Sr Manager, 7m Reusable Payload Fairing – New Glenn

BLUE ORIGIN•Seattle, WA

3d•$183,807 - $257,329

About The Position

Blue Origin is developing reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems. This role supports development and operations of New Glenn, a heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle designed to carry people and payloads to low-Earth orbit, geostationary transfer orbit, cislunar space, and beyond. The Sr Manager will lead the 7m Reusable Payload Fairing (rPLF) program supporting New Glenn’s second stage and Payload Accommodations. The role leads a multidisciplinary team spanning composite structures, thermal protection, deceleration and deployment systems, avionics, and manufacturing engineering to deliver flight hardware at launch cadence. The Sr Manager is accountable for program cost, schedule, team management, and technical performance in a fast-paced development and production environment. The successful candidate will drive design and manufacturability decisions to closure with imperfect data, lead qualification test campaigns, establish inspection and refurbishment processes, and defend the program’s cost, mass, and reuse-life assumptions in executive reviews. The role partners closely with manufacturing, supply chain, recovery operations, launch operations, and systems engineering. Travel may be required in support of program and customer activities.

Requirements

B.S. degree in engineering or another technical field.
Experience as a manager or technical team lead of an engineering or program team, or equivalent.
10+ years of proven experience.
Demonstrated ownership of a hardware program through a production transition.
Experience with composite structures, including layup, automated fiber placement or tape laying, core, and bonded or bolted joints.
Experience leading qualification or structural test campaigns from planning through closure.
Experience delivering hardware under hard cost constraints, including defending a business case to executive review.
Experience driving design-for-manufacturability trades in partnership with a production organization.
Strategic systems-thinking skills and excellent written and oral communication skills.
Ability to proactively move a program forward through team collaboration and timely decisions, earn trust, maintain positive and professional relationships, and contribute to a collaborative, inclusive culture.
Ability to develop project summary presentations and memos for executive review and internal meetings, and support communications activities.
Ability to maintain and routinely report performance against schedule, resources, cost, and technical performance metrics.
Ability to work across business units and functional organizations, including partnering with subsystems and supplier management to meet vehicle delivery needs.
Highly organized leadership, excellent technical written and verbal communication, resourcefulness, sound business and technical judgment, and a bias for action.
Successful experience hiring and developing strong teams with diverse skill sets, motivating and organizing teams, and resolving conflict.
Strong collaboration and team-building skills.
Comfort working in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and ability to travel in support of program and customer activities.
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.

Nice To Haves

Reusable flight hardware experience, including recovery, inspection, refurbishment, or life-limit determination on returned hardware.
Experience with nondestructive testing methods and strategy, including ultrasonic testing, infrared thermography, or computed tomography.
Experience establishing a manufacturing or inspection process or capability that did not previously exist.
Experience with water impact, landing loads, or recovery system qualification.
Launch vehicle payload accommodations or fairing experience.
Experience transitioning a program from an experimental or demonstrator phase into serial production.
Launch vehicle experience.

Responsibilities

Lead the 7m Reusable Payload Fairing program for New Glenn second stage and Payload Accommodations.
Lead a multidisciplinary team across composite structures, thermal protection, deceleration and deployment systems, avionics, and manufacturing engineering.
Own program cost, schedule, team management, and technical performance.
Drive design and manufacturability decisions to closure, including decisions made with imperfect data.
Lead qualification test campaigns.
Establish inspection and refurbishment processes.
Defend program cost, mass, and reuse-life assumptions during executive reviews.
Prepare project summary presentations and memos for executive reviews and internal team meetings, and support the Blue Origin communications team.
Routinely report performance to plan for schedule, resources, cost, and technical performance metrics.
Coordinate across Blue Origin business units and functional organizations to meet vehicle delivery needs.
Partner with subsystems and supplier management to keep hardware on track.
Hire, develop, motivate, organize, and support teams with diverse skill sets, and resolve conflict.
Travel in support of program and customer activities.

Benefits

Medical insurance
Dental insurance
Vision insurance
Basic and supplemental life insurance
Paid parental leave
Short- and long-term disability
401(k) with company match of up to 5%
Education Support Program
Stock options for regular employees working at least 20 hours per week
Paid time off, up to four weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours
Up to 14 company-paid holidays
Some employees may be eligible for benefits and bonuses based on role type, job level, individual contributions, and company results; bonus eligibility and amounts are not guaranteed.