Associate Systems Director - STARS

The Defense Systems Group (DSG) provides analysis-based decision support to senior leaders on space architectures, policy and strategy, technology development, warfighter capability enablers, systems integration, defense industrial base, and threat reduction to help shape existing and future space missions across the national security space (NSS) enterprise. DSG is unique at Aerospace as it not only directly supports major customers, including the U.S. Space Force, U.S. Space Command, Air Force Materiel Command, and senior leadership at the Pentagon, but also provides a broad range of technical support across the national space enterprise, maintaining vertical responsibilities with customers' portfolios as well as horizontal, matrixed responsibilities across the corporation. Additionally, DSG provides deep technical expertise to the Space Force Space Systems Command (SSC) in the conception, design, acquisition, launch and operations of satellite, launch vehicle, ground control, and range systems. 

STARS, the Spacelift Telemetry Acquisition and Reporting System, is a networked, distributed processing system used to acquire, process, analyze, display, and archive launch vehicle telemetry and other data for vehicle checkout and launch activities. We are seeking an Associate Systems Director to partner with the STARS Systems Director in ensuring operational continuity while strategically planning the modernization and integration of legacy infrastructure with the STARS 2.0 cloud-based platform. 

Reporting directly to the STARS Systems Director, you will be responsible for maintaining operational excellence across three geographically distributed facility sites while simultaneously developing and executing strategic plans to modernize infrastructure, processes, and support models. This role requires someone who can improve operational and mission readiness with forward-looking transformation initiatives. You will work closely with the Systems Director to operationalize production-ready STARS 2.0 capabilities, transition support responsibilities from development teams to operations teams, and identify gaps in resources, processes, and capabilities before they become critical issues. The ideal candidate combines technical depth (cloud platforms, DevOps, systems engineering) with strong operational leadership and strategic planning skills. You must be comfortable managing mission-critical operations while driving organizational change, building consensus across diverse stakeholder groups, and making strategic decisions that balance immediate operational needs with long-term modernization goals. 

The selected candidate will be required to work full-time, on-site at our Aerospace Technical Campus in El Segundo, CA.