Manager, Spacecraft Mission Execution
Firefly Aerospace· Aerospace & Defense· Oct 5, 2026 · 23d ago
Cedar Park, TX
In office
Full-time
Manager
$151K–$211K est.
12+ years exp
Job description
ABOUT
Firefly Aerospace is a space and defense technology company on a mission to reliably and repeatedly launch, land, and operate space systems from Earth to the Moon and beyond. As the partner of choice for critical space missions, Firefly is the first commercial company to launch a satellite to orbit with 24-hour notice and the first company to achieve a successful Moon landing. Headquartered in north Austin, Texas, Firefly is looking for passionate, hardworking innovators to join our team and help fuel our successful trajectory into space.
SUMMARY
Firefly is seeking an experienced Manager, Spacecraft Mission Execution to lead a team of Mission Managers responsible for the technical and programmatic execution of customer missions across our spacecraft programs, including lunar landers and orbital vehicles. This individual will be an experienced spacecraft mission leader with a strong background in mission integration, payload integration, launch vehicle integration, systems engineering, integration and test, and mission operations.
The Manager, Spacecraft Mission Execution will be responsible for the performance, development, and technical leadership of the Mission Management team while providing senior-level oversight and support for the company’s most complex and strategically important missions. This role will ensure Mission Managers successfully execute customer missions from early formulation and requirements definition through integration, test, launch, and mission operations.
The successful candidate will combine strong people leadership with deep technical and programmatic judgment, providing mentorship and escalation support to Mission Managers, driving consistent execution across missions, and representing Mission Management in cross-functional and leadership-level decisions.
RESPONSIBILITIES
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Lead, manage, and develop a team of Mission Managers responsible for customer mission execution across Firefly spacecraft programs.
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Provide technical and programmatic leadership, mentorship, and escalation support to Mission Managers across missions of varying complexity.
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Assign Mission Managers to programs and customer missions based on mission complexity, technical needs, workload, experience, and development opportunities.
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Establish expectations, provide regular feedback and coaching, conduct performance management, and support career development and progression of Mission Management personnel.
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Drive accountability across the Mission Management team for successful execution of customer commitments, mission milestones, technical deliverables, and overall mission objectives.
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Maintain visibility across the Mission Management portfolio and ensure mission requirements, interfaces, risks, customer commitments, schedules, and key decisions are effectively managed.
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Ensure consistent technical rigor and execution across missions, including requirements management, interface management, verification, integration and test, launch, and mission operations.
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Support Mission Managers in the resolution of complex multidisciplinary technical and programmatic issues spanning spacecraft subsystems, payloads, launch vehicles, ground systems, and operations.
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Review and provide guidance on significant mission-level decisions, requirement changes, waivers, deviations, technical trades, and risks with potential impacts to spacecraft performance, safety, cost, schedule, or mission success.
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Serve as a senior escalation point for NASA, DoD, government, commercial, and other customers and partners when issues require management or cross-organizational resolution.
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Provide technical leadership and coaching for major customer and mission reviews, including design reviews, integration reviews, test readiness reviews, launch readiness reviews, and mission readiness reviews.
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Partner closely with spacecraft engineering, program management, ATLO, mission operations, supply chain, contracts, business development, and other organizations to drive successful mission execution.
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Balance resources and priorities across concurrent missions and identify staffing, capability, or organizational gaps that could affect successful execution.
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Develop and continuously improve Mission Management standards, processes, tools, templates, and best practices across spacecraft programs.
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Capture and apply lessons learned across missions to improve execution, technical decision-making, and customer experience.
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Support new mission formulation, proposals, technical evaluations, customer engagements, and assessment of mission feasibility and execution approach.
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Participate in recruiting, interviewing, hiring, onboarding, and development of Mission Management personnel.
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Represent the Mission Management organization in cross-program technical and organizational initiatives and provide recommendations to leadership regarding mission feasibility, execution strategy, organizational capability, staffing, and risk.
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Provide senior-level support and oversight for particularly complex, high-value, or strategically important missions, including serving as an escalation point for significant technical, programmatic, or customer issues.
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Some travel (
QUALIFICATIONS
Required
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Bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering or related technical field.
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12+ years of experience in aerospace, spacecraft, launch vehicles, payload integration, systems engineering, integration and test, mission operations, or related disciplines.
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Demonstrated experience managing spacecraft missions across the mission lifecycle, including formulation, design, integration and test, launch, and flight operations.
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Extensive experience leading complex spacecraft missions, payload integrations, launch vehicle integrations, or similar multidisciplinary aerospace efforts.
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Demonstrated experience leading and developing technical personnel, including coaching, mentoring, performance management, and career development.
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Demonstrated experience serving as a senior technical and programmatic interface with NASA, DoD, government, commercial, or other aerospace customers.
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Deep understanding of spacecraft systems engineering, mission integration, requirements management, interface management, verification, integration and test, launch, and mission operations.
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Demonstrated ability to provide technical leadership across multiple concurrent missions and effectively prioritize resources, risks, and organizational needs.
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Demonstrated ability to lead multidisciplinary teams through complex technical issues and high-consequence mission decisions.
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Strong understanding of aerospace qualification, acceptance testing, mission assurance, range safety, and system safety processes and standards.
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Demonstrated ability to assess technical decisions at the mission and system level, including impacts to performance, cost, schedule, and risk.
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Strong people leadership skills, including the ability to establish expectations, provide actionable feedback, develop personnel, address performance issues, and build effective teams.
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Exceptional written and verbal communication skills with demonstrated ability to communicate effectively with technical teams, customers, executives, and external organizations.
Desired
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Master’s degree in aerospace engineering, systems engineering, or related field.
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Previous formal people-management experience within an aerospace or highly technical organization.
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Experience leading lunar, deep-space, or other highly complex spacecraft missions.
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Experience leading multi-payload or multi-customer missions.
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Experience with NASA, DoD, or other government mission environments.
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Experience with proposals, business development, mission formulation, customer negotiations, and contract development.
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Experience developing organizational processes, technical standards, staffing strategies, or mission integration best practices.
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