Senior Director, Propulsion Module

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 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.

We are a diverse team of collaborators, doers, and problem-solvers who are relentlessly committed to a culture of safety. This position will directly impact the history of space exploration and will require your commitment and detailed attention towards safe and repeatable space flight. Join us in lowering the cost of access to space and enabling Blue Origin’s vision of millions of people living and working in space to benefit Earth.

As part of a small, passionate and accomplished team of experts, you will be responsible for the development of the next generation Propulsion Module for the New Shepard human spaceflight system. You will provide technical, programmatic and financial leadership and resolution of issues to enable rapid progress.  We put a strong emphasis on hands-on technical ability, as our leaders are directly involved with projects and problem-solving and manage through active engagement with the team.  This position will directly impact the history of space exploration and will require your dedicated commitment and detailed attention towards safe and repeatable spaceflight. 

Responsibilities:

• Overall responsibility for design, development, procurement, production, test, and delivery of certified New Shepard Propulsion Modules for human spaceflight operations
• Responsible for the development of the NS4.3 Increment, including delivering qualified designs and production articles on compressed schedules.
• Manage in accordance with the New Shepard Program Management Plan (PMP) and associated Management Operating System (MOS)
• Manage integrated product teams responsible for all vehicle subsystems including structures, mechanical systems, fluids systems, avionics, software, and propulsion
• Development and management of technical baseline, budget and schedule milestones to meet goals allocated from New Shepard Program Manager
• Ownership of program risks and opportunities, including risk mitigation and opportunity realization strategies
• Accountable for technical readiness for System Level Gated Reviews
• Chair Technical and Programmatic Change Control Board for Element
• Partner with engineering functional department and support organization leads to identify and assign staffing to integrated product teams
• Partner with operations and maintenance organization leads to provide engineering support to the operational fleet

Qualifications:

• Minimum of a B.S. degree in aerospace, mechanical, industrial, or manufacturing engineering; physics; or other major requiring engineering or manufacturing core courses
• 12+ years relevant industry experience in engineering, manufacturing, operations or maintenance  
• Experience with design, assembly, operations and maintenance of launch vehicles across a range of launch vehicle subsystems including structures, mechanical systems, fluids systems, avionics, software and propulsion
• Experience with planning, scheduling tools, Basis of Estimate, Work Breakdown Structure, Integrated Master Schedule, Critical Path Analysis, Material Resource Planning, Enterprise Resource Planning, Earned Value Management
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to earn trust and build positive, professional and inclusive relationships
• Able to set a high bar while hiring, developing and retaining top talent
• Passionate about space exploration and a future with millions of people living and working in space
• 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 granted asylum.

Desired:

• 15+ years’ experience working on aerospace development programs or production lines 
• Successful experience leading large program with over $50M annual budget over 100 people
• Knowledge of systems engineering practices, fabrication, integration processes, q