Manager, Systems Engineering; Clearance Required Security Clearance

Position: Manager, Systems Engineering (Clearance Required) with Security Clearance
Sierra Space Careers:

At Sierra Space, we build the missions and systems that keep our world secure in the domain above Earth.
Sierra Space team members share a spirit of innovation and collaboration and a belief that we can deliver on the boldest missions in space today. Together with our customers, we aim to safeguard our nation, sustain human presence in space, and secure the freedom of operations in low Earth orbit and beyond.
Our success is measured by the trust of those who rely on what we build and deliver, and our technologies keep the United States and its allies mission-ready throughout space.

We are mission-driven, and together, we are an extraordinary team.

About the Role

The Manager, Systems Engineering leads a team of systems engineers, operations specialists, and training professionals responsible for developing operational procedures, executing mission operations, and ensuring crew and ground team readiness for novel spacecraft programs. This role provides technical leadership and people management for teams who plan, execute, and support real-time mission operations while developing comprehensive training programs that prepare personnel for nominal and off-nominal scenarios.

The Manager ensures all activities are properly integrated with broader systems engineering processes, mission design constraints, requirements management, and verification & validation efforts, while managing resources and budgets and collaborating across organizational boundaries.

The Manager leads multiple operations and training teams, providing direct supervision to operations planners, training specialists, systems engineers, and instructors supporting various spacecraft projects. This role integrates mission operations and training activities with broader systems engineering processes-including requirements management, interface control, verification & validation, and digital engineering initiatives-while translating top-level mission requirements into executable operational procedures, console configurations, ground system requirements, and comprehensive training programs.

The Manager is responsible for the development and updates to operations handbooks, contingency procedures, mission rules, training curricula, certification requirements, and assessments, while leading flight readiness reviews, mission simulations, and real-time execution support across multiple concurrent programs. Responsibilities include identifying and mitigating operational risks, establishing technical performance measures, leading anomaly investigations, safety assessments, and ensuring compliance with customer-specific requirements. The Manager collaborates with spacecraft, ground, and systems engineering teams to ensure operational constraints and crew interface requirements are properly incorporated into operational designs, while providing operations feedback that informs design trades and system requirements.

This leader exercises financial acumen by managing budgets for operations activities, training programs, simulation infrastructure, and console systems, coordinates cross-program resources and best practices, and builds a culture of operational excellence through effective communication of complex operational concepts to diverse stakeholders and mentorship that fosters continuous improvement and mission success.

About You

Our mission is driven by an unyielding commitment to advancing space-based technology in service of our customers and safeguarding national security. We seek individuals who are passionate about innovating beyond boundaries and relentlessly pursuing solutions that protect, preserve and empower - to join us in this critical mission.
We're looking for team members who align with our values, mission and goals - while also meeting the minimum qualifications below. The preferred qualifications are a bonus, not a requirement.

Minimum Qualifications:

* Bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science, or related technical field, or equivalent work experience.

* Minimum of 8 years of relevant systems engineering experience.

* At least 3 years of experience in a leadership or management role.

* Comprehensive knowledge of systems engineering principles including requirements management, system architecture, interface control, verification and validation.

* Demonstrated ability to apply systems engineering practices across complex technical systems.

* Experience managing systems engineering teams and providing direct supervision to requirements engineers, system architects, and integration engineers.

* Proficiency with systems engineering tools and methodologies (e.g., MBSE, SysML, DOORS) for requirements traceability, functional analysis, and trade studies.

* Demonstrated ability to guide teams through technical challenges and trade-off decisions.

* Experience managing budgets, resource allocations, and making risk-informed decisions balancing technical, schedule, and cost constraint.

* Excellent communication skills with ability to…