Director of Mission Products & Payload Integration

Who We Are:

Eras of humanity can often be defined by a dominant transportation mode - horse drawn chariots, ocean going boats, or aircraft. These were spurred by a small group of people rigorously focused on building technology to achieve faster access to more of the world.  We seek to usher in a new era of humanity defined by universal access to the whole globe free of borders and the presence of a routine way from space to Earth. To do this, we are building highly maneuverable re-entry vehicles that can loiter in orbit before precision landing back on Earth. 

Position Overview: 
We're looking for a Director or Senior Director of Mission Products & Payload Integration to lead this new organization. You'll sit at the intersection of engineering, product, mission design, and customer needs — defining and building the technical products that make Arc valuable: payload bay architectures, mounting solutions, trajectory and mission design offerings, and the avionics and software interfaces that make payload integration seamless. 

This is a strategic and hands-on leadership role. The ideal candidate combines deep aerospace engineering judgment with strong product instincts, customer empathy, and the ability to lead high-performing teams. You should have a strong sense for what hypersonic test customers, defense customers, and advanced payload developers will want to fly — and how their payloads need to interface mechanically, electrically, thermally, and digitally with Arc. 

Key Responsibilities: 

Product & Roadmap Leadership 

• Define and own the technical roadmap for Arc's mission product layer — payload integration, mission design, and customer-facing capabilities 
• Identify new product opportunities driven by customer demand across hypersonic testing, defense, space systems, materials, sensors, communications, and other advanced aerospace fields 
• Drive roadmap execution through engineering, from concept through flight 

Payload Bay & Accommodation 

• Own Arc's payload bay design strategy and accommodation approach 
• Define standard payload envelopes, mounting solutions, modular interface concepts, and environmental constraints 
• Develop separation and deployment options and customer-specific integration approaches 
• Partner with vehicle engineering to translate customer needs into robust, manufacturable, flight-ready interfaces 

Mission Design & Analysis 

• Lead development of customer-facing mission design capabilities: trajectory design, mission analysis, flight environment characterization, launch vehicle integration, and CONOPS development 
• Collaborate across GNC, flight software, avionics, structures, thermal, propulsion, recovery, business development, and program teams 

Payload Interface Ecosystem 

• Define the avionics, software, data, and customer interface ecosystem that enables efficient payload integration 
• Deliver payload electrical interfaces, command and data handling, and telemetry access 
• Build mission planning tools, software APIs, test equipment, integration documentation, and customer onboarding workflows 

Customer Engagement 

• Serve as one of Arc's primary technical voices with customers — communicating capabilities, shaping mission concepts, and advancing customer objectives 
• Work directly with business development to identify patterns across customer payloads and translate them into scalable product offerings 

Team Building & Leadership 

• Recruit, manage, and develop a multidisciplinary team owning mission products end-to-end 
• Team may include mission designers, systems engineers, payload integration engineers, mechanical engineers, avionics/software interface engineers, and technical product leads 
• Set technical direction, manage priorities, and build a culture of creativity, accountability, and excellence 

Required Qualifications: 

• 10+ years of applicable experience 
• Deep aerospace engineering background across spacecraft, launch vehicles, reentry vehicles, missiles, hypersonics, aircraft, or advanced defense systems  
• Proven experience leading multidisciplinary engineering teams through complex product development, system integration, test, and flight operations  
• Experience with payload integration, mission design, systems engineering, avionics or mechanical interfaces, launch integration, or flight test programs  
• Technical depth to make sound architectural decisions across mechanical, electrical, software, thermal, GNC, trajectory, and operational domains  
• Strong product instincts — ability to turn ambiguous customer needs into clean, repeatable technical offerings  
• Understanding of how aerospace customers think about payloads, test objectives, mission assurance, flight environments, data collection, and integration risk  
• Excellent communication skills, especially translating complex engineering into clear customer-facing options 

 

Our office headquarters is located in Playa Vista, CA. This position requires in office presence.

 

_{The California annual base salary for this role is currently $180,000 - 260,000. Pay Grades are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data.  Individual pay will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: interviews and an assessment of several factors that are unique to each candidate, job-related skills, relevant education and experience, certifications, abilities of the candidate and internal equity.}