Director of Mission Management
$165,000–$200,000 year
On-siteHawthorne, California, United States
Job Summary
Own mission management across Reflect's spacecraft portfolio, including launch planning, provider integration, regulatory execution, and campaign readiness. Build the integrated launch and regulatory roadmap to support constellation deployment while developing strategies that balance schedule, orbit, cost, and technical compatibility. Lead launch-opportunity evaluation, service contracting, and manifest decisions in partnership with engineering, finance, and legal. Own senior relationships with launch providers, regulatory agencies, and outside counsel to drive FCC and spectrum strategy. Establish the operating system for mission management, including integrated schedules, deliverable trackers, and post-mission lessons learned. Personally resolve critical blockers and lead readiness reviews to ensure every mission is ready when the launch vehicle arrives.
Required Qualifications
- 8+ years of experience in spacecraft mission management, launch integration, launch services, regulatory affairs, satellite program management, or a closely related field
- Deep familiarity with launch-provider processes, mission integration schedules, spacecraft data packages, safety reviews, interface requirements, launch campaigns, and readiness reviews
- Strong working knowledge of FCC spacecraft licensing and spectrum coordination
- Ability to manage multiple missions, launch opportunities, or regulatory workstreams simultaneously
- Experience building a team, function, or operating system in an environment where the organization was growing faster than its existing processes
- Ability to move fluidly between constellation-level strategy, executive decisions, partner negotiations, detailed schedule reviews, and correcting an incomplete submission
- Enough technical fluency to challenge assumptions, recognize missing analysis, and ensure technical deliverables actually answer the requirement
- Ability to communicate exceptionally well with regulators, launch providers, engineers, attorneys, executives, and commercial partners
- Ability to make decisions with incomplete information and distinguish between manageable execution risk and a genuine threat to the mission
- Ability to operate with urgency, follow through relentlessly, and create accountability without producing process for its own sake
- Willingness to remain deeply hands-on rather than delegating the underlying mission work before the organization is ready
Desired Qualifications
- Experience personally taking multiple spacecraft missions through launch-provider integration, regulatory approval, launch readiness, and launch
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