Manager, Systems Engineering (Clearance Required)

Sierra Space•Centennial, CO

21h

About The Position

The Manager, Systems Engineering leads a team of systems engineers, operations specialists, and training professionals responsible for developing operational procedures, executing mission operations, and ensuring crew and ground team readiness for novel spacecraft programs. This role provides technical leadership and people management for teams who plan, execute, and support real-time mission operations while developing comprehensive training programs that prepare personnel for nominal and off-nominal scenarios. The Manager ensures all activities are properly integrated with broader systems engineering processes, mission design constraints, requirements management, and verification & validation efforts, while managing resources and budgets and collaborating across organizational boundaries. The Manager leads multiple operations and training teams, providing direct supervision to operations planners, training specialists, systems engineers, and instructors supporting various spacecraft projects. This role integrates mission operations and training activities with broader systems engineering processes—including requirements management, interface control, verification & validation, and digital engineering initiatives—while translating top-level mission requirements into executable operational procedures, console configurations, ground system requirements, and comprehensive training programs. The Manager is responsible for the development and updates to operations handbooks, contingency procedures, mission rules, training curricula, certification requirements, and assessments, while leading flight readiness reviews, mission simulations, and real-time execution support across multiple concurrent programs. Responsibilities include identifying and mitigating operational risks, establishing technical performance measures, leading anomaly investigations, safety assessments, and ensuring compliance with customer-specific requirements. The Manager collaborates with spacecraft, ground, and systems engineering teams to ensure operational constraints and crew interface requirements are properly incorporated into operational designs, while providing operations feedback that informs design trades and system requirements. This leader exercises financial acumen by managing budgets for operations activities, training programs, simulation infrastructure, and console systems, coordinates cross-program resources and best practices, and builds a culture of operational excellence through effective communication of complex operational concepts to diverse stakeholders and mentorship that fosters continuous improvement and mission success.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science, or related technical field, or equivalent work experience.
Minimum of 8 years of relevant systems engineering experience.
At least 3 years of experience in a leadership or management role.
Comprehensive knowledge of systems engineering principles including requirements management, system architecture, interface control, verification and validation.
Demonstrated ability to apply systems engineering practices across complex technical systems.
Experience managing systems engineering teams and providing direct supervision to requirements engineers, system architects, and integration engineers.
Proficiency with systems engineering tools and methodologies (e.g., MBSE, SysML, DOORS) for requirements traceability, functional analysis, and trade studies.
Demonstrated ability to guide teams through technical challenges and trade-off decisions.
Experience managing budgets, resource allocations, and making risk-informed decisions balancing technical, schedule, and cost constraints.
Excellent communication skills with ability to effectively communicate complex systems concepts to diverse stakeholders.
Ability to manage relationships with internal customers, external suppliers, and program management.
An active Top Secret U.S. Security Clearance is required.
U.S. Citizenship status is required.

Nice To Haves

Professional certification such as INCOSE CSEP (Certified Systems Engineering Professional).
Knowledge of industry standards and regulations including ISO/IEC 15288, INCOSE practices, and domain-specific standard.
Experience implementing digital engineering transformation initiatives and digital thread concepts.
Understanding of agile and hybrid development methodologies as applied to systems engineering.
Experience mentoring and developing systems engineers at various career stages.
Demonstrated experience developing and implementing systems engineering processes throughout the system lifecycle.
Ability to translate systems engineering functional plans into operational plans and methodologies.
Financial acumen and experience managing systems engineering budgets and tool investments across multiple projects.
Experience fostering cross-functional collaboration and supporting organizational change initiatives.
Track record of continuous improvement in systems engineering practices.
Demonstrated commitment to company values and ability to hold teams accountable to professional standards.

Responsibilities

Develop operational procedures, execute mission operations, and ensure crew and ground team readiness for novel spacecraft programs.
Provide technical leadership and people management for teams planning, executing, and supporting real-time mission operations.
Develop comprehensive training programs for nominal and off-nominal scenarios.
Ensure activities are integrated with systems engineering processes, mission design constraints, requirements management, and verification & validation.
Manage resources and budgets and collaborate across organizational boundaries.
Lead multiple operations and training teams, supervising operations planners, training specialists, systems engineers, and instructors.
Integrate mission operations and training activities with systems engineering processes (requirements management, interface control, V&V, digital engineering).
Translate top-level mission requirements into executable operational procedures, console configurations, ground system requirements, and training programs.
Develop and update operations handbooks, contingency procedures, mission rules, training curricula, certification requirements, and assessments.
Lead flight readiness reviews, mission simulations, and real-time execution support across multiple concurrent programs.
Identify and mitigate operational risks.
Establish technical performance measures.
Lead anomaly investigations and safety assessments.
Ensure compliance with customer-specific requirements.
Collaborate with spacecraft, ground, and systems engineering teams to incorporate operational constraints and crew interface requirements into designs.
Provide operations feedback to inform design trades and system requirements.
Manage budgets for operations activities, training programs, simulation infrastructure, and console systems.
Coordinate cross-program resources and best practices.
Build a culture of operational excellence through communication and mentorship.