Core Lab Manager Jobs in Tustin, CA (NOW HIRING)

SPACE SYSTEMS

At Rocket Lab, we're not just launching rockets - we're building the future of space. Our Space Systems team builds everything from complete spacecraft and precision payloads to the components and subsystems that allow them to thrive in space, including solar panels, flight software, star trackers, optical systems, separation systems, radios, and more.

Our Space Systems team has enabled more than 1,700 missions, ranging from interplanetary exploration and in-space manufacturing to national security and defense initiatives. The team has built spacecraft, payloads, and components for missions to the Moon and Mars, working with partners including NASA, the Space Development Agency, and the U.S. Space Force. Whether it's a single high-performance spacecraft, constellation, or vertically integrated components that help missions get to space, our world-class Space Systems team is empowering some of the boldest and most ambitious space missions

SENIOR TECHNICAL PROGRAM MANAGER II - FLATELLITE

Based at Rocket Lab's global headquarters in Long Beach, CA, you are the program authority for high-volume satellite production. You own rate, yield, unit cost, and strategic program decisions from prototype maturity through full-rate production. This is a high-ownership role: anyone can build one exquisite satellite - you'll build hundreds, on rate, on cost, on a learning curve that bends faster than the competition's - and you'll be the person the line runs on.

WHAT YOU'LL GET TO DO:

• Command the Lifecycle: Build and lead the team that takes satellites at high volume from a "blank sheet" concept through qualification, full-rate production, and flight, and own the technical roadmap that grows the team's core capabilities.
• Lead the Team of Teams: Run multiple active programs at once, make sound architectural calls with Chief Engineers, navigate the hardest trade-offs in design-for-manufacturing, takt time, line-of-balance, and rate-readiness versus reliability, and personally dive into the most line-threatening problems alongside the team.
• Build the Bench: Grow a culture where strong people take smart, healthy risks and the best idea wins, no matter who it comes from, we back bold calls and treat an intelligent miss as the cost of moving fast and coach and develop the next generation of program and team leaders.
• Forge the Supply Chain: Manage high-stakes subcontracts and suppliers as strategic partners essential to the mission, protecting schedule and margin.
• Unblock Excellence: Synchronize cross-functional teams across manufacturing, supply chain, integration, and test and clear roadblocks quickly so the team keeps moving at speed and quality stays high.
• Influence the Future: Serve as the primary point of contact for assigned commercial constellation operators, and partner with BD & Strategy on proposals and technical narratives that define the next generation of constellation production.

YOU'LL BRING THESE QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor's degree in physics, math, science, or other technical discipline
• 8+ years of program management experience 
• A demonstrated track record of owning a technical program, product, or team end to end and carrying it across the finish line under real pressure, we hire on what you've shipped, not years logged
• Evidence you've moved real hardware and software from prototype toward high-rate production, with quantified yield, throughput, and cost gains
• Understanding of the nuances of takt time, line-of-balance, design-for-manufacturing, and learning-curve economics
• Experience identifying tooling, supply-chain, or yield risk and neutralizing it before it slows the line
• U.S. citizenship with ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance

THESE QUALIFICATIONS WOULD BE NICE TO HAVE:

• Production Velocity: A proven playbook for transitioning low-volume prototypes into full-rate production without sacrificing mission reliability.
• Domain Authority: Deep experience scaling satellite, aerospace, or analogous complex hardware production at volume.
• Capture & Customer: A repeatable record of bending unit cost down at rate without sacrificing reliability.
• Advanced Technical Credibility: A Master's degree in Engineering, Operations, or a related field.
• Systems & Toolchain Fluency: You speak Systems Engineering, trade studies, interface control, requirement integrity and use Jira, Confluence, and ERP/MRP to keep program health visible at speed.
• Depth of Reps: Multiple program cycles or 8+ years in aerospace/defense sharpen the edge, but we weight the hardest thing you've shipped over the count.

This position may require prolonged periods of sitting, standing, walking, computer work, and occasional exposure to moderate levels of noise, dust, and fumes in production areas.