Director, Mission Engineering & Management

Long Beach, CAfull timeOn Site

Apply on Employer Site

senior

$189k–$268k

H1B: no

Vast Director, Mission Engineering & Management at Vast owns program and mission execution for a new constellation-ready spacecraft bus product line. The role manages schedule, requirements, budgets, customer relationships, and launch campaign planning.

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)
Coordinate spectrum licensing for confirmed and TBD customer payloads

Qualification

3+ years of program managementComfortable with fast-pacedAble to obtain a security clearancePay Range$188

Required

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

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
Pay Range: California
$188,600—$267,720 USD
We calibrate level and compensation to the selected candidate's experience and demonstrated capability. We welcome applicants across a range of experience levels to apply.