Director, Mission Engineering & Management

Vast is seeking a Director, Mission Engineering & Management to own program and mission execution for a new constellation-ready spacecraft bus product line. Our first mission is a 10-satellite demo launch — the plan is to scale to hundreds of spacecraft per year.

We're developing a new constellation-ready 15kW spacecraft bus, with our first mission being a 10-satellite demo launch in Q4 2027 — multiple customer payloads, and a product line designed to scale to hundreds of spacecraft per year. This role owns the program and mission execution side: schedule, requirements, budgets, customer relationships, and launch campaign planning. You're the counterpart to the Director of Engineering — they deliver the hardware, you deliver the mission.

Between the two of you, systems engineering is covered. You own system-level requirements and interfaces, and you own whether engineering's bottoms-up budgets close against what the mission demands. You're the internal voice of the customer — pressure-testing engineering decisions against requirements, then representing the program to customers with well-formed positions. You manage the program schedule, track critical path, and keep customers aligned. You're the person who knows whether the program is on track and what to do when it isn't. You're also the technical counterpart to business development — when we pursue new missions, you ensure what we sign up to is executable before we commit.

This is a full-time, exempt position located in our Long Beach location.

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
• 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

Within your first 6 weeks:

• Baseline the IMS and critical path with the Director of Engineering
• Establish customer relationships and understand payload requirements status for all 10 manifest slots (6 confirmed, 4 TBD)
• Take ownership of system budgets and identify any that aren't closed with margin
• Understand the facility planning timeline and flag any gaps
• Take ownership of program execution — drive schedule, customer relationships, and cross-functional coordination

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