Chief Project Management and Systems Engineer Division
Job Description
Summary
Incumbent serves as the Chief of the Project Management and Systems Engineering (PM & SE) Division and reports to the Director of Engineering at Johnson Space Center (JSC). Provides overall management and leadership for human rated spacecraft design and development, vehicle systems definition and integration, overall vehicle testing and verification, vehicle sustaining engineering, logistics and maintenance, and development, delivery, and sustained operation of flight hardware.
Who Can Apply
The area of consideration for this position is all groups of qualified individuals within the civil service, Senior Executive Service (SES) reinstatement eligible, and SES Candidate Development Program certified graduates with noncompetitive eligibility. A person is considered to be in the civil service only if occupying a civil service position at the time of application.
Duties
The Chief Project Management and Systems Engineer Division:
- Provides leadership and technical direction to teams responsible for the integration of International and Commercial Partner, and Government elements for all Human Spaceflight programs including development, verification, and test, readiness for flight, on-orbit checkout, operations support, cargo engineering integration and/or sustaining engineering.
- Provides technical leadership and domain stewardship in the engineering disciplines of project management and system engineering.
- Responsible for the overall strategic vision and exercising overall technical and administrative management of the organization.
- Responsible for technical management that houses JSC standards for PM and SE, as well as, providing Agency level leadership for advancing model-based system engineering (MBSE) tools and processes
- Formalizes project management and systems engineering as a domain at JSC, improving integration across technical disciplines.
- Oversees mid to larger scale Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) Engineering commitments that draw resources from across the directorate, center and agency, as well as the full spectrum of SE&I from conceptual design, thru design, development, test, evaluation (DDT&E) and operations, to senior systems engineering practitioners supporting both these GFE Engineering projects and large program Chief Engineers.
- Provides technical leadership in project management and systems engineering (PM & SE) over the program or project lifecycle. This involves concept to design to realization of complex systems.
- Responsible for the Division resources (budget, workforce, engineering assets) and advises the Director on all matters which may impact engineering operations.
- Reviews and directs the technical approach and progress toward the execution of operational functions.
- Formulates program goals and objectives (near-term and long-term) and develops plans for new projects while collaborating with programs and stakeholders to ensure the Division continues in its technical leadership across the Center and Agency.
Requirements
- The individual selected will be required to file an 'Executive Branch Personnel Financial Disclosure Report' (OGE-278e) within 30 days of appointment and annually from then on.
- Initial Senior Executive Service (SES) Career appointee is subject to a one-year probationary period.
- Successful completion of a background investigation commensurate with the risk and sensitivity level of the position.
- Successful completion of pre-employment and random drug testing may be required.
- Must be able to obtain and maintain a security clearance as required by the position.
- Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
- Must meet qualifications requirements by the closing date of this announcement.
- Complete a Declaration for Federal Employment to determine your suitability for Federal employment, at the time requested by the agency.
As a basic requirement for entry into the Senior Executive Service (SES) under a career appointment, you must clearly articulate and describe within your 2-page resume that you possess the Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) and Mandatory Technical Qualifications MTQ(s) related to this position. If your 2-page resume does not reflect demonstrated evidence of the ECQs and MTQ(s), you may be disqualified. Any additional pages over the 2-page limit will not be reviewed.
Your resume should includeevidence of progressively responsible supervisory, managerial, or professional experience which involved management of a program or organization of significant scope and complexity, normally obtained over several years by serving in positions at the GS-15 level or equivalent.
If you are (1) currently serving under a career SES appointment, (2) eligible for reinstatement into the SES (this means you were previously employed as a Career SES employee and you successfully completed a one-year probationary period), OR (3) have successfully completed a SES Candidate Development Program (CDP) and certified by OPM, you do not need to address the ECQs in your resume. However, your resume must clearly state that you are a current career SES, eligible for SES reinstatement, or SES CDP certified and year of certification.
Please DO NOT submit separate documents addressing the ECQs or MTQ(s). Only your 2-page resume will be accepted and considered. Any additional documents submitted will not be accepted.
EXECUTIVE CORE QUALIFICATIONS (ECQs)
For more information on the ECQs, please visit https://www.nasa.gov/careers/how-to-apply/#Artificial-Intelligence to review NASA's guidance on the use of AI tools during the application process.
This position has a positive education requirement. To be eligible, you must clearly state in your resume the following: degree, major and/or minor, and college/university. A college or university degree generally must be from an accredited (or pre-accredited) college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For a list of schools which meet these criteria, please refer to Department of Education Accreditation page.
A bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university with major study in engineering, physical science, mathematics, life sciences, computer science, or other field of science is required.
An official transcript will be required if you are selected.
SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show that the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs. These education credentials must be deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, click here.
Evaluation
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
All qualifications requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement.
We will review your resume to ensure you meet the qualification requirements. If you meet the basic qualification requirements, your application will be referred to and evaluated by an executive panel. Highly Qualified applicants may undergo one or more interviews and/or be asked to provide a list of references or additional documents to confirm eligibility.
Upon selection, if the selectee does not have Qualifications Review Board (QRB) certification by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), he/she must undergo an ECQ based structured interview with OPM before being appointed to this position.
Required Documents
A complete application includes items described below. Please note that if you do not provide all required information, as specified in this announcement, you may be removed from consideration for this position (or may not receive the special consideration for which you may be eligible). Human Resources will not modify or change any part of your application.
RESUME: All applicants are required to submit a two (2) page resume showing all relevant experience. Applicants seeking initial career appointment to the SES must include evidence of the ECQs and MTQ(s) within their resume. Please see this guidance: . Note: if any of the following types of information are included on your resume, your application package may be disqualified:
- Classified or government sensitive information.
- Social Security Number (SSN)
- Photos of yourself
- Personal information, such as age, gender, religious affiliation, etc.
- Encrypted and digitally signed documents.
VACANCY QUESTION/ASSESSMENT QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONSES: Responses are automatically submitted through USAJOBS when you apply to this vacancy.
You may be asked to provide additional documentation to support your eligibility and the information provided in your application package. For example, we may request academic transcripts, SF-50s, SES Candidate Development Program certificate, etc. Therefore, we encourage you to have these documents prepared and ready when requested by the agency. If you fail to provide the required documents within the stated time period, we may withdraw a job offer and/or remove you from further consideration.
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Job Details
- Department
- Mechanical
- Category
- Aerospace Engineering
- Employment Type
- Full Time
- Location
- Houston, Texas
- Posted
- Apr 30, 2026, 08:00 PM
- Listed
- May 7, 2026, 12:15 PM
- Compensation
- $197,201 - $210,811 per year
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