Principal Program Manager (TS/SCI)

Description

The company builds rockets, spacecraft and critical subsystems for missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond, and moves quickly to build real hardware.

The Space Systems team has supported more than 1,700 missions, from interplanetary exploration and in-space manufacturing to national security and defense work, including spacecraft and components for the Moon and Mars.

This is a Principal Program Manager role with TS/SCI clearance, based at the company's global headquarters in Long Beach, CA. You act as program authority for a sensitive next-generation mission platform, owning the technical roadmap and major programmatic decisions from first prototype through flight qualification and responsive production. You will work closely with the warfighter, turn their hardest problems into concrete technical milestones, and become the central person the program depends on.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead a team that moves time-critical, highly maneuverable mission platforms from concept through qualification, responsive production and flight, and set the technical roadmap for growing the team's core capabilities.
• Run several active programs at once, make architecture decisions with Chief Engineers, resolve hard trade-offs in closed-loop guidance and control, on-board autonomy and propulsion, and work hands-on on the problems that threaten the program most.
• Build an engineering culture where strong people take sensible, healthy risks and the best idea wins regardless of its source, and coach the next generation of program and team leads.
• Own the program P&L on a Firm Fixed Price basis: produce accurate forecasts, meet revenue and margin milestones on time, prepare credible program and capital budgets, and make defensible Make/Buy decisions.
• Manage high-stakes subcontracts and suppliers as strategic partners, protecting schedule and margin.
• Coordinate hardware, software, GNC and mission assurance teams, and clear blockers quickly so the work keeps moving without losing quality.
• Act as the main contact for assigned U.S. Government national security customers, and work with BD & Strategy on proposals and technical narratives for next-generation national security mission systems.

Requirements

• A bachelor's degree in physics, math, science or another technical discipline.
• 12+ years of experience in the aerospace or space industry.
• 8+ years of technical program management experience.
• Depth in at least one of these areas: a proven record taking integrated hardware and software from early prototype to fully qualified, flight-ready platforms; understanding of EO/IR sensing, optical payload architectures or focal plane arrays; familiarity with takt time, line-of-balance, design-for-manufacturing and learning-curve economics; experience finding tooling, supply-chain or yield risks and removing them before they affect throughput; or understanding of RADAR, SAR or advanced communication system architectures.
• Experience spotting technical, schedule or supply-chain risk and removing it before it affects the mission.
• An active TS/SCI clearance.
• Nice to have: a playbook for moving low-volume prototypes into responsive production without losing mission reliability.
• Nice to have: deep experience in National Security Space (NSS) and time-critical mission sets.
• Nice to have: a track record of negotiating, winning and delivering large U.S. Government contracts.
• Nice to have: a master's degree in engineering or a related field, enough to peer-review technical roadmaps.
• Nice to have: fluency in Systems Engineering (trade studies, interface control, requirement integrity) and comfort using Jira, Confluence and ERP to keep program health visible.
• The role may involve long periods of sitting, standing, walking and computer work, and occasional exposure to moderate noise, dust and fumes in production areas.

Conditions

Base pay range for CA: $175,500 - $263,250 USD. Level and base salary are set case by case, based on job-related knowledge, skills, education and experience.

Equal opportunity: applicants are considered without regard to protected characteristics.

For US office roles: to comply with ITAR, you must be a U.S. citizen, a lawful U.S. permanent resident, a lawfully admitted refugee or asylee, or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State and/or Department of Commerce.

For New Zealand office roles: background and nationality checks are carried out before any offer. You must be eligible to access ITAR-regulated equipment and data, which generally means holding citizenship of Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, the European Union, or a NATO member country, without ineligible dual citizenship or nationality.

Benefits

• Company stock as part of total compensation, along with competitive base pay.
• Employee Stock Purchase Program with a 15% discount on company stock.
• Medical plans: HMO, PPO, and a zero-cost HDHP option with a significant HSA company contribution.
• Dental and vision coverage, paid vacation and sick time, 11 paid holidays, and paid parental leave.
• Flexible spending and dependent care accounts, disability and life insurance, and a 401(k) with company match.
• Subsidized EV charging, onsite fitness centers where available, discounted gym memberships, complimentary snacks and drinks, and 50% off the company merch store, plus other employee discounts.