responsibilities

• Own and maintain the team-level backlog, ensuring alignment with Program Backlog priorities and strategic objectives.
• Write and refine epics and user stories with clear acceptance criteria and definition of done, collaborating with Tech Leads for technical feasibility and sequencing.
• Represent the voice of the customer and business needs in day-to-day team decisions and Agile ceremonies.
• Lead sprint planning, delivery, and roadmap execution, coordinating dependencies and managing stakeholder priorities.
• Accept completed work against acceptance criteria, elevate scope or priority conflicts as needed, and produce reporting for assigned areas.
• Develop and maintain RAID logs, support continuous improvement, and drive measurable outcomes across delivery scope.
• Facilitate onboarding, enablement, and upskilling for new team members and roles.
• Lead cross-team coordination for migration, modernization, and operational support initiatives (e.g., GitLab migrations, cloud ops readiness, build pipeline reliability).

Required Education

Bachelor

Required Years of Experience

Minimum of 4 years of related work experience

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) field from an accredited college or university
• Strong backlog management and story-writing discipline; comfortable operating at execution-level detail.
• Technical fluency to engage substantively with Tech Leads and Solution Architects about feasibility and tradeoffs.
• Clear communicator, able to translate between business stakeholders and delivery teams.
• Experience in a Scrum/SAFe team-level Product Owner capacity.
• Demonstrated ability to lead team delivery, coordinate dependencies, and manage stakeholder priorities.
• Consistent, high-quality work; dependable and proactive.
• Strong ability to leverage metrics (burnup/down, unplanned vs planned work) to improve predictability and delivery quality.

Preferred Qualifications

• Proven capability to work with architects to define medium and long-term technical roadmaps and convert them into actionable backlog updates.
• Experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS/EKS), CI/CD pipelines, Software Configuration Management (SCM), and DevSecOps practices.
• Familiarity with migration leadership, build discipline, and operational support excellence.
• Exposure to configuration management, version control, and automation tools (e.g., GitLab, Bamboo, SonarQube, JFrog).
• Ability to drive continuous improvement, mentor peers, and propose scalable solutions.
• Deep, hands-on experience leading vision across stakeholders and workflows.
• Trusted to own and evolve complex business logic and domain features; recognized for system-level thinking and proactive risk identification.
• Demonstrated experience reviewing and improving software delivery processes, including automation opportunities, procedural refinements, and system level conversions.
• Ability to support and enhance Software Configuration Management (SCM) team-owned products such as Ansible playbooks, containerized test environments, and automated population of configuration data.
• Proven track record in driving configuration integrity, reproducibility, and deployment readiness across multiteam mission workflows.
• Experience analyzing and updating backlogs for SCM related work, including dependency mapping, upcoming epics, and workflow documentation.
• Strong systems thinking ability to understand where SCM fits within ULA Software Engineering teams and ensure alignment with downstream consumers.

Summary Salary Range (forULA - Denver)

$113,122.00 - $188,537.00

Please note that the salary information shown above is a general guideline only. Salaries are based upon a candidate's experience and qualifications, as well as internal equity, market and business considerations. Employees may be eligible for a discretionary annual bonus in addition to base pay.

What makes ULA different?

Because we understand launch success comes through the collective efforts of a team, we seek the best to join us. We value ethics, ingenuity, engagement and professional development for employees at all levels.

We offer our employees competitive pay and benefits including:

• 401(k) match plus an additional employer contribution
• Discretionary annual incentive bonus for eligible employees
• Generous paid time off
• Flexible work environments

Additionally, most salaried ULA team members work a "9/80 schedule," meaning they enjoy every other Friday off.

Benefits and work schedules may vary for union-represented hourly positions and are described in the applicable collective bargaining agreement.

The application period for the job is estimated to be 20 days from the job posting date. However, this timeline may be shortened or extended depending on business needs and the availability of qualified candidates.

Security Clearance / International Traffic In Arms Regulations (ITAR)

This position requires use of information which is subject to the International Traffic In Arms Regulations (ITAR). Therefore, all applicants must be U.S. Persons as defined in ITAR 22 CFR 120.62 (e.g., U.S. Citizen, Lawful Permanent Resident (Green Card holder) or protected individual. See 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(20) and 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3) for additional information.

ULA is an Equal Opportunity Employer

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment.

ULA is a participant in the federal E-Verify Program

Posters in PDF format pertaining to this program can be accessed by clicking on the links identified below. E-Verify Participation poster (English / Spanish) and Right to Work Poster (English / Spanish).

Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act

requires covered employees to follow a post selection notification process. A hired candidate may opt out of this process by notifying the hiring manager in writing at the time the offer is accepted