Earth-Orbit Flight Dynamics Section Manager

The Enterprise Effects Division (EED) drives integration of Aerospace’s strategic capabilities across the national space enterprise. The division leverages a broad array of engineering disciplines against a dynamic portfolio of programs, customers, and national challenges. EED spans the capability lifecycle from concept and architecture design to performance assessment to application of space and space-enabled capabilities. 

As a core component of EED, the Earth-Orbit Flight Dynamics Department provides flight mechanics expertise for launch and space vehicles. This includes expertise in orbital mechanics, astrodynamics, trajectory design and optimization, and atmospheric flight modeling and simulation. The department is a critical integration partner for a wide range of engineering disciplines to facilitate the company’s mission of providing multi-disciplinary insights. We are looking for a Section Manager to help lead the Contested Operations Section. 

As a Section Manager, the selected candidate will lead a group of analysts across a variety of mission areas. Core focus areas include contested missions/resiliency tactics development and assessment, Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO) maneuver analysis, and Dynamic Space Operations (DSO). Furthermore, opportunities exist to partner on efforts with technically adjacent departments to strengthen the entire organization. 

The selected candidate will help lead department efforts in these areas, providing critical customer interfaces to the operational community, including USSF/SpOC, STARCOM, OTTI, SPACECOM and NRO components. The Section Manager will be expected to work with EOFFD leadership to fuse these customer needs with important equities across the corporate customer landscape, notably SSC, SpRCO, AFRL, NASA, FAA, and NOAA. 

Work Model 

This position will be a hybrid work model based in Colorado Springs, CO, Chantilly, VA or El Segundo, CA, with the expectation that the selected candidate works at least 4 days per week onsite, as the business needs allow. 

What You’ll Be Doing  

• Leadership & Team Management • Lead geographically distributed teams of analysts and direct reports in developing analysis capabilities, supporting operational communities, and implementing resiliency tactics, techniques, and procedures through workload management, performance assessment, mentoring, and staff development 

• Customer Engagement & Business Development • Develop relationships with Aerospace Program Offices and US Government customers to identify opportunities, deliver tactical solutions to operational challenges, and prioritize business development, capability awareness, and long-term customer engagement 

• Strategic Coordination & Execution • Partner with department management to synthesize and execute organizational strategic vision across multiple sections, coordinating cross-functional teams and subdivision partnerships to ensure bench depth and career growth opportunities 

• Capability Development & Training • Enhance warfighter training across the space enterprise and cultivate state-of-the-art modeling and simulation capabilities through strategic road mapping and resource integration 

• Organizational Enablement • Drive staff retention, recruiting, hiring, and onboarding while pursuing organizational enablers including classified IT resources and clearance portfolios to ensure long-term organizational health 

What You Need to be Successful 

• Bachelor’s degree in applicable STEM areas 

• 8 years of applicable professional or educational experience is required 

• Demonstrated ability to initiate and lead team efforts, manage projects, and develop staff for new collaborations with internal and external organizations 

• Experience with taking Aerospace analytical frameworks and deploying operational prototypes to the user community 

• Willingness to travel domestically as necessary 

• Current TS/SCI Access 

How You Can Stand Out  

It would be impressive if you have one or more of these: 

• Advanced degree in an applicable field 

• Previous management experience including staff recruitment and development, performance management, conflict resolution, organizational planning, and resource management 

• Operations-focused experience, e.g., maneuver planning for real-world missions 

• Experience supporting military exercises and wargaming events 

• Leveraging or building analysis software to combine numerical methods, flight mechanics, and optimization for launch vehicles, missiles, interceptors, spacecraft, or reentry vehicles 

• Experience applying optimization techniques such as nonlinear programming, indirect/direct methods, genetic algorithms, as well as others 

• Current TS/SCI and TS/SAP Access