Mission Manager, Strategic Growth

ABOUT

Firefly Aerospace is a space and defense technology company that enables our world to launch, land, and operate in space – anywhere, anytime. As the partner of choice for critical space missions, Firefly is the only commercial company to launch a satellite to orbit with 24-hour notice and the only company to achieve a successful Moon landing. Our launch vehicles, lunar landers, and orbital vehicles provide government and commercial customers with full mission services from low Earth orbit to the Moon and beyond. Headquartered in north Austin, Texas, Firefly is looking for passionate, hardworking innovators to join our team and help fuel our successful trajectory into space.

SUMMARY

Firefly Aerospace is seeking an experienced Mission Manager to lead customer missions from early engagement and proposal development through payload integration, launch, and on-orbit operations. This role is customer-facing and strategically focused, combining deep technical understanding of payload integration with business development, proposal support, and long-term partnership building.

The Mission Manager serves as the single-threaded owner for assigned missions, acting as the primary interface between Firefly customers and internal teams across engineering, operations, legal, contracts, and business development. This individual converts customer needs into executable mission concepts while ensuring alignment with Firefly’s strategic growth objectives.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Mission & Customer Ownership

• Serve as the primary mission owner and customer interface for assigned government and commercial payload missions from contract execution through end-of-mission operations.
• Maintain full ownership of mission payload integration, launch vehicle interfaces, and mission execution strategy.
• Build trusted relationships with customers, acting as a technical and programmatic advocate throughout the mission lifecycle.

Strategic Partnerships & Business Development

• Support payload proposal development as a Subject Matter Expert (SME), with emphasis on payload integration, mission operations, and spacecraft interfaces.
• Partner with Business Development and Spacecraft Growth teams to source, shape, and support new mission opportunities.
• Participate in technical and commercial proposal writing, including mission concepts, CONOPS, schedules, and integration approaches.
• Collaborate with Legal and Contracts teams on SOWs, SSAs, and customer agreements to ensure mission success and clarity of scope.

Payload Integration & Mission Planning

• Oversee payload integration requirements and Interface Control Documents (ICDs) between customer payloads and Firefly spacecraft.
• Ensure alignment of mission performance, form/fit/function, environments, mass properties, mechanical and electrical interfaces, data interfaces, and operational concepts.
• Maintain ownership of the spacecraft–payload interface and drive resolution of technical and programmatic issues across teams.

Cross-Functional Leadership