New Glenn Sr. Manager, Upper Stage Upgrades

Blue Origin • Space Coast, WA

8d

About The Position

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight! This role supports the development and operations of New Glenn, a single-configuration, heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle capable of routinely carrying people and payloads to low-Earth orbit, geostationary transfer orbit, cislunar, and beyond. Its first stage is fully reusable, and the vehicle was designed from the beginning to be human-capable. We are a team of collaborators, doers, and problem-solvers who are relentlessly committed to a culture of safety. This position will directly impact the history of space exploration and will require your commitment and detailed attention towards safe and repeatable space flight. Join us in lowering the cost of access to space and enabling Blue Origin’s vision of millions of people living and working in space to benefit Earth. As the Upgrades Manager for New Glenn’s Upper Stage Development team, you will lead a group of engineers responsible for defining, integrating, and delivering current and future upgrades. The team includes single-threaded leaders, technical program managers, systems engineers, analysts, configuration engineers, and design engineers. You will help define the strategic direction of the New Glenn upper stage upgrades portfolio. You will prioritize upgrades and align the team’s work with New Glenn program objectives. You will own the integrated technical and programmatic execution of the portfolio, including scope, requirements, design integration, configuration, verification planning, schedule, risk, and delivery. You will work closely with engineering, program management, manufacturing, integration, test, operations, mission assurance, and other program leaders to align resources, resolve multi-functional issues, and support delivery of upgrade objectives. You will coordinate across these functions to maintain insight into schedule, resource and budget performance, system safety, risk, test planning, technical performance, configuration, and issue resolution. This role requires a leader who can provide clear technical direction, make sound decisions in ambiguous situations, and build trust across organizational boundaries. You will develop your team, maintain accountability, create space for concerns to be raised early, and empower them to deliver strong technical results. We are looking for someone who can apply strong leadership, technical judgment, and a commitment to quality to advance safe, reliable, and repeatable spaceflight. Passion for our mission and vision is required!

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or another technical field.
• 8+ years of experience leading complex technical projects or teams in aerospace or another highly regulated industry.
• Demonstrated success delivering hardware or technical programs through design, analysis, manufacturing, integration, or test.
• Strong strategic judgment with the ability to set priorities, make tradeoffs, manage risk, and maintain progress in complex or ambiguous environments.
• Experience with systems engineering principles, requirements management, and verification and validation.
• Strong written, verbal, and presentation skills, with the ability to communicate effectively across all levels of an organization.
• Experience using scheduling, work-management, and collaboration tools such as Primavera P6, Microsoft Project, Jira, Confluence, or Tableau.

Nice To Haves

• Advanced degree in engineering, aerospace engineering, engineering management, business administration, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Direct experience with launch vehicle or space system integration and test.
• Progressively responsible experience in technical leadership, people management, or project management within aerospace or another high-reliability industry.
• Experience across multiple phases of the product life cycle, including design, analysis, manufacturing, integration, test, and operations.
• Experience managing hardware upgrades, configuration changes, or block upgrades within an active production program.
• Experience with Earned Value Management principles and cost and schedule performance reporting.
• Project Management Professional, Six Sigma Black Belt, Lean Manufacturing, or similar certification.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a multidisciplinary team of 5–10 engineers and technical leaders, including performance management, work assignment, coaching, training, and career development.
• Lead the planning, technical integration, execution, and delivery of upper stage incremental upgrades.
• Help shape the strategic direction of the upgrades portfolio and prioritize current and future upgrade work.
• Define and manage upgrade scope, sequencing, assumptions, dependencies, interfaces, configuration applicability, verification plans, and acceptance criteria.
• Coordinate across engineering, manufacturing, integration, test, operations, mission assurance, and program management to resolve issues and maintain alignment through delivery.
• Identify and communicate technical and programmatic risks, develop mitigation plans, and drive actions to closure or an acceptable level of risk.
• Track schedule, staffing, technical performance, product metrics, and alignment with the Integrated Master Schedule; escalate constraints and recommend corrective actions when needed.
• Communicate status, critical paths, risks, decisions, and recommended actions to program and executive leadership while fostering a culture of trust, accountability, inclusion, and early escalation.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability, 401(k) with a company match of up to 5%, and an Education Support Program.
• Stock Options for all regular employees (working at least 20 hours/week)
• Paid Time Off: Up to four (4) weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours, and up to 14 company-paid holidays.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager