Mission Manager

About Northwood Space:

Northwood is on a mission to transform connectivity between earth and space and bring the benefits of space to the masses through innovations in space communications technologies. If you are energized by building at a high-velocity company and seeing your work deployed in locations around the globe with real impact, we want you at Northwood.

MISSION MANAGER
Northwood is looking for a Mission Manager to lead customer missions from onboarding through operational support. In this role, you will be the primary program lead for customers using Northwood’s ground station network. You will work closely with customers, Engineering, Product, Business Development, and Operations to make sure each mission is clearly scoped, technically ready, launched successfully, and supported over time. This is a hands-on role for someone who can manage complex technical programs, communicate clearly with both customers and internal teams, and keep mission-critical work moving.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Lead customer missions from onboarding through integration, launch readiness, operational handoff, and ongoing support.

• Build and manage program plans, including milestones, owners, risks, dependencies, schedules, readiness criteria, and communications.

• Serve as the main programmatic point of contact for customers and internal teams.

• Understand customer mission requirements, workflows, success criteria, operational needs, and constraints.

• Coordinate across Engineering, Product, Business Development, and Operations to resolve issues and keep deployments on track.

• Track technical integration progress, surface risks early, and drive decisions needed for mission readiness.

• Help define and improve Northwood’s customer onboarding, deployment, escalation, and post-launch support processes.

• Capture customer feedback and translate it into clear product, operational, and business priorities.

• Partner with Business Development on customer expansion, renewals, and new mission opportunities.

• Ensure Northwood delivers reliable, high-quality service for customer missions.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

• 5+ years of experience in technical program management, mission management, customer operations, deployment management, customer success, product operations, or a related role.

• Experience leading complex cross-functional programs from planning through execution.

• Ability to work effectively with customers, technical teams, executives, and external partners.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

• Ability to create structure, prioritize work, and drive progress in fast-moving environments.

• Experience with hardware, software, networking, infrastructure, customer deployments, or mission-critical operations.

• Ability to understand customer needs and translate them into clear technical, operational, and business priorities.

• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.

• Willingness to travel up to 30%.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Aerospace, Business, or a related field.

• Experience in satellite communications, ground station operations, space systems, telecom, defense, or infrastructure deployments.

• Experience managing technical customer programs, enterprise deployments, customer success programs, or mission operations.

• Familiarity with systems engineering, solution architecture, operational readiness, SLA management, or mission assurance.

• Experience working with Product and Engineering teams on customer-driven roadmaps or operational improvements.

• Experience supporting government, defense, or regulated customers.

• Ability to obtain or maintain a TS/SCI clearance.

Additional Information:

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, 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.
 

Northwood Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Northwood Space is governed on the basis of 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.

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