Director, Reusable Upper Stage Development

Application close date:

Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the requisition is closed.

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight!  

This role supports the development and operations of New Glenn, a single-configuration, heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle capable of routinely carrying people and payloads to low-Earth orbit, geostationary transfer orbit, cislunar, and beyond. Its first stage is fully reusable, and the vehicle was designed from the beginning to be human-capable.

As the Director of Program Management for the New Glenn Upper Stage and Payload Accommodations (GS2PA), you will work with the Vice President of New Glenn GS2PA and directly support the execution of a lean engineering initiative to incrementally develop a reusable upper stage. Coupled with the reusable first stage, this provides New Glenn customers with outstanding payload launch capabilities. This project will build upon the Glenn Stage 2 and Payload Accommodations design and bring forward new capabilities to enable longer term aspirations.

This leadership position will support all aspects of program management which include cost, schedule, technical design, and risk management, while also working with Blue Origin internal organizations and suppliers to implement program scope. This position will directly impact the history of space exploration and will require your dedicated commitment and attention towards safe and reliable spaceflight.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Manage a team chartered with incrementally developing a reusable upper stage. This includes 1) planning and execution of the approach to be used to demonstrate this incremental product development and 2) identification, recruiting, and management of key skills required within the team to complete the defined product scope.
• Provide technical leadership and oversight of the project, with complete ownership of end item compliance to the defined requirements. This individual will be required to lead large and sophisticated technical trades and brief the solutions to a wide range of internal customers.
• Maintain and routinely report performance to plan on schedule, resources, cost, and technical performance metrics to executive leadership.
• Track the project schedule and cost to meet pre-defined deadlines and budgets.
• Work across business units and functional organizations within Blue Origin to meet the project work. This individual will act as a liaison between various internal businesses partners and process owners, driving effective management and coordination with the various organizations.
• Work with chief engineer and design teams to identify and resolve technical issues across the product lifecycle.
• Develop project summary presentations and memos for executive review, internal team meetings and support to the Blue Origin communications team.
• Support proposal development and submissions.
• Establish and maintain regular business rhythm, consistent products, action tracking, and consolidate information for effective decision making.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Experience managing a launch vehicle or equivalent development program with an approximate budget of >$50M.
• Prior experience as technical or subsystem lead with an understanding of upper stage development and re-entry concepts.
• B.S. in an aerospace, mechanical, or systems engineering-related field, with 10+ years of complex product development experience.
• Program and technical leadership experience in an aerospace development environment with experience in full lifecycle development of aerospace systems, crafting, deploying, and supporting one or more complete flight systems.
• Highly organized leader with excellent technical written and verbal communication skills with proven track record of resourcefulness, strong business and technical judgement and bias for action from their previous assignments.
• Successful experience in hiring and developing great people with demonstrated ability to empower and coordinate effective teams and resolve conflicts.
• Comfortable working in a fast paced, multifaceted work environment and ability to travel in support of the program, customer, and supplier activities.

Preferred Qualifications:

• MBA, Program Management Professional (PMP) certification and Earned Value Management System (EVMS) experience. Experience with critical path scheduling, IMP/IMS, ri