Director of Mission Products & Payload Integration

United StatesOn-site

Responsibilities

Define and own the technical roadmap for Arc's mission product layer — payload integration, mission design, and customer-facing capabilities
Identify new product opportunities driven by customer demand across hypersonic testing, defense, space systems, materials, sensors, communications, and other advanced aerospace fields
Drive roadmap execution through engineering, from concept through flight
Own Arc's payload bay design strategy and accommodation approach
Define standard payload envelopes, mounting solutions, modular interface concepts, and environmental constraints
Develop separation and deployment options and customer-specific integration approaches
Lead development of customer-facing mission design capabilities: trajectory design, mission analysis, flight environment characterization, launch vehicle integration, and CONOPS development
Collaborate across GNC, flight software, avionics, structures, thermal, propulsion, recovery, business development, and program teams
Define the avionics, software, data, and customer interface ecosystem that enables efficient payload integration
Deliver payload electrical interfaces, command and data handling, and telemetry access
Build mission planning tools, software APIs, test equipment, integration documentation, and customer onboarding workflows
Recruit, manage, and develop a multidisciplinary team owning mission products end-to-end

The ideal candidate combines deep aerospace engineering judgment with strong product instincts, customer empathy, and the ability to lead high-performing teams.
experience leading multidisciplinary engineering teams through complex product development, system integration, test, and flight operations •
Experience with payload integration, mission design, systems engineering, avionics or mechanical interfaces, launch integration, or flight test programs
Understanding of how aerospace customers think about payloads, test objectives, mission assurance, flight environments, data collection, and integration risk

The California annual base salary for this role is currently $180,000 - 260,000.
Pay Grades are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual pay will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: interviews and an assessment of several factors that are unique to each candidate, job-related skills, relevant education and experience, certifications, abilities of the candidate and internal equity.

Turning Space into a Transportation Layer for Earth Who We Are:
Inversion builds advanced reentry systems to deliver next-generation capabilities from space.
Our mission is to make Earth radically more accessible by turning Low-Earth Orbit into an on-demand logistics domain.
We see space not as a destination, but as a platform — one that unlocks unprecedented speed and global reach.
Our spacecraft are designed to deliver payloads anywhere on Earth in under an hour, operating through extreme reentry conditions and landing with high precision.
These systems open the door to new ways of testing, delivering, and operating at hypersonic speeds.
Inherently dual-use, our technology is built to meet urgent national security needs while laying the groundwork for future commercial applications.
Backed by leading investors including Y Combinator, Spark Capital, and Lockheed Martin Ventures, and working with partners such as the U.S.
Space Force and NASA, Inversion is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in space-based defense and logistics.
We're looking for a Director or Senior Director of Mission Products & Payload Integration to lead this new organization. You'll sit at the intersection of engineering, product, mission design, and customer needs — defining and building the technical products that make Arc valuable: payload bay architectures, mounting solutions, trajectory and mission design offerings, and the avionics and software interfaces that make payload integration seamless.