Lunar Lander Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) Manager

Application close date:

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We're working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight!

As a leader of a hardworking team of engineers, you will cultivate and manage individual technical capabilities for various spaceflight systems and personal growth of your team. You will share in the team's impact on all aspects of mission and project development success within the Lunar Permanence business unit, and all of Blue Origin's orbital and planetary flight systems, services, and products, proposals, and development projects. You will be both an individual contributor to the design and success of these programs, as well as an advocate for the career growth of your direct reports.

Team Manager positions are technical engineering roles that also provide management functions. As the ECLSS Team Manager, you will help hire and directly manage a Capabilities team of 8-12 subject matter experts. You will support the people, processes, and tools essential for exemplary performance in the respective subject domains of life support systems or human systems integration.

You will spend a good portion of your time as a technical contributor providing technical expertise and engineering support directly to one or more product teams. In this capacity, you will be responsible for exemplifying best practices, balanced technical judgment, and superior work ethic. You will support conceptual studies, technology research and development projects, proposals, and Blue product development. This role is seeking strong technical depth in heat and mass transfer, fluid systems, environmental control and life support, the technology development product lifecycle, and experience with transition to flight hardware.

In addition, as a Team Manager reporting to the ECLS Integrated Product Lead/Senior Manager, you will be responsible for cultivating an evolving, rightsized workforce; overseeing performance, merits, and promotions; shepherding team members careers through coaching, opportunity matching, and technical development; overseeing negotiation of their deployment onto multiple programs and reconciling demand conflicts; benchmarking their work standards and tools with other Blue Origin business units and with industry trends; and assuring that the Team's work products meet domain quality standards.

You will share in the team's impact on all aspects of designing, building, testing and flying Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) flight hardware. The ECLS System consists of essential hardware that enables humans to safely inhabit space. ECLSS circulates air around the vehicle, picking up carbon dioxide, humidity, and trace contaminants to be scrubbed, and provides oxygen for breathing. The internal cabin pressure is maintained and monitored. Clean drinking water is provided to the crew. The ECLS system also monitors for emergencies such as rapid depressurization and fire and counteracts them.

This position requires your dedication to both excellent capabilities management and excellent technical leadership. You will therefore directly impact company performance and in turn, the history of space exploration as we build a future where millions of people live and work in space.

Responsibilities:

• Add senior technical value directly to the Blue Lunar Lander program and provide technical leadership of the highest caliber:
  • Exemplify conduct for your Team's members
  • Lead technology development efforts including project development, design/build/test cycles, and documentation and reporting
  • Apply expertise in life support systems to develop cutting edge and cost-effective solutions for Blue missions.
  • Identify and trade technology solutions, support vehicle-level trade studies, provide expert recommendations and technical feasibility evaluation
  • Perform analyses ranging from scoping calculations to detailed assessments of technologies and systems relevant to life support and/or human systems
  • Support proposal development and business development activities
• Supply people, processes, and tools needed to successfully complete the program. Negotiate Statements of Work, time commitments, and resolve conflicts with the respective product managers, support recruiting and hiring efforts.
• Manage your direct reports' professional development (e.g., hiring, performance reviews, compensation and promotion management, routine one-on-one development conversations) and coach them on performance.
  • Ensure staff are properly trained, including to operate within the Blue Origin safety culture
  • Obtain performance feedback for employees from the product managers they have worked for in the evaluation period
  • Proactively counsel your employees' career growth, by understanding their unique goals, capabilities, and experience and matching against current and future needs.
  • Facilitate development opportunities for your employees to align with Lunar Lander product needs, advance the capabilities of the Group's community of practice, and increase employee satisfaction.
  • Conduct Team meetings and provide flow-down communications from upper management and relevant announcements.
• Organize the Team and assure access to necessary resources is maintained:
  • Set and prioritize Team goals and develop and maintain team performance metrics
  • Manage the Team's labor and non-labor budget for Design Engineering activities
  • Coordinate access to key technical resources, software, models, and analysis tools needed, and processes for capturing staff best practices
  • Coordinate and integrate with like capability groups and expertise across the company

Qualifications:

• Minimum BS Degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, or related Engineering field.
• 2+ years of demonstrated experience managing technical teams and/or leading functional teams, with responsibility for technical quality of work delivered, and career management of employees
• 6+ years of industry technical experience in system formulation, research and development, and/or operations applied to spacecraft systems and environments, human systems, and project leadership throughout the hardware life cycle process.
• Experience in applied research and familiarity with technology development cycle
• Strong analysis skills: able to perform analyses ranging from scoping calculations to detailed design studies
• Ability to evaluate concept feasibility within the context of system and mission requirements
• Experience leading and managing technical project(s)
• Demonstrated ability to learn
• Comfortable working on small, focused teams
• Understanding of organizational structure and dynamics
• Ability to advocate and mediate as needed for and with team members
• Excellent communication skills

Desired:

• MS in Mechanical, Aerospace, or related Engineering or Scientific field.
• Deep understanding of existing spacecraft life support and/or human systems and a willingness to unlearn it.
• Strong in mechanical design and relevant design tools
• Experience with proposal development
• Experience with mathematical model development
• Experience with flight experiment development and qualification
• Understanding of hardware fabrication processes and methods
• Strong in experimental methods
• Experience with design/build/test project methodology
• Experience with MATLAB, Python, or similar coding language

Compensation Range for:

Other site ranges may differ

Culture Statement

Don't meet all desired requirements? Studies have shown that some people are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single desired qualification. At Blue Origin, we are dedicated to building an authentic workplace, so if you're excited about this role but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every desired qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Export Control Regulations

Applicants for employment at Blue Origin must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e. current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S.as a refugee or granted asylum.

Background Check

• Required for all positions: Blue's Standard Background Check

• Required for Certain Job Profiles: Defense Biometric Identification System (DBIDS) background check if at any time the role requires one to be on a military installation

• Required for Certain Job Profiles: Drivers who operate Commercial Motor Vehicles with a Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW), Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) or combination of power unit and trailer that meets or exceeds 10,001 lbs. and/or transports placardable amounts of hazardous materials by ground in any vehicle on a public road while in commerce, may be subject to additional Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations including: Driver Qualification Files, Medical Certification (obtained before onboarding), Road Test, Hours of Service, Drug and Alcohol Testing (CDL drivers only), vehicle inspection requirements, CDL requirements (if applicable) and hazardous materials transportation/shipping training.

• Required for certain Job Profiles: Ability to obtain and maintain Merchant Mariner Credential, which includes pre-employment and random drug testing as well as DOT physical

Benefits

• Benefits include: Medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability, 401(k) with a company match of up to 5%, and an Education Support Program.

• Paid Time Off: Up to four (4) weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours, and up to 14 company-paid holidays.

• Dependent on role type and job level, employees may be eligible for benefits and bonuses based on the company's intent to reward individual contributions and enable them to share in the company's results, or other factors at the company's sole discretion. Bonus amounts and eligibility are not guaranteed and subject to change and cancellation. Please check with your recruiter for more details.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Blue Origin is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and is committed to attracting, retaining, and developing a highly qualified and dedicated work force. Blue Origin hires and promotes people on the basis of their qualifications, performance, and abilities. We support the establishment and maintenance of a workplace that fosters trust, equality, and teamwork. We provide all qualified applicants for employment and employees with equal opportunities for hire, promotion, and other terms and conditions of employment, regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin/ethnicity, age, physical or mental disability, genetic factors, military/veteran status, or any other status or characteristic protected by federal, state, and/or local law. Blue Origin will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws, including the Washington Fair Chance Act, the California Fair Chance Act, the Los Angeles Fair Chance in Hiring Ordinance, and other applicable laws. For more information on "Know Your Rights," please see here.

Affirmative Action and Disability Accommodation

Applicants wishing to receive information on Blue Origin's Affirmative Action Plans, or applicants requiring a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in the application and/or interview process, please contact us atEEOCompliance@blueorigin.com. Please note this is a publicly managed inbox. Please do not include any personal medical information in your request.

California Applicant Privacy Notice

If you are a California resident, please reference the CA Applicant Privacy Notice here.