Mission Planning Lead

SAIC•Huntsville, AL

About The Position

SAIC is seeking a Mission Planning Lead to join the Multi-Service Advanced Capabilities Hypersonic Test Bed (MACH-TB) Program Team. The role leads test planning and execution from the initiation of MACH-TB Lifecycle 3 through launch and post-mission reviews, helping ensure mission activities are efficient, effective, and aligned with program and stakeholder requirements. The position calls for exceptional organization, communication, interpersonal skills, adaptability, and the ability to remain calm and develop solutions under pressure. Experience leading large teams and coordinating simultaneous missions is highly desirable. The Mission Planning Lead plans MACH-TB missions to meet program and external stakeholder experiment requirements; understands mission objectives and strategy; and helps ensure tests are designed to achieve those objectives by employing system capabilities across classification domains. The role coordinates mission teams and stakeholders, including serving as a liaison with the Mission Director/Test Chief Engineer, organizing planning, execution, and readiness review working groups, and preparing and presenting milestone reviews. The position develops and presents test plans, Mission Readiness Review artifacts, execution checklists, communication plans, launch constraints documents, executive review packages, and mission calendars. It develops operational schedules and milestone reviews and seeks Test Plan approval through readiness review processes. The role also contributes to test architecture and configuration meetings, provides regular briefings and status updates to leadership and program elements, supports test execution estimates for the Financial Team as needed, and coordinates with range support elements. Frequent travel is required to support planning, site visits, and test execution.

Requirements

Active Secret clearance and ability to obtain TS/SCI.
Bachelor’s degree in a relevant STEM field, such as Systems Engineering, Aerospace, or Operations Management, or equivalent experience, and at least 18 years of experience; alternatively, a master’s degree and at least 16 years of experience. Additional years of experience may be accepted in lieu of a degree.
Proven ability to lead large, multidisciplinary teams in organizationally complex environments.
Strong organizational and multitasking skills, including significant experience leading concurrent mission operations.
Availability to travel frequently for operational support, approximately 25–50%.
Experience with hypersonic flight tests, missile test programs, or similar testbed environments.
Familiarity with Department of Defense standards, practices, and acquisition processes for test and evaluation.
Experience with mission architecture, test configuration management, and cross-classification environments.
Working knowledge of test range planning and coordination.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present to technical and non-technical audiences.
Self-motivated problem-solving ability and adaptability to expected and unexpected challenges.
Proficiency facilitating technical working groups and readiness reviews.
Demonstrated ability to remain calm and resourceful under pressure in high-stakes scenarios.

Nice To Haves

Experience leading large teams and multitasking across simultaneous missions.

Responsibilities

Lead mission activities from inception through post-mission reviews, ensuring timely, high-quality deliverables and mission success.
Plan MACH-TB missions to meet program and external stakeholder experiment requirements.
Understand mission objectives and ensure tests are designed to meet them; understand mission strategy and employ system capabilities across classification domains.
Help oversee mission planning and execution, serving as a liaison with the Mission Director/Test Chief Engineer.
Organize and lead Mission Planning, Execution, and Readiness Review Working Groups; prepare and present milestone reviews.
Coordinate with test round providers, range support elements, and broader program teams to align mission objectives.
Create and present Test Plans, Mission Readiness Review artifacts, execution checklists, communication plans, launch constraints documents, executive review packages, and mission calendars.
Develop operational schedules and milestone reviews and gain approval for the Test Plan through readiness review processes.
Provide input into test execution estimates to support the Financial Team as needed.
Contribute to test architecture and configuration meetings across classification domains to help ensure mission objectives are met.
Provide frequent professional briefings to senior leadership during working groups and executive reviews.
Deliver status updates to program elements and leadership.
Act as a liaison for range support and travel to facilitate meetings, planning, site visits, and test execution activities.