Astrobotic is at the forefront of advancing space exploration and technology development. Our expertise spans from lunar rovers, landers, and infrastructure to spacecraft navigation, machine vision, and computing systems for in-space robotic applications. To date, the company has been contracted for two lunar missions, and has won more than 60 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Department of Defense (DoD), and commercial technology contracts worth more than $600 million.

We recently launched and operated the first American lunar lander mission since the Apollo Program. Beyond helping lead America back to the Moon, Astrobotic developed and operates reusable vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) rockets and continues to advance next-generation VTVL capabilities and advanced rocket engines. Established in 2007, Astrobotic is headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, with a propulsion and test campus in Mojave, CA.

Astrobotic is seeking a Director of Engineering to lead, organize, and integrate all engineering disciplines across the company. This role ensures technical excellence, effective collaboration, and on-time program delivery across multiple projects. The Director provides strategic and operational direction for mechanical, thermal, propulsion, electrical, software, systems, and integration & test engineering teams to align with corporate goals, customer requirements, and mission milestones.

The ideal candidate fosters performance, accountability, and teamwork across all disciplines while maintaining a cohesive, disciplined engineering organization. This position partners closely with Space Programs, Business Development, and the Business Office to deliver fully qualified, flight-ready systems.

Job Responsibilities:

Leadership and Management

• Provide leadership and structure for all engineering disciplines, ensuring alignment of team goals, resources, and schedules with company objectives.
• Establish and reinforce clear lines of responsibility, accountability, and communication across engineering teams.
• Supervise engineering managers and senior technical leads, promote strong leadership development , technical mentorship, succession planning and performance management.
• Ensure engineering processes, tools, and documentation support efficiency, traceability, and compliance with aerospace and customer standards.
• Manage indirect budget for engineering staff
• Represent and advocate for engineering operational and strategic needs to company leadership.
• Serve as a member of the company Leadership Team.

Safety and Quality

• Champion a culture of safety, reliability, and continuous improvement across all activities.
• Ensure engineering designs, processes, and tests comply with internal and external safety standards, aerospace standards, and mission assurance requirements.
• Oversee the Quality team to ensure quality assurance principles and practices are enacted independently of engineering.
• Promote proactive identification, reporting, and mitigation of safety or quality risks throughout all project phases.

Collaboration and Integration

• Foster collaboration across engineering disciplines to achieve cohesive system designs, shared problem-solving, and consistent engineering practices in coordination with the Chief Engineering Office.
• Partner closely with Project Management to establish and maintain integrated development schedules and to ensure engineering deliverables align with project milestones.
• Provide engineering resources to projects as requested from the Project Management Office
• Promote transparency and communication between engineering and adjacent functions (Quality, Project Management, Business Development) to support coordinated execution and decision-making.
• Drive a culture of teamwork, mutual respect, and collective accountability across the engineering organization.

Execution and Milestone Management

• Ensure engineering scope, cost, and schedule commitments are met across all projects.
• Key Stakeholder on systems for monitoring progress against technical and project milestones, proactively identifying risks and driving timely resolution.
• Oversee engineering participation in design reviews, readiness reviews, and configuration control boards, ensuring all technical and schedule baselines are maintained.
• Provide executive-level visibility into engineering progress, resource allocation, and risk posture.
• Working with the Project Management Office and Business Development, provide resolutions for conflicting engineering resource requests across multiple projects.

Continuous Improvement and Technical Excellence

• Establish and maintain engineering standards, templates, and best practices for design, analysis, manufacturing, verification, mission operations and configuration management.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives aimed at increasing efficiency, reducing errors, and improving product maturity.
• Promote technical rigor, data-driven decision making, and verification discipline across all design and test activities.
• Support technology development, innovation, and lessons-learned capture to advance engineering capability and organizational maturity.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• Directly supervises managers of all engineering disciplines, including Mechanical, Thermal, Propulsion, Electrical, Software, Systems, and Integration and Test Engineering.
• Oversees a total engineering organization of approximately 150 employees.
• Responsible for staffing, performance evaluations, promotions, training, and development of all engineering personnel.
• Develop and manage the engineering labor budget across all projects, ensuring hours are accurately forecasted, tracked, and costed to the appropriate project codes, while proactively monitoring utilization and making strategic adjustments to accommodate project fluctuations and changing priorities.

Required Skills & Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related technical field required; advanced degree preferred.
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive engineering leadership experience within aerospace, robotics, or other high-reliability development environments.
• Demonstrated success managing large, multidisciplinary engineering teams and achieving results under complex technical and schedule constraints.
• Proven experience leading cross-functional collaboration among engineering, business development, and project management teams.
• Strong understanding of product development lifecycle from concept through production and flight qualification.
• Familiarity with applicable aerospace standards and processes (NASA, AS9100, ISO9001, ITAR, MIL-STD, DO-254/178, etc.).
• Excellent leadership, communication, and organizational skills with a demonstrated ability to influence at all levels. U.S. Citizenship or lawful permanent residency required (per export control regulations).

Compensation & Benefits:

The base salary range represents the low and high end of the anticipated salary range for this position. The actual base salary offered will depend on numerous factors, including individual performance, business objectives, and the candidate’s professional & educational experience. Base salary is just one component of Astrobotic’s competitive total rewards strategy.

Our total rewards package for full-time employees includes:

• Comprehensive Healthcare Benefits: Medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Financial Protection: Company-paid life insurance and AD&D, Voluntary short- and long-term disability coverage, plus voluntary additional life and supplemental insurance options
• Tax-Advantaged Accounts: Health Savings Account (HSA) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
• 401(k) Retirement Plan: Immediate vesting with company match
• Work-Life Balance: Flexible Paid Time Off and company-paid holidays
• Well-Being Support: Employee Assistance Program (EAP) with counseling, mental health resources, and will preparation services

The recruiter assigned to this role can share more details about the specific compensation and benefits during the hiring process.

Export Control Regulations:

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen or U.S. person which includes U.S. nationals, lawful permanent residents, protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3) including those individuals granted refugee or asylum status, or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State or the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Equal Employment Opportunity:

Astrobotic Technology, Inc. does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factor.

Affirmative Action and Disability Accommodation:

If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request to HR@astrobotic.com.