Senior Program Manager II - Laser Communications

Description

The company designs and builds rockets, spacecraft and key subsystems for missions that connect and protect people and reach toward the Moon, Mars and beyond.

The Space Systems group makes complete spacecraft, precision payloads and components such as solar arrays, flight software, star trackers, optical systems, separation systems, radios and laser communication terminals.

That group has supported more than 1,700 missions, from interplanetary exploration and in-space manufacturing to national security work, with partners including NASA, the Space Development Agency and the U.S. Space Force.

The role sits in the laser communications line, which supplies optical terminals to commercial and government constellations. Demand is growing quickly, and the company is scaling a proven standard terminal to meet it.

Based at the company's global headquarters in Long Beach, CA, you will own delivery for the optical communication terminal programs and act as the main contact for each customer, working across the U.S. and Europe.

Responsibilities

• Lead each terminal program from award through qualification, production at rate, delivery and on-orbit checkout, covering both current production and next-generation variants.
• Keep each program on its plan, meeting its schedule, technical performance and every customer commitment.
• Run several customer programs at once. Work with Chief Engineers on link performance, data rate, SWaP, environmental qualification and optical terminal interoperability, and get hands-on with the hardest delivery problems.
• Own the delivery rate of each program. Spot supplier, yield and test capacity risks early and close them with Operations and the Product team.
• Work with Supply Chain to manage critical suppliers as strategic partners, building the relationships and accountability that protect customer deliveries.
• Run program startup and baselining, milestone and qualification reviews, export and ITAR obligations with Trade Compliance, customer acceptance and closeout.
• Be the trusted contact for customers through milestone reviews, interoperability campaigns, acceptance and delivery. Support BD & Strategy on proposals and the Product team on pricing and configuration, bringing the customer view to each decision.
• Mentor people, set a high bar for customer service, and help grow the program leaders who will run future laser communications programs.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Physics or Math.
• Working understanding of free-space optical or RF communications, including link budgets, pointing, acquisition and tracking, modems and coding, and space or airborne environmental qualification.
• 8+ years on space, aerospace or photonics hardware programs, covering multiple full program cycles. The hardest thing you have shipped counts for more than total years.
• A track record of leading a complex hardware program to delivery, managing customer, schedule, risk and acceptance under real pressure.
• Evidence that you have taken real hardware from prototype to qualified, rate-production delivery to customers.
• Experience managing program cost, EAC and customer contract changes with finance and product teams on a program of meaningful scale.
• Proof that you delivered hardware at rate to a demanding customer and kept their trust through a hard moment, such as a slip, a test failure or a contract change.
• U.S. Person status required (ITAR/EAR). Ability to obtain a security clearance preferred.
• Nice to have: direct experience with optical inter-satellite links or optical ground or airborne terminals.
• Nice to have: a proven approach to moving low-volume, hand-built optical or electro-optical hardware into high-rate production without losing reliability.
• Nice to have: experience delivering to large commercial or defense constellation programs.
• Nice to have: experience as the main customer contact for constellation operators or satellite primes, from kickoff through acceptance.
• Nice to have: experience leading work across geographically dispersed sites, including export-control and dual-use compliance.
• Nice to have: a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Optics/Photonics, Physics or a related field.
• Nice to have: systems engineering skills (trade studies, interface control, requirement integrity) and use of Jira, Confluence and ERP/MRP to keep program health visible.
• Nice to have: use of AI tools in program management, such as schedule and risk analysis, status reporting and customer communications, to free up time for harder problems.

Conditions

Base pay range for California: $153,000 - $229,500 USD. Level and base salary are set case by case, based on job-related knowledge and skills, education and experience.

Based at the Long Beach, CA global headquarters.

Role may require prolonged sitting, standing, walking and computer work, with occasional exposure to moderate noise, dust and fumes in production areas.

For US office candidates only: to meet U.S. space technology export rules, including ITAR, you must be a U.S. citizen, a lawful U.S. permanent resident (Green Card holder), lawfully admitted as a refugee or granted asylum, or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State and/or Department of Commerce, as applicable.

For New Zealand office candidates only: background checks, including nationality checks, are completed before any offer, because the role requires eligibility to access ITAR-regulated equipment and data. You may be ineligible if you do not hold citizenship of Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, the European Union or a NATO country, or if you hold ineligible dual citizenship or nationality.

Benefits

• Company stock as part of total compensation, giving you a direct stake in results, with the opportunity for that ownership to grow as the company expands into new launch sites, missions and markets.
• Employee Stock Purchase Program with a 15% discount on company stock.
• Medical plans: HMO, PPO and a zero-cost HDHP with a significant HSA company contribution, plus 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, 50% employee discount on the merch store, and other employee discounts.