Technical Project Manager III - Lunar Operations

Blue Origin LLC; United States; On-site; USD 130,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

401(k) match

Stock options

Paid time off

Parental leave

Job summary

Blue Origin seeks a technically grounded business planning professional to support lunar transportation programs, sitting at the intersection of systems engineering, program controls, and strategic business analysis. This role requires translating scope into credible cost, schedule, and business cases for long-range planning.

The ideal candidate will lead cross-functional projects, define baselines, drive trade studies, and develop bottoms-up cost estimates and forecasts across lunar production

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or closely related technical discipline.
• Experience leading technical projects end-to-end in aerospace or defense.
• Experience developing cost estimates and BOEs for hardware programs.
• Experience analyzing cost and schedule performance metrics including EVM.
• Strong proficiency in Excel-based modeling; familiarity with planning tools.

Responsibilities

• Lead cross-functional technical projects from initiation through closeout, owning scope, schedule, and delivery accountability.
• Define baselines (WBS, SOW, acceptance criteria) for technical projects.
• Facilitate trade studies, design reviews, and engineering assessments with cost/schedule input.
• Serve as primary liaison between engineering, program leadership, and customers.
• Identify and resolve technical and resource conflicts; escalate with solutions.
• Develop project documentation: plans, risk assessments, interface control documents.
• Mentor junior team members on integrating engineering rigor with program management.
• Develop bottoms-up cost estimates, BOEs, and should-cost models for lunar vehicle production and operations.
• Translate engineering scope into structured cost and labor models; support proposals.
• Conduct baseline analysis across CLINs and configurations to identify cost drivers and risks.
• Maintain assumptions and traceability linking decisions to business impact.
• Analyze cost/schedule performance metrics and forecast completion.
• Develop multi-year cost forecasts; track KPIs for throughput and efficiency.
• Support IBRs, AOP, and LRP with data-driven inputs; scenario modeling.
• Create resource-loaded schedules linking workforce, production rates, and financials.
• Translate hardware progress into financial performance indicators for leadership.

Skills

Mechanical engineering foundation

Cross-functional leadership

Cost estimation

EVM & forecasting

Excel modeling

Project planning tools

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or related technical discipline

Tools

MS Project

Deltek

Job description

Application close date: Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the requisition is closed.

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight!

This role is part of Blue Origin Operations, which is comprised of Integrated Supply Chain, Test Operations, Safety, Quality, and Mission Assurance. This includes Manufacturing and Supply Chain support across all Blue Origin facilities.

We are seeking a technically grounded business planning professional to support the planning, analysis, and execution management of lunar transportation and surface operations programs. This role sits at the intersection of systems engineering, program controls, and strategic business analysis — requiring equal fluency in vehicle hardware realities and financial/programmatic frameworks.

The ideal candidate brings a mechanical engineering foundation, has operated within complex aerospace development programs, and can lead technical projects while translating scope into credible cost, schedule, and business cases — including long-range forecasting and performance metric analysis that inform annual and multi-year operational planning.

Key Responsibilities

-Technical Project Leadership - Lead cross-functional technical projects from initiation through closeout, owning scope definition, schedule, resource planning, and delivery accountability

-Define and manage technical project baselines, including work breakdown structures (WBS), statement of work (SOW) boundaries, and acceptance criteria

-Drive technical decision-making by facilitating trade studies, design reviews, and engineering assessments — integrating cost and schedule implications into each decision

-Serve as the primary point of contact between engineering teams, program leadership, and customers for assigned technical project efforts

-Identify and resolve technical, programmatic, and resource conflicts that affect project execution, escalating to leadership with recommended solutions

-Lead development of technical project documentation including project plans, risk assessments, interface control documents, and closure reports

-Mentor junior team members on technical project execution practices and the integration of engineering rigor with program management discipline

-Business Planning & Analysis - Develop and maintain bottoms-up cost estimates, basis of estimates (BOEs), and should-cost models for lunar vehicle production, NRE, and operations

-Translate engineering scope — including vehicle configurations, drawing counts, tooling requirements, and build flow assumptions — into structured cost and labor models

-Support proposal development, including assumption documentation, labor hour derivation, and cost narrative writing

-Conduct comparative analysis across program baselines, contract CLINs, and evolving vehicle configurations to identify cost drivers, gaps, and risks

-Build and maintain assumption sets and traceability matrices that link technical decisions to business impact

-Cost & Schedule Metric Analysis - Develop, maintain, and analyze cost and schedule performance metrics — including Earned Value Management (EVM) indices (CPI, SPI, TCPI) — to assess program health and forecast completion

-Build and maintain annual and multi-year cost forecasts, integrating actuals, commitments, and estimate-at-completion (EAC) projections across lunar program workstreams

-Establish and track key performance indicators (KPIs) for production throughput, labor efficiency, NRE burn rate, and schedule adherence across vehicle build campaigns

-Identify unfavorable cost or schedule trends early and develop variance analysis narratives that clearly communicate root cause and corrective action to program leadership

-Support integrated baseline reviews (IBRs), annual operating plan (AOP) cycles, and long-range planning (LRP) processes with data-driven inputs and scenario modeling

-Develop multi-year resource-loaded schedules that link workforce plans, production rates, and facility utilization to financial forecasts

-Maintain rolling forecast models that reflect changing vehicle configurations, contract modifications, and program priorities — ensuring planning assumptions remain current and defensible

-Program Management Support - Track program status across hardware, NRE, and operational workstreams; maintain integrated schedules and identify critical path risks

-Support milestone planning, gate reviews, and customer reporting deliverables

-Manage action item tracking, risk registers, and issue resolution across cross-functional teams

-Coordinate between engineering, manufacturing, finance, and contracts to ensure alignment on scope, cost, and schedule baselines

-Support contract management activities including CLIN structure analysis, scope change documentation, and should-cost benchmarking

-Technical Liaison & Systems Understanding - Apply mechanical engineering knowledge to assess feasibility and cost realism of production and assembly assumptions (e.g., tooling requirements, build flow constraints, structural test article scope)

-Engage directly with engineering teams to understand vehicle maturity, drawing release status, and configuration changes — and reflect these in planning models and forecasts

-Review and interpret engineering documentation, assembly flows, and design-to-cost trade studies to inform business planning inputs

-Support facility and production capacity planning, including assessment of assembly constraints (e.g., processing facility utilization, shift structures, tooling sets)

-Translate hardware technical progress and production metrics into financial performance indicators for leadership reporting

Required Qualifications

-Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or closely related technical discipline

-7+ years of experience in aerospace or defense programs spanning engineering, program management, or business operations roles

-Demonstrated experience leading technical projects end-to-end, including scope, schedule, resource, and stakeholder management in a cross-functional environment

-Demonstrated experience developing cost estimates or BOEs for complex hardware development or production programs

-Experience developing and analyzing cost and schedule performance metrics, including EVM, variance analysis, and multi-year forecasting

-Strong proficiency in Excel-based modeling; experience with program planning tools (e.g., MS Project, Deltek, or equivalent)

-Ability to read and interpret engineering drawings, assembly documentation, and program schedules

-Experience supporting proposals, contract deliverables, annual operating plans, or customer-facing program reviews

Preferred Qualifications

-Experience in space launch, lunar, or human spaceflight programs

-Familiarity with production learning curve methodology, touch labor modeling, and NRE estimation frameworks

-Experience supporting Integrated Baseline Reviews (IBRs) or formal EVM reporting on government contracts

-Exposure to contract types and structures common to NASA or civil space programs (e.g., CPFF, FFP, IDIQ)

-Experience developing long-range plans (LRPs) or multi-year resource-loaded forecasts in a production or development environment

-Experience leading technical teams or projects in a matrixed organization without direct line authority

-PMI PMP certification, INCOSE CSEP, or equivalent program management or systems engineering credential

-Experience working across engineering and finance organizations in a matrixed environment

What Sets This Role Apart

This is not a pure finance role, a pure engineering role, or a pure PM role. Success requires someone who can lead a technical project, walk a production floor, understand what it costs to build a piece of flight hardware, and then articulate that story clearly to program leadership and customers — both in the near term and across a multi-year horizon. The work directly supports planning, performance tracking, and forecasting for lunar surface access missions, one of the most technically and programmatically complex endeavors in the current aerospace landscape.

Culture Statement

Don’t meet all desired requirements? Studies have shown that some people are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single desired qualification. At Blue Origin, we are dedicated to building an authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every desired qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Export Control Regulations

Applicants for employment at Blue Origin must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e. current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum. Background Check Required for all positions: Blue’s Standard Background Check Required for Certain Job Profiles: Defense Biometric Identification System (DBIDS) background check if at any time the role requires one to be on a military installation Required for Certain Job Profiles: Drivers who operate Commercial Motor Vehicles with a Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW), Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) or combination of power unit and trailer that meets or exceeds 10,001 lbs. and/or transports placardable amounts of hazardous materials by ground in any vehicle on a public road while in commerce, may be subject to additional Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations including: Driver Qualification Files, Medical Certification (obtained before onboarding), Road Test, Hours of Service, Drug and Alcohol Testing, vehicle inspection requirements, CDL requirements (if applicable) and hazardous materials transportation/shipping training. Required for certain Job Profiles: Ability to obtain and maintain Merchant Mariner Credential, which includes pre-employment and random drug testing as well as DOT physical.

Benefits

• Benefits include: Medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability, 401(k) with a company match of up to 5%, and an Education Support Program.
• Stock Options for all regular employees (working at least 20 hours/week)
• Paid Time Off: Up to four (4) weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours, and up to 14 company-paid holidays.
• Dependent on role type and job level, employees may be eligible for benefits and bonuses based on the company's intent to reward individual contributions and enable them to share in the company's results, or other factors at the company's sole discretion.
• Bonus amounts and eligibility are not guaranteed and subject to change and cancellation. Please check with your recruiter for more details.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Blue Origin is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and is committed to attracting, retaining, and developing a highly qualified and dedicated work force. Blue Origin hires and promotes people on the basis of their qualifications, performance, and abilities. We support the establishment and maintenance of a workplace that fosters trust, equality, and teamwork. We provide all qualified applicants for employment and employees with equal opportunities for hire, promotion, and other terms and conditions of employment, regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin/ethnicity, age, physical or mental disability, genetic factors, military/veteran status, or any other status or characteristic protected by federal, state, and/or local law. Blue Origin will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws, including the Washington Fair Chance Act, the California Fair Chance Act, the Los Angeles Fair Chance in Hiring Ordinance, and other applicable laws. For more information on “Know Your Rights,” please see here.

U.S. Applicant Privacy Notice EU Applicant Privacy Notice

We’re committed to building the road to space so our children can build the future. We are a mission-driven company focused on ideas and innovation, and encourage fresh perspectives from bold voices. At Blue, our team is building the future as their unique selves. Thank you for your interest in working at Blue Origin! Blue Origin was founded with a vision to enable a future where millions of people are living and working in space to benefit Earth. In order to preserve Earth, Blue Origin believes in the need to enable humanity to expand, explore, find new energy and material resources, and move industries that stress Earth into space. Blue Origin believes it has an important role in building a road to space and lowering the cost of getting there. At Blue Origin, we’re working on this today by developing fully reusable launch vehicles and systems that are safe, reliable and affordable. Every launch vehicle is designed for human spaceflight from the beginning and able to ferry payloads to space.