Senior Director of Spacecraft Components
$233,000–$262,000 year
On-siteSan Jose, California, United States
Job Summary
Lead a multidisciplinary organization to architect, design, qualify, and deliver a catalog of spacecraft components including electronics, RF, integrated modules, mechanisms, and solar systems. Own component roadmaps that balance concurrent missions and platform evolution while driving standardization across spacecraft platforms. Manage component-level design, analysis, qualification, and electrical test strategies, partnering with Hardware Reliability & Test to ensure consistent qualification. Provide engineering design support to instrument and propulsion teams through the Modules & Mechanisms team. Collaborate with Product, Business Development, Systems Engineering, Software, and Operations to ensure components meet growing mission portfolio needs, supporting proposals and cost models. Partner with Production and Supply Chain to scale components from prototype builds to constellation quantities, designing for manufacturability and test. Own budgets, schedules, and delivery milestones for component development programs while mentoring multiple levels of team managers to enable scalable growth. This role reports to the Senior Director of Hardware Engineering and requires regular onsite days at both San Jose and Mountain View locations.
Required Qualifications
- 15+ years of experience designing and/or managing the design of complex, high-reliability systems that operate in harsh environments (spacecraft, autonomous vehicles, drones, etc.)
- 8+ years of people management experience, including managing engineers and engineering managers
- Strong technical foundation spanning electrical, embedded, and mechanical design and analysis
- Experience designing and manufacturing low-volume, high-mix products efficiently
- Proven experience managing complex engineering projects from concept to deployment, including budget and schedule management
- Excellent leadership, program management, communication, and problem-solving skills
- B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field
- Must be able to lift 50 lbs
Desired Qualifications
- Flight heritage delivering spaceflight avionics, mechanisms, solar arrays, or similar components
- Experience standing up new teams or reorganizing engineering organizations during rapid growth
- Experience with vertically integrated hardware development, from in-house design through production at scale
- Experience with RF hardware or electrical test infrastructure development
- Experience supporting instrument or propulsion system development
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