Technical Program Manager

Cowboy Space; San Carlos (CA); On-site; CAD 219,000 - 257,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Health insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401(k)

Paid time off

Holidays

Parental leave

Relocation assistance

Daily lunch

Job summary

Cowboy Space Corp. is seeking a Technical Program Manager to connect our engineering teams and drive a launch vehicle program from early development through production.

You will own the master schedule, manage costs, and keep a small team of senior engineers sequenced and unblocked, ensuring timely conversations and decisions.

Qualifications

• 2–5 years of program management, systems engineering, or technical operations experience.
• Strong technical intuition; understand why turbopump tests matter to the vehicle schedule.
• Exceptional written communication skills.
• Bias toward action; proactive in finding answers.
• Comfortable operating with ambiguity and incomplete information.
• Experience with scheduling tools such as MS Project or Smartsheet.
• Highly organized; nothing gets lost.

Responsibilities

• Own and maintain the integrated program schedule across propulsion, structures, avionics, and vehicle design
• Track costs against budget and flag variances early
• Run standups, syncs, and program reviews — keep them short and useful
• Identify and resolve blockers between teams before they become problems
• Sequence work across disciplines for proper order of long-lead items and reviews
• Create and maintain decision logs, action items, and interface agreements
• Communicate status up, down, and sideways — no one should be surprised

Skills

Program management

Systems engineering

Technical operations

Scheduling tools

MS Project

Smartsheet

Communication skills

Bias toward action

Ambiguity tolerance

Organization

Tools

MS Project

Smartsheet

Job description

About Cowboy Space Corp:

Mission

Cowboy Space Corporation is solving the global energy crisis by building the infrastructure for abundant, resilient space-based solar energy. We are tackling one of humanity’s most complex engineering challenges with a world-class team dedicated to delivering a revolutionary power platform. Cowboy Space Corporation is transforming how civilization powers, computes and connects - from orbit to Earth.

Background

Cowboy Space Corporation is building the infrastructure to power and connect the orbital economy. Our modular, scalable satellites collect sunlight in Low Earth Orbit to enable multiple integrated applications: transmitting energy via infrared lasers (space-to-earth and space-to-space), powering on-orbit high-performance computing clusters (GPU/TPU), and providing secure, high bandwidth optical data transport.
Current energy and data systems rely on complex logistics and outdated infrastructure. Cowboy Space Corporation overcomes these challenges by enabling direct, on-demand, secure, and scalable energy distribution and data processing from space. This will revolutionize how we operate in orbit and on Earth, supporting the rapidly expanding space industrial base, ISAM (In-Space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing) operations, remote regions, and military bases.
Baiju Bhatt founded Cowboy Space Corporation in 2024. Inspired by his father’s work with NASA Langley Research Center, Baiju earned his B.S. in Physics and M.S. in Mathematics at Stanford before co-founding Robinhood, now a public company that has helped over 20 million Americans access the financial system. Cowboy Space Corporation has raised ~$365 million from Index Ventures, Interlagos, Construct Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, and others.
This is an ambitious mission that demands extraordinary talent. Cowboy Space Corporation ’s team has worked at places like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Stoke Space, Astranis and NASA, and is based in San Carlos, CA. If you're ready to solve complex technical challenges and help build the most important energy company in the world, we want to hear from you.

About the Role

We're looking for a Technical Program Manager to be the connective tissue across our engineering team. You will help drive a launch vehicle program from early development through production. This role is a hands‑on coordination job where you're making sure nothing falls through the cracks.

You'll own the master schedule, drive cost tracking, and most importantly, keep a small team of senior engineers sequenced and unblocked. The engineering leadership knows what needs to be done. We need someone who will relentlessly track progress, flag conflicts early, and make sure the right conversations happen at the right time.

What You’ll Do

• Own and maintain the integrated program schedule across propulsion, structures, avionics, and vehicle design

• Track costs against budget and flag variances early

• Run standups, syncs, and program reviews — keep them short and useful

• Be the person who notices when Team A's deliverable is blocking Team B and brokers the resolution before it becomes a problem

• Sequence work across disciplines so that long‑lead items, test campaigns, and design reviews happen in the right order

• Create and maintain clear documentation: decision logs, action items, interface agreements

• Communicate status up, down, and sideways — no one should be surprised

Basic Qualifications:

• 2-5 years of experience in program management, systems engineering, or technical operations — aerospace preferred but not required

• Strong technical intuition — you don't need to run CFD but you need to understand why a turbopump test matters to the vehicle schedule

• Exceptional communication skills, especially written

• Bias toward action — you chase answers, you don't wait for them

• Comfortable operating with ambiguity and incomplete information

• Experience with scheduling tools (MS Project, Smartsheet, or similar)

• Organized to a fault — nothing gets lost in your world

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience at a startup or small hardware company where you wore multiple hats

• Familiarity with rocket propulsion or launch vehicle development

• Experience cost/schedule tracking frameworks

• Background in systems engineering or integration roles

Compensation and Benefits

The salary range for this position is $157,000 – $184,000 annually. The actual base salary offered will depend on factors such as job-related skills, experience, qualifications, and internal equity.

• Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.

• Employees and their eligible dependents may enroll in medical, dental, and vision insurance

• 401(k) retirement savings plan

• Paid time off

• 10 paid holidays per calendar year

• Paid parental leave

• Relocation assistance if applicable

• Daily lunch in the office and a fully stocked kitchen with beverages and snacks

ITAR Requirements

• Export Control Requirement: To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), applicants 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 ITAR here.

Disclaimer

This job description is a summary of the primary duties and responsibilities of the job and position. It is not intended to be a comprehensive or all-inclusive listing of duties and responsibilities. Contents are subject to change at Cowboy Space Corp.’s discretion.

Cowboy Space Corp. is an equal employment opportunity employer. We consider individuals for employment or promotion according to their skills, abilities and experience. Cowboy Space Corp. is committed to complying with all applicable laws prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religious creed, age, national origin, ancestry, physical, mental or developmental disability, sex (which includes pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding and medical conditions relating to pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding), veteran status, military status, marital or registered domestic partnership status, medical condition (including cancer or genetic characteristics), genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, as well as any other category protected by federal, state or local laws.