Senior Manager, Test Operations (Aerospace)

Location: San Jose, CA; fully onsite five days a week. The company is currently registered and able to hire in selected U.S. states.

Salary: $185,000–$205,000 per year, plus equity and benefits.

Company

hirify.global designs, builds, and operates LEO satellite constellations and provides integrated space systems for Earth intelligence, climate monitoring, and national security.

What you will do

• Lead, mentor, and develop spacecraft and subsystem test technicians and technical leads.
• Own daily spacecraft and subsystem test operations, including staffing, shift coverage, priorities, procedures, and acceptance criteria.
• Scale test operations through repeatable processes, standard work, training, qualification programs, and workforce planning.
• Partner with Test Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, and Program Management to transition new test capabilities into stable production operations.
• Develop capacity and labor models for stations, equipment, shifts, facilities, and future production demand.
• Improve throughput, cycle time, utilization, schedule adherence, and operational readiness for new programs and production lines.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in aerospace, spacecraft, defense, advanced manufacturing, or complex hardware production and test.
• 5+ years leading technical, production, integration, or test organizations, including direct leadership of technicians and hands-on technical teams.
• Experience with spacecraft, subsystem, avionics, electrical, functional, or environmental test operations.
• Experience scaling teams, processes, and infrastructure in a growing production environment.
• Strong understanding of flight-hardware handling, configuration control, quality, safety, and hardware protection.
• Must work onsite in San Jose, California, and meet applicable U.S. export-control access requirements.

Nice to have

• Spacecraft or launch vehicle integration and test operations, high-rate satellite production, or multi-shift production operations.
• Experience with test stations, EGSE, tooling, fixtures, instrumentation, vibration, or TVAC testing.
• Technician qualification programs, skills matrices, career ladders, or contractor workforce scaling.
• Digital work instructions, MES, production dashboards, electronic travelers, or capacity modeling.
• Lean/Six Sigma, MRR, TRR, PRR, or production-readiness experience.

Culture & Benefits

• Full-time employment with equity compensation.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance, plus a 401(k) retirement plan.
• Short- and long-term disability and life insurance.
• Three weeks of paid vacation for new employees, 12 paid holidays, unlimited sick time, and paid parental leave.
• Equal employment opportunity and reasonable accommodation support for applicants and interviewees.