About the Role We are seeking an experienced Assembly, Integration & Test (AIT) Manager to build and lead the AIT organization for a next-generation space observatory through final integration, environmental verification, hazardous processing, and launch vehicle integration on the Eastern Range. You will collaborate with world-class scientists, engineers, and global partners on a program that enables groundbreaking astrophysical discoveries.
The program includes payload-level integration of a telescope and instruments at a supplier site in California, delivery of a bus and payload to a final integration site in Florida, where spacecraft-level testing, propellant loading, encapsulation, and launch vehicle integration are performed. This is a management position: you will stand up a new integration facility purpose-built for world-class space optics, manage commercial processing providers, staff and qualify the technician workforce, establish production and test process control, and run the integrated test campaign from testbed integration through launch handoff.
The Spacecraft Systems Engineering group owns the Requirements Verification Plan, the test strategy, and the closure criteria. The AIT group that you lead implements that plan: translating verification requirements into executable procedures and integration flows, executing them on flight and testbed hardware, and delivering as-run data and discrepancies back for requirement closure. Verification approach is a Systems Engineering product; verification execution is an AIT product. The AIT Manager and the V&V engineers work as direct counterparts across that boundary.
Key responsibilities for this role include the following:
AIT Management and Execution- Build, staff, and lead the AIT organization; own the AIT Plan, budget, schedule, resource loading, and critical path.
- Own payload-to-platform integration: receiving, inspection, payload reassembly, mate to the bus, alignment, and final observatory closeout, including hold points, hazard controls, and back-out paths.
- Lead spacecraft-level test execution: end-to-end functional, performance, modal survey, DFAT, EMC self-compatibility, mass properties, thruster alignment, and closeout.
- Coordinate integration readiness with the platform, payload, and instrument suppliers; review and approve supplier integration flows, readiness artifacts, and as-shipped configuration.
- Own anomaly response during integration and test, including troubleshooting, root cause analysis, and corrective action.
- Own AIT content in program review gates (CDR, TRR, MRR, ORR, launch readiness) and report status and risk to leadership.
Facilities, Providers, and Launch Site Setup- Establish and stand up a new integration facility purpose-built for world-class space optics: requirements definition, bay and cleanroom design, buildout, activation, certification, and turnover to operations.
- Lead AIT services provider collaboration in Florida, including working group direction, scope and NTE management, deliverable acceptance, and coordination of the provider's engagement with NASA KSC Partnerships, range safety, and third-party service suppliers.
- Negotiate and manage commercial facility use, services, and surge capacity; maintain a facility backup arrangement positioned for execution on demand rather than stood up reactively.
- Coordinate shipping logistics by sea, air, and road for high-value spaceflight hardware: mode trade, charter and freight arrangements, oversize permitting and route planning, customs and duty posture, and forwarder management.
- Own in-transit hardware protection, including sealed and purged container interfaces, shock instrumentation, environmental control, salt-air decontamination, chain-of-custody, and receiving inspection.
Eastern Range, KSC, and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station- Establish and maintain range safety interfaces with the Eastern Range, KSC Safety, and the launch services provider.
- Own range safety submittals, including the MSPSP or commercial equivalent, hazard analyses, and Operations and Maintenance Instructions to range standards; obtain hazardous procedure approvals.
- Collaborate with the launch vehicle provider to plan launch vehicle integration: fairing preparation and access, encapsulation, transport to the pad, mate, integrated operations, and countdown support; establish the division of work and handoff points.
- Establish hazardous operations capability, including propellant loading/servicing, SCAPE operations.
Environmental Testing- Own the spacecraft-level environmental test campaign: vibration, shock, acoustic (DFAT), thermal vacuum, and EMI / EMC, including test planning, procedure development, readiness reviews, execution, and data package delivery.
- Coordinate large subsystem and element-level environmental testing at external test service providers such as Element U.S. Space & Defense; own provider survey and selection, chamber and shaker capability versus test article size and mass, and cleanliness and ITAR posture at the provider site.
- Own external test campaigns end-to-end: test SOW, cost and schedule, slot reservation and provider readiness, fixture and adapter design, force limiting and notching approach, instrumentation and data acquisition, shipping of hardware and GSE, on-site test conduct and witness, and anomaly handling away from home site.
- Review major supplier environmental test campaigns for the bus and payload, including test plans, predicted and notched levels, fixture design, instrumentation, pass/fail criteria, and as-run data; witness supplier testing and disposition supplier test anomalies.
- Confirm supplier environmental test results close the assigned verification requirements and deliver the evidence to Systems Engineering for closure.
Optical Systems Processing- Own the handling, maintenance, and protection of flight optical systems throughout the integration and test campaign, including cover and purge management, storage configuration, and periodic health checks.
- Support precision optical alignment operations, including metrology setup, alignment sequences, hold points, and as-aligned record capture, in coordination with the optical engineering team.
- Staff and qualify optical technicians; establish optical handling certification, cleanliness discipline, and tool and fixture control specific to flight optics.
- Support supplier-furnished optical GSE (OGSE) receipt, setup, calibration, and maintenance across the campaign, and coordinate supplier support for OGSE issues.
- Own contamination control for flight optical and detector hardware as a first-order constraint on facility design, process design, and campaign execution, from facility certification through final closeout and encapsulation.
- Establish cleanroom certification and re-certification per ISO 14644, continuous environmental monitoring.
- Establish cleanliness verification sampling: particulate fallout witness plates, tape lift, non-volatile residue analysis, and visual inspection under white and UV light; qualify the analytical lab and manage turnaround against test flow.
- Establish GN2 purge and dry air services, bagging, bake-out, and hardware protection practice; own contamination control during hazardous operations and inter-facility transport.
- Establish gowning, air shower, and airlock discipline across staff, contractors, and provider personnel.
Mission Assurance, PRACA, and Risk Management- Work with the Mission Assurance team to define and staff QA witness and mandatory inspection points across the integration and test flow.
- Establish the PRACA process and tracking infrastructure for the AIT phase: problem reporting, non-conformance capture, screening and classification, failure review board conduct, corrective action, closure, and trending, with supplier and internal discrepancies flowing into a single accountable system.
- Establish and operate the AIT risk management process; integrate AIT, facility, hazardous operations, transportation, and interface risks into the program risk register.
- Establish configuration management, as-built accountability, calibration management, and tool control for flight hardware, GSE, and software loads.
Testbeds, GSE, and Staffing- Plan, maintain, and operate the program testbeds and flatsat, including configuration control of hardware, software loads, harnessing, and test setups.
- Coordinate testbed hardware delivery from the bus, payload, and instrument suppliers, including schedule, fidelity, interface definition, acceptance, and sustaining support.
- Define requirements MGSE; own GSE acceptance, proof-load testing, certification, and pedigree records; own lift plans, critical lift designation, and rigger and lift director qualification.
- Stand up the AIT record-keeping system: work instruction structure, travelers, as-run records, buyoff points, and ESD and materials handling for flight optical hardware.
- Define the technician staffing profile across the campaign, including surge, shift, and on-call coverage; recruit, qualify, and certify integration and test technicians, lift directors, and fueling personnel.
- Manage the mix of direct staff, contract technicians, and provider personnel; establish scope boundaries, supervision authority, training, and re-qualification cadence.
Mission Operations Collaboration- Work closely with the Spacecraft Operations group to plan and execute mission rehearsals against flight and testbed hardware.
- Support day-in-the-life and orbit-in-the-life mission scenario testing with spacecraft operators, exercising nominal and contingency timelines end to end.
- Support command and telemetry database validation, procedure validation, ground segment compatibility testing, and operations readiness ahead of launch.
Required Qualifications- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
- 10+ years of spacecraft AIT, integration, or launch site processing experience, including 3+ years leading teams.
- Direct experience executing a spacecraft launch campaign at a U.S. range, with working knowledge of range safety processes and documentation.
- Experience with spacecraft environmental testing (acoustic or vibration, modal, EMC, thermal vacuum) and with managing test campaigns at external service providers.
- Experience developing and executing detailed test procedures and integration flows against a Requirements Verification Plan owned elsewhere.
- Experience with PRACA or equivalent problem reporting and corrective action systems, failure review boards, and risk register management.
- Experience managing technicians in cleanroom and hazardous operations environments, and with MGSE, lift operations, and GSE certification.
Preferred Qualifications- Hands-on experience owning contamination control for optical or detector flight hardware.
- Willingness to maintain sustained presence on the Space Coast during the campaign, and to travel to supplier facilities in the U.S., U.K., and continental Europe.
- Experience standing up a new AIT facility, cleanroom, or launch site processing capability.
- Experience integrating telescopes, optical benches, or complex scientific payloads.
- Experience with precision optical alignment, optical metrology, and OGSE operation and maintenance.
- Experience with hydrazine propellant servicing and SCAPE operations.
- Experience with flatsat and testbed development, operation, and hardware-software integration.
- Experience with commercial processing providers and KSC / CCSFS facility agreements.
- Experience with multi-mode transport of high-value spaceflight hardware.
- Familiarity with ITAR / EAR, foreign national handling, and international supplier hardware receipt.
$200,000 - $270,000 a year
This is an exempt position.
This role requires access to U.S. export controlled information. Candidates must be a U.S. person (i.e. a citizen of the United States, a permanent resident, or a legal asylee or refugee) OR receive approval from the U.S. Government to work with U.S. export controlled information.
