Digital Innovation Division Mission Solutions Specialist

The Aerospace Corporation is the trusted partner to the nation’s space programs, solving the hardest problems and providing unmatched technical expertise. As the operator of a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC), we are broadly engaged across all aspects of space— delivering innovative solutions that span satellite, launch, ground, and cyber systems for defense, civil and commercial customers. When you join our team, you’ll be part of a special collection of problem solvers, thought leaders, and innovators.

Join us and take your place in space.

The Digital Innovation Division (DID) is accountable for generating and executing integrated strategies, providing governance, and managing internal investments that form the foundation of Aerospace's digital transformation. The Digital Innovation Division is seeking an experienced Mission Solutions Lead to rapidly prototype, test, and field enterprise-scale data and platform solutions in direct partnership with mission customers.

In this role, you will lead a small, agile cell of engineers tasked with moving fast — standing up early-stage capabilities, iterating quickly against real customer feedback, and converting promising prototypes into adopted, mission-relevant solutions. This is not a role for maintaining the status quo: you will be expected to challenge existing approaches, develop new best practices where none exist, and find creative paths to solving problems that conventional processes haven't solved.

You will work hands‑on with mission customers to understand operational needs, rapidly prototype candidate solutions, and iterate toward real mission impact — often ahead of where formal requirements or acquisition processes have caught up. You will coordinate with engineering teams, third‑party developers, and vendors as needed, but your primary value will be the speed and ingenuity with which your small team can move from problem to working solution.

You will help ensure Aerospace's digital initiatives translate into trusted, high-quality capabilities that mission customers can rapidly put into practice — and that lessons learned from fast iteration inform how Aerospace builds and governs solutions at scale.

Work Model: 100% onsite;
Chantilly, Va, Colorado Springs, Co and El Segundo, Ca

• Rapid Prototyping & Mission Solution Enablement Lead rapid prototyping and early‑stage instantiation of enterprise data/software solutions for mission customer organizations across multiple networks, including classified and hybrid environments — moving quickly from problem identification to working capability.
• Drive new approaches and develop new best practices where existing enterprise processes, tools, or standards fall short of mission needs; pilot new techniques before recommending them for broader adoption.
• Identify customer needs on the fly, set priorities and act as a spokesperson translating fast‑moving prototype work into enterprise‑relevant outcomes.
• Serve as a principal technical lead and help teams understand operational workflows, rapidly test candidate solutions, and iterate based on real‑world usage.
• Develop lightweight adoption KPIs and metrics appropriate to fast‑cycle prototyping, and translate successful pilots into scalable, trusted solutions.

• Lead a small, high‑performing cell of solutions engineers, data architects, and platform specialists; foster a culture of experimentation, fast iteration, and creative problem‑solving.
• Leverage Agile/lean methodologies to manage priorities, rapid sprint cycles, and tight feedback loops with customers.
• Promote Data Ops and Software Ops best practices and work directly with customer stakeholders through demonstrations, workshops,…