Launch Vehicle Manager

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 diverse team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight!  

This role is part of the New Shepard program. New Shepard is a reusable suborbital rocket system designed to take astronauts and research payloads past the Kármán line – the internationally recognized boundary of space. Through operational reusability, New Shepard supports our mission of lowering the cost of access to space.

As part of a hardworking team of diverse engineers and technicians, you will serve as the hardware owner and manager of a commercially operating, suborbital reusable launch vehicle. Reporting to the Maintenance Senior Manager within New Shepard Operations and Maintenance, you will share in the team’s impact on all aspects of suborbital human spaceflight and scientific payload research. Leveraging your proven ability to coordinate and execute complex technical projects, you will orchestrate the refurbishment, upgrade, and pre-launch preparations of a New Shepard Booster or Crew Capsule, culminating in your Go/No-Go recommendation to the Flight Director at the Flight Readiness Review prior to launch.

Starting with a freshly-returned launch vehicle from spaceflight, you will develop the schedule, coordinate resources, and directly manage the execution of post-flight vehicle health checks, to generate and own the master list of all non-conformances across the vehicle. After triaging all new issues, and folding in desired fleet upgrades and known preventive maintenance, you will iterate upon and publish the detailed plan to achieve flight-readiness of your launch vehicle by the desired launch date. Working closely with dozens of technicians and engineers, you will own and execute the plan, reacting swiftly to emergent issues and communicating to stakeholders/Blue Leadership. You’ll own several maintenance-related Master Launch Procedures and work with the engineering and maintenance teams to author work instructions to execute complex work. 

After providing your Go recommendation and handing over ownership of the vehicle to the Launch Operations team, you will support the day of launch from the Engineering Backroom, observing real-time troubleshooting and providing background context from the previous weeks/months of experience in the hangar. After celebrating a successful launch and landing with the team, you will fold in lessons-learned from the previous refurbishment cycle and strive to make the next cycle “the smoothest yet”.

This job is based in Kent, WA, with regular (up to 35%) travel to the launch site in Texas. This position can also be based at Launch Site One in West Texas - Being at the heart of Blue Origin operations, the West Texas Site in Van Horn, TX offers eligible employee’s additional attractive financial incentives to supplement their competitive base earnings, including a living allowance and relocation assistance.  Eligibility for these additional benefits is based on the employee’s ability to permanently relocate to Van Horn, TX, or travel to Van Horn from another Blue location a minimum of 50% of the time.

We are looking for someone to apply their technical expertise, leadership skills, and commitment to quality to positively impact safe human spaceflight. Passion for our mission and vision is required!

Minimum Qualifications:

• Minimum of a B.S. degree in engineering or another technical field
• 3+ years of demonstrated technical expertise in the operation or maintenance of aerospace, marine, automotive, or ground support systems in one or more of the following disciplines: propulsion, pneumatics, cryogenics, avionics, hydraulics, life support, test engineering, launch operations
• Exceptional technical communication ability, both written and verbal, to wide audiences of varying backgrounds
• Unwavering commitment to “doing every job right”, no matter how small
• Strong planning, organization, and coordination skills in a real-time operations environment
• Ability to troubleshoot multiple subsystems while maintaining situational awareness of the integrated system impacts
• Proven track record of working successfully in multiple disciplines, and leading a diverse multi-disciplinary team.
• Ability to support occasional off shift work schedules during launch campaigns
• Ability to earn trust, maintain positive and professional relationships, and contribute to a culture of inclusion.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or gran