DirectJobHub
Jobs · Engineering · California

Director, Mission Engineering & Management

Vast · Long Beach, CA · 2 wk ago
On-siteEngineering$189k–$268k/yrFull-time

Responsibilities

  • Own and maintain the integrated master schedule (IMS), critical path analysis, and milestone tracking
  • Own system-level requirements — capture in the digital twin toolchain, flow down to subsystem teams
  • Own system budget closure against mission and customer requirements — engineering maintains the bottoms-up budgets (mass, power, data, link), you own whether they close with adequate margin and drive resolution when they don't
  • Represent the customer and mission perspective within engineering — challenge system trades and design decisions against requirements, build consensus with the engineering team, and bring well-formed positions to customer negotiations
  • Manage customer interface — payload requirements, ICD negotiations, and schedule alignment across all manifest slots
  • Manage the satellite manifest — which sat gets which payload, build order, configuration tracking
  • Negotiate launch contracts and manage the launch vehicle provider relationship
  • Plan and coordinate the launch campaign — launch site logistics, range compliance, satellite shipping and stacking sequence
  • Plan facility readiness — engineering offices, avionics lab, manufacturing floor, clean room, TVAC, vibe, integration bay
  • Track risks, action items, and review close-out across all design reviews
  • Manage L-minus milestone tracking (L-180 through L-14)
  • Clock spectrum licensing for confirmed and TBD customer payloads
  • Own status reporting — weekly cadence, management visibility
  • Partner with business development as the technical counterpart on proposals and new business — ensure what we sign up to is executable before we commit
  • Track vendor delivery schedules with the procurement lead

Qualifications

  • Minimum Qualifications:
    • Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a related technical discipline
    • 8+ years of engineering experience in aerospace or defense
    • 3+ years of program management, mission engineering, or systems engineering leadership experience
    • Experience running satellite or complex hardware delivery programs — schedule, cost, customer management
    • Strong systems engineering background — you can own requirements, budgets, and interfaces, not just track them
    • Experience managing multi-unit builds (constellation, batch production, or similar)
    • Managed customer and launch vehicle provider relationships
    • Comfortable with fast-paced, lean programs — you're the kind of person who runs the schedule in a spreadsheet before the formal tools are set up
    • Strong written and verbal communication — you'll represent the program to customers and leadership

Preferred Skills & Experience

  • Able to obtain a security clearance
  • Launch campaign experience (any launch provider)
  • Payload accommodation and ICD negotiation experience across multiple customer types
  • Experience with launch site facility operations
  • Spectrum licensing and regulatory coordination

Compensation and Benefits

Pay Range: California
$188,600 - $267,720 USD

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS
Base salary will vary depending on job-related knowledge, education, skills, experience, business needs, and market demand. Salary is just one component of our comprehensive compensation package. Full-time employees also receive company equity, as well as access to a full suite of compelling benefits and perks, including: medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents, generous paid time off; up to 20+ days of vacation for exempt staff and up to 10+ days of vacation for non-exempt staff with the ability to cash-out unused vacation annually, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability insurance, life insurance, access to a 401(k) retirement plan, ClassPass credits, personalized mental healthcare through Spring Health, and other discounts and perks. We also take pride in offering exceptional food perks, with snacks, drip coffee & onsite barista, cold drinks, and dinner meals remaining free of charge, and lunch subsidized as part of Vast’s ongoing commitment to providing high-quality meals for employees.

EEO Statement

Vast is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Vast is governed on the basis of merit, 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.

Similar jobs