Program Management Leader 6 - Vehicle Integration, Test & Certification

Job Overview & Responsibilities

The Vehicle Integration, Test & Certification Engineering Leader is responsible for leading the engineering organization supporting final vehicle assembly and integration, IACO, factory test and checkout, vehicle acceptance and certification, and technical continuity into launch-site processing.

Located in Decatur, Alabama, this position leads a multidisciplinary engineering organization responsible for enabling successful vehicle completion and delivery. The successful candidate will partner closely with Operations, Quality, Mission Management, Program Management, subsystem engineering organizations, and launch-site teams to resolve technical issues, maintain vehicle configuration and certification integrity, and support increasing production and launch cadence.

Responsibilities include:

• Lead the engineering organization supporting final vehicle assembly and integration, IACO, factory checkout and test, vehicle acceptance and certification, and technical continuity into launch-site processing.
• Provide engineering leadership and accountability throughout vehicle integration, test, acceptance, certification, delivery, and downstream launch-site processing.
• Partner with IACO, Test, Quality, and Launch Operations leadership to align engineering priorities, staffing, and execution with vehicle flow, certification milestones, and mission schedules.
• Lead timely and disciplined resolution of technical issues affecting vehicle integration, test execution, certification, delivery, and mission readiness.
• Integrate engineering disciplines and technical organizations to resolve complex vehicle-level issues that cross subsystem or organizational boundaries.
• Ensure effective engineering execution for test anomalies, nonconformances, requirement verification, technical closure, and vehicle certification.
• Maintain technical and configuration continuity as vehicles transition from Decatur production through launch-site processing and mission preparation.
• Drive recurring issue elimination and continuous improvement by incorporating factory and launch-site lessons learned into future builds, engineering priorities, and product improvements.
• Establish and monitor organizational performance measures for engineering responsiveness, technical issue resolution, test anomaly closure, certification readiness, and vehicle flow.
• Develop and execute organizational, staffing, talent development, and succession plans to support increasing production and launch cadence.
• Foster a One Team culture across Engineering, Operations, Quality, Mission Management, Program Management, and launch-site organizations with shared accountability for vehicle delivery and mission success.

Required Education

Bachelor

Required Years of Experience

Please reference the Basic Qualification for minimum years of related work experience required

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related technical field from an accredited college or university.
• Minimum of 8 years of relevant work experience plus a minimum of 4 years of management or leadership experience of leading teams.
• Demonstrated technical leadership experience in the integration, test, production, certification, launch, or sustainment of complex aerospace or high-rate environment.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary engineering teams and resolving complex integrated hardware or systems issues.
• Experience working in a production, integration and test, field operations, or mission execution environment.
• Experience with personnel management, including employee development, performance management, organizational planning, and talent development.
• Demonstrated ability to lead technical issue resolution across organizational, functional, or geographic boundaries.
• Demonstrated ability to establish priorities and lead execution in an environment with competing technical, cost, schedule, production, and mission demands.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with demonstrated ability to communicate effectively with employees, peers, senior leadership, customers, and stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with launch vehicle, spacecraft, aerospace, defense, or other complex high-reliability systems.
• Experience with vehicle or system-level assembly, integration, checkout, and test activities.
• Experience supporting vehicle acceptance, product certification, flight readiness, mission assurance, or launch operations.
• Experience leading engineering organizations directly supporting production, integration and test, field operations, or launch operations.
• Experience integrating technical execution across multiple engineering disciplines.
• Experience with test anomaly investigation, nonconformance review, root cause analysis, corrective action, and recurring issue elimination.
• Program management skills, including cost and schedule management, risk management, resource planning, and business execution.
• CAM knowledge and experience.
• Experience developing and leading teams, including experience developing leads and leaders.
• Demonstrated ability to resolve complex cross-organizational challenges and conflicts.