Director, Space Mission Assurance & EEE Parts Strategy

General Dynamics Mission Systems, Inc•Scottsdale, AZ

1d•$228,408 - $247,145•Hybrid

About The Position

General Dynamics Mission Systems is hiring a Director to serve as the lead Mission Assurance architect for its Space Systems business. The role is based in Scottsdale, Arizona, with a hybrid work arrangement where business and security requirements permit. Relocation assistance may be available. The Director will define, modernize, and govern an integrated Space Systems Mission Assurance plan and enterprise EEE parts strategy for mission-critical payloads and communications systems across LEO, MEO, GEO, cislunar, and deep-space missions. The role balances commercial-space execution speed and product discipline with risk-informed engineering and mission assurance tailored to mission environment and operational life. The Director will establish reusable Mission Assurance Profiles, standard operating media, proposal artifacts, and a multi-orbit Common Parts List. The position works with capture, program management, engineering, contracts, supply chain, legal, operations, quality, and business development to tailor customer requirements, align execution with approved standards, and lead organizational and technical change to improve affordability, schedule, supply resilience, and mission success. The role also represents GDMS with customers, partners, suppliers, standards organizations, and industry forums, and may require travel.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and relevant work experience, plus at least 15 years of demonstrated leadership; or a master's degree plus at least 13 years of demonstrated leadership.
Ability to obtain and maintain a Department of Defense Secret security clearance; a Top Secret/SCI clearance may be required based on assigned programs. Applicants must meet U.S. Government eligibility requirements for access to classified information.
U.S. citizenship is required due to the nature of work performed within GDMS facilities.
Extensive knowledge of mission assurance, product assurance, quality, reliability, and EEE parts engineering for space vehicles, payloads, communications systems, or other high-reliability aerospace products.
Deep knowledge of EEE parts selection, radiation effects, total ionizing dose, single-event effects including SEU and SEL, screening, qualification, derating, destructive physical analysis, traceability, lot control, counterfeit avoidance, and obsolescence management.
Extensive working knowledge of applicable space and microelectronics standards, including relevant portions of TOR-2006, MIL-STD-883, MIL-STD-1546, MIL-STD-1547, EEE-INST-002, NASA-STD-8739, and customer-specific mission-assurance requirements.
Ability to translate orbital environment, mission duration, architecture, redundancy, radiation exposure, consequence of failure, and customer risk posture into a coherent assurance plan.
Demonstrated ability to develop enterprise policies, standard processes, reusable technical baselines, governance boards, and implementation roadmaps adopted across multiple programs and product lines.
Expert ability to analyze and tailor customer statements of work, specifications, Mission Assurance Requirements, quality clauses, and data requirements during capture, proposal, and contract execution.
Advanced negotiation and communication skills to defend risk-informed technical positions, build customer confidence, and maintain contractual compliance.
Ability to balance commercial-space execution speed, affordability, and product reuse with the rigor required for national-security and high-consequence missions.
Extensive knowledge of components and materials laboratory capabilities, including parts screening, upscreening, radiation characterization, destructive physical analysis, failure analysis, and lot date code evaluation.
Ability to evaluate and qualify commercial and automotive-grade components for appropriate space applications using physics-of-failure analysis, test evidence, application constraints, and risk controls.
Extensive understanding of supply-chain strategy, strategic sourcing, demand aggregation, long-lead procurement, inventory policy, safety stock, supplier quality, and obsolescence risk.
Ability to develop and govern an enterprise Common Parts List with configuration control, approved-use guidance, technical evidence, and exception management.
Strong understanding of design, manufacturing, inspection, test, configuration management, nonconformance, Material Review Board, and product-acceptance processes.
Ability to lead cross-functional teams and influence senior stakeholders in a matrix organization without relying solely on direct reporting authority.
Demonstrated change leadership and ability to shift organizational behavior from program-specific reactive compliance toward scalable, product-based, risk-informed standardization.
Strong analytical ability and judgment in complex technical and business situations with significant cost, schedule, quality, customer, or mission consequences.
Excellent written, verbal, presentation, and executive-communication skills.
Ability to establish meaningful metrics, analyze trends, identify systemic issues, and drive corrective and preventive action to closure.
Proficiency with Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and relevant requirements, quality, parts, configuration-management, and product-lifecycle systems.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Materials Science, Physics, Systems Engineering, Business Administration, or a related field.
At least five years directly architecting or leading mission assurance, EEE parts engineering, reliability, radiation effects, product assurance, or quality frameworks for space systems.
Direct experience developing and deploying an enterprise Common Parts List across multiple space products, missions, or orbital regimes.
Experience partnering with supply-chain leadership to establish strategic component stocking, buffer inventory, or enterprise material-planning models.
Demonstrated capture and proposal experience, including customer-requirement analysis, technical redlines, compliance matrices, basis-of-estimate development, and negotiation of mission-assurance scope.
Practical experience qualifying high-reliability commercial or automotive components for space applications.
Experience directing an advanced components and materials laboratory or developing integrated screening, failure-analysis, DPA, upscreening, and radiation-test strategies.
Prior chair, technical authority, or voting-member experience on a corporate PMPCB, Material Review Board, EEE parts council, or comparable governance body.
Experience in both agile commercial-space and government or national-security space environments.
Experience introducing automated end-item data packages, as-built parts lists, digital thread, model-based assurance, or data-driven quality systems.
Lean, Six Sigma, reliability engineering, quality engineering, or related professional certification.
Active Department of Defense Secret or Top Secret/SCI security clearance.

Responsibilities

Develop, publish, and maintain the enterprise strategy, governance model, roadmap, and implementation plan for Space Systems Mission Assurance and EEE parts.
Establish risk-informed Space Systems Mission Assurance Profiles with scalable requirements for parts selection, screening, qualification, derating, environmental testing, process controls, reliability, surveillance, and acceptance.
Align Mission Assurance Profiles with contractual obligations, applicable standards, customer risk posture, and mission-specific technical needs.
Author and govern policies, operating instructions, engineering standards, standard work, proposal language, statements of work, compliance matrices, and data-item or SDRL boilerplate.
Partner with capture, program management, systems engineering, contracts, supply chain, and legal teams to analyze customer requirements and data requirements.
Develop proposal-tailoring strategies, including technical redlines, exceptions, assumptions, compliance positions, and replacement language.
Lead technical discussions and negotiations with prime contractors and government customers to address redundant or non-value-added requirements while maintaining objective evidence of compliance.
Create standard proposal and execution artifacts to support consistent pricing, scheduling, and implementation of mission assurance.
Coordinate across engineering, manufacturing, operations, supply chain, procurement, quality, program management, and business development to apply approved standards from design through delivery.
Establish, govern, and drive adoption of an enterprise multi-orbit Common Parts List, including ownership, configuration control, approved use cases, qualification evidence, and exception processes.
Structure the Common Parts List into pre-characterized environmental and radiation tiers based on mission and application constraints.
Lead strategy for identifying, evaluating, qualifying, and sustaining radiation-hardened, space-grade, high-reliability commercial, and automotive-grade components for appropriate applications.
Establish standard qualification, screening, upscreening, radiation-characterization, derating, lot-control, traceability, and obsolescence-management approaches for EEE parts and related materials and processes.
Partner with Supply Chain on strategic procurement and inventory models for long-lead and critical components.
Define business cases, demand aggregation, safety-stock policies, inventory controls, ownership models, and replenishment strategies that balance lead time, carrying cost, and obsolescence risk.
Set priorities and integrated plans for the GDMS Components and Materials Laboratory, including screening, destructive physical analysis, failure analysis, upscreening, radiation testing and characterization, and lot date code re-life evaluation.
Chair or provide senior technical leadership to the Parts, Materials, and Processes Control Board and related EEE parts governance forums; establish decision rights, membership, records, metrics, and escalation paths.
Define governance that preserves appropriate GDMS Material Review Board and PMPCB authority for nonconformances, substitutions, waivers, deviations, obsolescence, and parts or process decisions.
Standardize acceptance and delivery evidence, including automated End-Item Data Packages, as-built parts lists, compliance records, and Pre-Ship Reviews.
Promote timely, physics-based failure investigation and corrective action, including containment, cause analysis, risk assessment, recurrence prevention, and objective closure criteria.
Establish metrics and recurring reviews for mission-assurance effectiveness, parts reuse, qualification cycle time, requirements tailoring, supplier quality, escapes, failure resolution, inventory availability, cost avoidance, and schedule improvement.
Advise senior leaders on mission-assurance risk, EEE parts strategy, investment priorities, customer positions, product competitiveness, and enterprise capability needs.
Build and lead a high-performing network of mission assurance, quality, reliability, radiation-effects, EEE parts, materials, process, laboratory, and supply-chain specialists.
Represent GDMS with customers, partners, suppliers, standards organizations, and industry forums; travel may be required.