SlipstreamJobs tracks this role from the company's public career site. Apply directly on the employer's site.
Salary: USD 134,300 - 201,350 / annual
Rocket Lab is seeking a Senior Program Manager II for Laser Communications to lead optical communication terminal programs from award through production, delivery, and on-orbit checkout. Based at Rocket Lab's headquarters in Long Beach, CA, you will serve as the customer's champion and delivery lead, owning day-to-day customer relationships, delivery commitments, schedules, milestones, acceptance reviews, risk management, and overall program health.
Key responsibilities include:
**Lead Delivery**: Manage terminal programs across current-generation production and next-generation variants, ensuring each program meets its plan, schedule, technical performance, and all customer commitments.
**Lead the Team of Teams**: Run multiple concurrent customer programs, collaborate closely with Chief Engineers on link performance, data rate, SWaP (Size, Weight, Power), environmental qualification, and optical terminal interoperability. Personally engage on critical delivery issues.
**Deliver at Rate**: Own each program's delivery profile, identify yield, supplier, and test-capacity risks early, and drive closure with Operations and Product teams.
**Forge the Supply Chain**: Partner with Supply Chain to manage critical suppliers as strategic partners, building relationships and accountability that keep customer deliveries on schedule.
**Run the Program Lifecycle**: Own program startup, baselining, milestone and qualification reviews, export and ITAR obligations with Trade Compliance, customer acceptance, and closeout across U.S. and European sites.
**Champion the Customer**: Be the trusted point of contact through milestone reviews, interoperability campaigns, acceptance, and delivery. Partner with Business Development & Strategy on proposals and with Product on pricing and configuration.
**Raise the Bar**: Mentor program leaders, set high standards for customer engagement, and develop the next generation of laser communications program managers.
You will work alongside teams building spacecraft, components, and rockets, with cross-functional partners down the hall rather than under separate contracts. This is a high-impact, customer-facing role connecting customers, engineering teams, the production line, and business across two continents.
**Requirements**:
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Physics, or Math
- 10+ years of program management experience in aerospace, defense, or complex hardware/systems environments
- Demonstrated success leading large, multi-year, customer-facing programs with significant technical and schedule complexity
- Experience managing supplier relationships and supply chain risk in regulated industries
- Strong understanding of systems engineering, qualification, and production processes
- Ability to work across multiple concurrent programs and prioritize effectively
- Export control and ITAR compliance knowledge preferred
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills
- For U.S. office positions: Must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, refugee, or asylee, or eligible to obtain required authorizations from U.S. Department of State/Commerce per ITAR regulations
