Mission Manager (US Remote) - Aurora Spaceplane

About Dawn Aerospace 

Dawn Aerospace is redefining space transportation through reusable, sustainable, and high-cadence flight systems. Our Aurora Spaceplane enables rapid access to suborbital space and speeds over Mach 3, serving a growing need for near-space testing, high-speed flight, and microgravity research. Together with our in-space propulsion business, Dawn is building the infrastructure for sustainable access to and operation in space. 

Role Overview 

Aurora is the first vehicle capable of flying missions to the edge of space multiple times a day. Your job is to transform this vehicle capability into mission success for our customers working from anywhere in the US - although Huntsville, USA is preferred (with domestic and international travel).  

As a Mission Manager, your core role is to translate customer objectives into executable flight plans. You will be the customer’s interface to Dawn's flight operations, engineering, regulatory, and commercial teams. Throughout any project, you will coordinate the specialists required to solve individual problems while retaining responsibility for the mission. 

This is not a passive account-management role. You will be expected to assess mission feasibility, challenge customer assumptions, defend engineering realities, and drive clarity across complex, first-of-a-kind mission concepts. You will be the customer’s technical advocate inside Dawn, and Dawn’s operational interface to the customer. 

You will succeed here if you can lead through ambiguity, communicate with precision, and have the technical depth to engage meaningfully with aerospace engineers and flight operators, while keeping customers aligned, informed, and confident. 

Key Responsibilities 

Mission Ownership 

• Own customer missions from initial scoping through establishment, flight campaign, and closeout. 

• Translate customer objectives into clear mission requirements, plans, and schedules. 

• Collaborate with our Flight Director, as well as internal operations and commercial teams to develop and refine mission concepts for a wide range of use cases. 

• Support the drafting and negotiation of mission-specific terms and conditions. 

Mission Planning & Establishment 

• Understand and articulate the technical capabilities of the Aurora spaceplane, including flight envelopes, payload specifications and operating constraints. 

• Coordinate with Dawn’s internal certification, safety, and engineering specialists to assess and authorize payloads and mission concepts. 

• Drive the closeout of the mission baseline ahead of flight operations, including flight planning, payload integration, operating procedures, hazard mitigations, and regulatory authorization, where required. 

 Flight Campaign Delivery 

• Own overall delivery of the customer mission during flight campaigns, while the Flight Test Director retains authority for execution of flight operations.  

• Coordinate customer, payload, engineering, logistics, and operational activities required to support each flight.  

• Ensure mission-specific requirements are ready for Flight Readiness Review and resolve outstanding issues before operations.  

• Lead post-flight customer reviews, data delivery, mission closeout, and planning for subsequent flights. 

 Customer Leadership 

• Serve as the customer's primary interface throughout the mission lifecycle.  

• Set clear expectations around technical capability, schedule, risk, cost, and customer responsibilities.  

• Lead mission reviews and maintain clear communication between the customer and Dawn's specialist teams.  

• Build long-term customer relationships and identify opportunities for repeat campaigns. 

 Mission Systems Development 

• Improve the processes, tools, templates, and playbooks used to establish and deliver Aurora missions. 

• Capture lessons from each mission and turn first-of-a-kind work into repeatable capabilities. 

• Feed customer and mission experience back to engineering and operations teams to improve Aurora, its supporting services, and future vehicles. 

 Essential Skills 

• 4 - 7 years of experience in mission management, flight testing, spacecraft operations, or project management in aerospace, aviation, deep-tech, or a closely related sector. 

• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, or Systems Engineering, Physics, or related technical discipline. 

• Strong aerospace fundamentals and sufficient technical depth to work credibly across engineering, certification, and flight operations teams. 

• Exceptional written and verbal communication, with the ability to simplify complexity without losing accuracy. 

• Must be a U.S. citizen and eligible to access controlled technology associated with the Aurora program. 

• Demonstrated experience in showing judgment, ownership, and decision-making in safety-critical environments. 

• Willingness to travel domestically and internationally, including to Aurora flight-test and operations locations. 

 Preferred Skills 

• Experience managing aerospace missions, flight-test campaigns, payload integration, or experimental aircraft programs. 

• Experience working directly with customers in aerospace research, defense, or government space agencies. 

• Familiarity with airworthiness, certification, mission assurance, safety analyses, or regulatory approval processes. 

• Experience working at test ranges, airports, launch sites, or other field-operational environments. 

• Current or previously held U.S. Government security clearance. 

• Familiarity with CRM and project-management tools such as HubSpot. 

 What We Offer 

• A leading role in commercializing the first vehicle capable of reaching space twice in a single day. 

• High autonomy and influence over customer engagement and mission management process development. 

• Opportunities to work with cutting-edge aerospace technology and with a wide range of global customers. 

• A fast-paced, collaborative team environment with a shared vision for the future of space access. 

Note: This role involves access to controlled technology. Appointment is conditional on passing security vetting and obtaining any required export-control authorisations.