Spaceflight Mechanics Associate Director

The Aerospace Corporation

Associate Director for Emerging Missions Flight Dynamics at Aerospace Corporation. Leading strategic vision and project leadership for multi-domain effects supporting a broad customer base.

Posted 4/14/2026full-timeEl Segundo • California, Colorado • 🇺🇸 United StatesSenior💰 $185,100 - $277,600 per yearWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

TypeScript

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Partner with the department director to synthesize and execute an organizational strategic vision
Coordinate efforts of multiple department sections, partnering with those management teams
Serve department staff through workload management, performance management, compensation assessment, staff engagement and retention, and department logistics
Mentor/coach staff for technical, leadership, and professional development
Pursue staff and organizational enablers, notably classified IT resources and clearance portfolios.
Prioritize the department’s business development, capability awareness, recruiting, hiring, and on-boarding endeavors to ensure long-term organizational health and customer engagement
Develop customer relationships and facilitate opportunities for technical support, with a particular focus on resiliency-centric and operations-centric customer organizations
Cultivate state-of-the-art modeling and simulation capabilities through strategic road mapping and by fusing customer and internal resources
Partner with subdivision teams to provide bench depth and career growth opportunities while ensuring appropriate cross-organizational coordination
Pursue multi-disciplinary opportunities to partner across the corporate engineering landscape, integrating department capabilities into broader workflows
Travel occasionally (as necessary) to support customer efforts

Requirements

What you’ll need

Bachelor’s degree in applicable STEM areas
Typically, 10 years of applicable professional or educational experience is desired
Demonstrated technical expertise in one or more of the following areas: orbital mechanics, flight dynamics, optimal control, and numerical methods
Demonstrated ability to initiate and lead team efforts
Proven ability to foster collaborative and engaging environments where teammates work across organizational boundaries
Exceptional time-management skills with the ability to manage multiple concurrent projects and corporate needs
Demonstrated interpersonal skills and leading from the front to influence technical, customer, and enterprise service organizations
Willingness to travel domestically as necessary
Current TS/SCI and/or TS/SAP access

Benefits

Comp & perks

Comprehensive health care and wellness plans
Paid holidays, sick time, and vacation
Standard and alternate work schedules, including telework options
401(k) Plan — Employees receive a total company-paid benefit of 8%, 10%, or 12% of eligible compensation based on years of service and matching contributions; employees are immediately eligible and vested in the plan upon hire
Flexible spending accounts
Variable pay program for exceptional contributions
Relocation assistance
Professional growth and development programs to help advance your career
Education assistance programs
An inclusive work environment built on teamwork, flexibility, and respect

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

orbital mechanicsflight dynamicsoptimal controlnumerical methods

Soft Skills

leadershipcollaborationtime managementmentoringcoachingperformance managementstaff engagementcustomer relationship management

Certifications

Bachelor's degreeTS/SCI accessTS/SAP access