Senior Technical Program Manager I - Space Sensing & Domain Awareness (TS/SCI)Active$160K

Rocket Lab
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The opportunity

Rocket Lab is an end-to-end space company delivering responsive launch services, complete spacecraft design and manufacturing, payloads, satellite components, and more – all with the goal of opening access to space. The rockets and satellites we build and launch enable some of…

What you'll do

  • Command the Lifecycle: Build and lead the team that takes EO/IR sensing payloads and optical systems from a “blank sheet” concept through qualification, scalable production, and flight, and own the technical roadmap that grows the team's core capabilities.

  • Lead the Team of Teams: Run multiple active programs at once, make sound architectural calls with Chief Engineers, navigate the hardest trade-offs in pointing stability and jitter, sensitivity, and revisit, and personally dive into the most program-threatening problems alongside the team.

  • Build the Bench: Grow a culture where strong people take smart, healthy risks and the best idea wins, no matter who it comes from, we back bold calls and treat an intelligent miss as the cost of moving fast, and coach and develop the next generation of program and team leaders.

  • Forge the Supply Chain: Manage high-stakes subcontracts and suppliers as strategic partners essential to the mission, protecting schedule and margin.

  • Unblock Excellence: Synchronize cross-functional teams across optics, electronics, software, and the data chain and clear roadblocks quickly so the team keeps moving at speed and quality stays high.

  • Influence the Future: Serve as the primary point of contact for assigned U.S. Government tracking, warning, and surveillance customers, and partner with BD & Strategy on proposals and technical narratives that define the next generation of space domain awareness.

What they're looking for

  • Bachelor’s degree in physics, math, science, or other technical discipline
  • + years of program management experience
  • A demonstrated track record of owning a technical program, product, or team: end to end and carrying it across the finish line under real pressure, we hire on what you've shipped, not years logged
  • Evidence you've moved real hardware and software from prototype toward scalable, flight-ready production