{"schemaVersion":"jobsearcher.job.v1","id":"193ddd2f08f13ab9122d75f6","url":"https://jobsearcher.com/jobs/193ddd2f08f13ab9122d75f6","canonicalUrl":"https://jobsearcher.com/jobs/193ddd2f08f13ab9122d75f6","title":"Payload Processing Facility Manager","description":"ABOUT FIREFLY AEROSPACE\nFirefly Aerospace is a space and defense technology company that enables our world to launch, land, and operate in space – anywhere, anytime. As the partner of choice for critical space missions, Firefly is the only commercial company to launch a satellite to orbit with 24-hour notice and the only company to achieve a successful Moon landing. Our launch vehicles, lunar landers, and orbital vehicles provide government and commercial customers with full mission services from low Earth orbit to the Moon and beyond. Headquartered in north Austin, Texas, Firefly is looking for passionate, hardworking innovators to join our team and help fuel our successful trajectory into space.\nSUMMARY:\nFirefly is scaling Alpha to a high launch cadence and expanding its payload processing facility into a dual-purpose operation:\n1. Fast, reliable processing for every satellite flying on Alpha (dedicated and rideshare).\n2. Short-term lease of cleanroom bays, equipment, and support services to external customers whose spacecraft will launch on non-Firefly launch vehicles.\n3. Significant upgrade projects of the facility to enhance capabilities and expand capacity.\nWe need an exceptional leader who can simultaneously deliver flawless on-time processing for Firefly’s own Alpha missions while also operating the facility as a commercial, multi-user asset.\nPrimary Responsibilities:\nFull ownership of day-to-day facility operations, budget, staffing, and revenue from external rentals.\nDeliver consistently short processing timelines for Alpha missions (target 5–10 business days from spacecraft arrival to fairing encapsulation).\nBuild and manage a commercial leasing program: pricing, contracts, scheduling, and customer onboarding for third-party users.\nMaintain required environmental cleanliness levels, contamination monitoring, ESD protection, and hazardous-processing capabilities (hydrazine, cold-gas, green propellants, small ordnance).\nProvide environmental updates/reports to internal and external customers.\nWork with the Firefly Mission Management team to support customer reviews.\nWork with and lead a shared team of technicians, engineers, safety specialists, and logistics personnel; scale the organization as launch rate and rental demand grow.\nServe as the launch sites’ primary interface with every payload customer — internal and external — from contract kick-off through final handover to the launch pad.\nKeep all facility certifications current and ensure full compliance with range safety, ITAR/EAR, and Firefly safety standards.\nCoordinate facility upgrades and new capability additions in parallel with ongoing internal and external customer campaigns.\nRequired Qualifications:\nBachelor’s degree in engineering, aerospace, or operations-related field.\n5+ years working in satellite or payload processing cleanrooms.\nHands-on experience running or supporting commercial payload processing campaigns for orbital launch vehicles.\nProven track record operating a shared or multi-tenant processing facility (commercial, government, or contractor-owned).\nComfortable negotiating and closing facility-use agreements or service contracts with commercial spacecraft operators.\nThorough understanding of cleanroom protocols, contamination control plans, and hazardous operations safety.\nMust be a U.S. Person (U.S. citizen or permanent resident)\nPreferred Qualifications\nHold or Ability to obtain Top Secret clearance.\nPrevious leadership role at a commercial space company or payload processing contractor.\nDirect familiarity with small-lift fairing encapsulation and Alpha-class payloads.\nExperience with hydrazine/propellant loading operations and associated safety protocols.\nExperience bringing a new processing building online or executing major facility expansions.\nExisting relationships within the rideshare, small-sat, or constellation community.\nMust be willing to travel up to 25 % to other Firefly offices, test or launch sites.\nFirefly offers outstanding benefits for our employees, including generous health, dental and vision plans with low plan deductibles, parental leave, educational reimbursement, short term disability, and flexible PTO options.\nTo conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.\nFirefly Aerospace, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Firefly is governed based on merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.","company":"Firefly Aerospace","rawCompany":"firefly aerospace","city":"Travis Air Force Base","state":"CA","isRemote":false,"isActive":false,"createdAt":"2026-04-12T17:28:46.407Z","occupations":[{"code":"17-3021.00","title":"Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologists and Technicians","slug":"aerospace-engineering-and-operations-technologists-and-technicians"},{"code":"11-1021.00","title":"General and Operations Managers","slug":"general-and-operations-managers"},{"code":"13-1082.00","title":"Project Management Specialists","slug":"project-management-specialists"}],"industries":[{"code":"336414","title":"Guided Missile and Space Vehicle Manufacturing","slug":"guided-missile-and-space-vehicle-manufacturing"},{"code":"336419","title":"Other Guided Missile and Space Vehicle Parts and Auxiliary Equipment Manufacturing","slug":"other-guided-missile-and-space-vehicle-parts-and-auxiliary-equipment-manufacturing"},{"code":"927110","title":"Space Research and Technology","slug":"space-research-and-technology"}],"jobPosting":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"JobPosting","title":"Payload Processing Facility Manager","description":"ABOUT FIREFLY AEROSPACE\nFirefly Aerospace is a space and defense technology company that enables our world to launch, land, and operate in space – anywhere, anytime. As the partner of choice for critical space missions, Firefly is the only commercial company to launch a satellite to orbit with 24-hour notice and the only company to achieve a successful Moon landing. Our launch vehicles, lunar landers, and orbital vehicles provide government and commercial customers with full mission services from low Earth orbit to the Moon and beyond. Headquartered in north Austin, Texas, Firefly is looking for passionate, hardworking innovators to join our team and help fuel our successful trajectory into space.\nSUMMARY:\nFirefly is scaling Alpha to a high launch cadence and expanding its payload processing facility into a dual-purpose operation:\n1. Fast, reliable processing for every satellite flying on Alpha (dedicated and rideshare).\n2. Short-term lease of cleanroom bays, equipment, and support services to external customers whose spacecraft will launch on non-Firefly launch vehicles.\n3. Significant upgrade projects of the facility to enhance capabilities and expand capacity.\nWe need an exceptional leader who can simultaneously deliver flawless on-time processing for Firefly’s own Alpha missions while also operating the facility as a commercial, multi-user asset.\nPrimary Responsibilities:\nFull ownership of day-to-day facility operations, budget, staffing, and revenue from external rentals.\nDeliver consistently short processing timelines for Alpha missions (target 5–10 business days from spacecraft arrival to fairing encapsulation).\nBuild and manage a commercial leasing program: pricing, contracts, scheduling, and customer onboarding for third-party users.\nMaintain required environmental cleanliness levels, contamination monitoring, ESD protection, and hazardous-processing capabilities (hydrazine, cold-gas, green propellants, small ordnance).\nProvide environmental updates/reports to internal and external customers.\nWork with the Firefly Mission Management team to support customer reviews.\nWork with and lead a shared team of technicians, engineers, safety specialists, and logistics personnel; scale the organization as launch rate and rental demand grow.\nServe as the launch sites’ primary interface with every payload customer — internal and external — from contract kick-off through final handover to the launch pad.\nKeep all facility certifications current and ensure full compliance with range safety, ITAR/EAR, and Firefly safety standards.\nCoordinate facility upgrades and new capability additions in parallel with ongoing internal and external customer campaigns.\nRequired Qualifications:\nBachelor’s degree in engineering, aerospace, or operations-related field.\n5+ years working in satellite or payload processing cleanrooms.\nHands-on experience running or supporting commercial payload processing campaigns for orbital launch vehicles.\nProven track record operating a shared or multi-tenant processing facility (commercial, government, or contractor-owned).\nComfortable negotiating and closing facility-use agreements or service contracts with commercial spacecraft operators.\nThorough understanding of cleanroom protocols, contamination control plans, and hazardous operations safety.\nMust be a U.S. Person (U.S. citizen or permanent resident)\nPreferred Qualifications\nHold or Ability to obtain Top Secret clearance.\nPrevious leadership role at a commercial space company or payload processing contractor.\nDirect familiarity with small-lift fairing encapsulation and Alpha-class payloads.\nExperience with hydrazine/propellant loading operations and associated safety protocols.\nExperience bringing a new processing building online or executing major facility expansions.\nExisting relationships within the rideshare, small-sat, or constellation community.\nMust be willing to travel up to 25 % to other Firefly offices, test or launch sites.\nFirefly offers outstanding benefits for our employees, including generous health, dental and vision plans with low plan deductibles, parental leave, educational reimbursement, short term disability, and flexible PTO options.\nTo conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.\nFirefly Aerospace, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Firefly is governed based on merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.","datePosted":"2026-04-12T17:28:46.407Z","dateModified":"2026-04-12T17:28:46.407Z","hiringOrganization":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Firefly Aerospace","sameAs":"https://jobsearcher.com"},"jobLocation":{"@type":"Place","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","addressLocality":"Travis Air Force Base","addressRegion":"CA","addressCountry":"US"}},"identifier":{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"JobSearcher","value":"193ddd2f08f13ab9122d75f6"},"url":"https://jobsearcher.com/jobs/193ddd2f08f13ab9122d75f6"}}