Section Manager, Mechanical Design for Space Exploration Applications

Are you passionate about human space exploration or understanding the origins of the universe, and working with a dynamic and diverse team to make a difference?  If you are, we need you! 

We need your commitment, teamwork, and energy to help us achieve great things that inspire humans all over the globe.  We need you to bring innovative ideas and diverse backgrounds to help us envision, shape, and deliver systems that will benefit the quality of life of people around the world.  We are excited about what we do, and we need you on our team as we take on new challenges for NASA’s pursuits in deep space exploration.  Amentum is NASA’s largest engineering solutions provider working alongside NASA at centers across the United States.

We have the unique and significant role to partner with NASA at Johnson Space Center (JSC), to be part of every human spaceflight program – the International Space Station (ISS), NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which will carry astronauts into deep space, and Gateway, the orbiting platform providing the home for astronauts to work and travel back and forth to the moon’s surface, and serving as the platform for deep space exploration.  From critical systems on the ISS to enable astronauts to live and work in space; to performing advanced development for systems leading to deep space exploration; to being part of the foundation for Gateway. 

We also partner with NASA at JSC, the only NASA center in the United States to curate all astromaterial samples returned from exploration missions, to perform curation services, orbital debris analysis, and basic research to further humankind’s understanding of the origins of our solar system.

We need you to be a part of our team!

We are currently in need of a Mechanical Design Section Manager to join our team.  Do you have the following skills?

• Report directly to the Design and Analysis Group Manager. The position is responsible for the direct management of approximately 40 people involved in various aspects of Mechanical System Development across and in support of several NASA Engineering Divisions.

• Ensure employees in functional areas follow established procedures and generate finished work products under time and budgetary constraints and ensures products yield the expected outcome and established quality levels. Relies on extensive experience and judgment to plan and accomplish goals.

• Ensure Project Managers have adequate Mechanical design personnel to accomplish associated tasks.

• Conduct meetings with Project Managers to provide status and obtain feedback.

• Perform routine mechanical design reviews for cost, schedule, risk management, and deliverable adherence.

• Conduct oversight, mentorship and guidance to individual mechanical design task leads.

• Work with mechanical design task leads to track and maintain efficient task performance.

• Maintain an active list of lessons learned to actively inform section members.

• Conduct failure investigations on mechanical systems as required.

• Maintain active related risk management (technical, cost, and schedule) on all associated mechanical tasks.

• Communicate design status to senior management.

• Conduct periodic section meetings to review personnel work safety.

• Conduct periodic face to face meetings with employees to obtain status, ensure efficiency and provide solutions where needed.

• Review and approve employee time cards, overtime requests and travel.

• Review resource requests and conduct interviews to identify and attain necessary personnel.

• Document and perform personnel performance evaluation reviews.

• Generate award nominations for associated personnel.

• Establish and monitor personnel training plan.

• Work with colleagues to coordinate issue resolution across multiple JETS organizations which could include source limitations, technical challenges, process breakdowns, etc.

• Establish a framework and oversight for technical correctness on all work performed by section.

• Understand and be capable of generating comprehensive design concepts based on a given set of requirements.

• Provide rough orders of magnitude (ROM's) and basis of estimates (BOE's) for project and tasks.

• Review, develop or update Mechanical Design and Development processes as required.

• Perform other duties as required.