Mission Project Lead
Mission Project Lead
Locations: Denver, CO / Los Angeles, CA / Washington, D.C.
Type: Full-time, hybrid
About the Company
We are partnering with a fast-growing space software company developing mission-management and command-and-control technology for U.S. Government space programs.
The team supports a mixture of defense, intelligence, and civil space missions, including NASA-related programs, and is looking to develop the next generation of technical program leadership as its customer base and program portfolio continue to grow.
The Role
We are looking for a Mission Project Lead to work closely with engineering teams and Technical Program Managers to drive the day-to-day execution of government space programs.
This is not a traditional project-management position. The role is expected to remain approximately 50% technical, making it particularly well suited to a software engineer, systems engineer, systems architect, product owner, or similar technical professional who has started taking on broader ownership and coordination responsibilities.
The long-term opportunity is to develop into a Technical Program Manager, taking on increasing ownership of customer programs as the company grows.
What You’ll Be Doing
- Work directly with software and systems engineering teams to drive execution against mission priorities and milestones
- Maintain visibility across technical tasks, owners, dependencies, deadlines, and completion criteria
- Identify technical, resource, and coordination blockers and drive them through to resolution
- Facilitate planning sessions, stand-ups, milestone reviews, and other engineering team cadences
- Continue contributing technically while taking on increasing responsibility for program execution
- Coordinate across engineering, product, program, and leadership teams
- Provide clear updates on progress, risks, blockers, and upcoming milestones
- Support customer and government-facing discussions as your responsibilities grow
- Help translate program objectives into clear, actionable engineering work
- Develop toward ownership of larger technical programs and eventual TPM responsibilities
What We’re Looking For
- 3+ years of experience in a technical environment such as:
- Software engineering
- Systems engineering
- Systems architecture
- Mission operations
- Space or ground systems
- Technical product ownership
- Scrum / Agile delivery
- Experience taking ownership beyond your individual technical tasks
- Strong organizational skills and the ability to keep multiple technical activities moving simultaneously
- Comfortable identifying blockers, asking questions, and following actions through to completion
- Experience working closely with engineering teams in an iterative or Agile environment
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Comfortable collaborating across technical and non-technical teams
- Previous mentoring, technical leadership, project ownership, Scrum Master, or Product Owner experience is beneficial
- Space, government, defense, or NASA program experience is advantageous but not essential
- Must be eligible to obtain a U.S. Government security clearance; an active clearance is not required
Ideal Profile
You may currently be a Software Engineer, Systems Engineer, Systems Architect, Product Owner, Scrum Master, or Technical Lead who enjoys staying close to the engineering but increasingly finds yourself:
- coordinating other engineers;
- resolving blockers;
- driving technical work to completion;
- mentoring colleagues;
- communicating with customers or stakeholders; and
- taking ownership for delivery rather than simply completing your own tasks.
If you want to remain technically involved while developing toward Technical Program Management, this role offers a clear progression path.
Mission Project Lead
Locations: Denver, CO / Los Angeles, CA / Washington, D.C.
Type: Full-time, hybrid
About the Company
We are partnering with a fast-growing space software company developing mission-management and command-and-control technology for U.S. Government space programs.
The team supports a mixture of defense, intelligence, and civil space missions, including NASA-related programs, and is looking to develop the next generation of technical program leadership as its customer base and program portfolio continue to grow.
The Role
We are looking for a Mission Project Lead to work closely with engineering teams and Technical Program Managers to drive the day-to-day execution of government space programs.
This is not a traditional project-management position. The role is expected to remain approximately 50% technical, making it particularly well suited to a software engineer, systems engineer, systems architect, product owner, or similar technical professional who has started taking on broader ownership and coordination responsibilities.
The long-term opportunity is to develop into a Technical Program Manager, taking on increasing ownership of customer programs as the company grows.
What You’ll Be Doing
- Work directly with software and systems engineering teams to drive execution against mission priorities and milestones
- Maintain visibility across technical tasks, owners, dependencies, deadlines, and completion criteria
- Identify technical, resource, and coordination blockers and drive them through to resolution
- Facilitate planning sessions, stand-ups, milestone reviews, and other engineering team cadences
- Continue contributing technically while taking on increasing responsibility for program execution
- Coordinate across engineering, product, program, and leadership teams
- Provide clear updates on progress, risks, blockers, and upcoming milestones
- Support customer and government-facing discussions as your responsibilities grow
- Help translate program objectives into clear, actionable engineering work
- Develop toward ownership of larger technical programs and eventual TPM responsibilities
What We’re Looking For
- 3+ years of experience in a technical environment such as:
- Software engineering
- Systems engineering
- Systems architecture
- Mission operations
- Space or ground systems
- Technical product ownership
- Scrum / Agile delivery
- Experience taking ownership beyond your individual technical tasks
- Strong organizational skills and the ability to keep multiple technical activities moving simultaneously
- Comfortable identifying blockers, asking questions, and following actions through to completion
- Experience working closely with engineering teams in an iterative or Agile environment
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Comfortable collaborating across technical and non-technical teams
- Previous mentoring, technical leadership, project ownership, Scrum Master, or Product Owner experience is beneficial
- Space, government, defense, or NASA program experience is advantageous but not essential
- Must be eligible to obtain a U.S. Government security clearance; an active clearance is not required
Ideal Profile
You may currently be a Software Engineer, Systems Engineer, Systems Architect, Product Owner, Scrum Master, or Technical Lead who enjoys staying close to the engineering but increasingly finds yourself:
- coordinating other engineers;
- resolving blockers;
- driving technical work to completion;
- mentoring colleagues;
- communicating with customers or stakeholders; and
- taking ownership for delivery rather than simply completing your own tasks.
If you want to remain technically involved while developing toward Technical Program Management, this role offers a clear progression path.