VP of Engineering

VP of Engineering - Vehicle

Location: Playa Vista, California (in-person, five days per week)

About Outpost

Launch has changed the economics of space. Now it is time to return. Outpost is building the missing infrastructure between orbit and Earth: reusable vehicles that bring payloads back from space and deliver them to a precise location within hours, exologistics at planetary scale. Core technologies are advancing toward flight readiness, and we've validated demand through multiple defense and civil agreements with a growing commercial pipeline. We're scaling rapidly, this is the point where execution and scale define the outcome.

The Role

The VP of Engineering, Vehicle owns the vision, execution, and culture behind Outpost’s vehicle portfolio, including the Carryall orbital return vehicle and the Airdrop atmospheric precision delivery system, and is accountable for bringing both to operational status at scale.

Reporting to the CTO, you will work side by side with our VP of Engineering, Product, VP of Engineering, Production and VP of Engineering, Software.

This is a rare opportunity to take real ownership at a company with strong momentum. You will be the top day-to-day technical authority across every vehicle at Outpost, making the key architectural decisions that shape performance, schedule, and cost, while building the processes and culture that will define how Outpost designs, builds, tests, and operates vehicles as the company scales.

At the center of it all is a bigger mission: changing the future of space exologistics by building the return lane from space. This role offers the chance to help create the infrastructure that will move materials reliably from orbit back to Earth, and to help shape both the vehicles and the organization making that future possible.

Responsibilities

• Full accountability for schedule, technical performance, and budget across Carryall and Airdrop; call the hard scope, risks schedule and make/buy trade-offs.
• Hire, develop, and manage engineering leaders across all vehicle disciplines; set the standard for technical excellence, ownership, and pace.
• Own architecture implementation, interface control, and performance envelopes; enforce design standards, margin policy, and flight readiness criteria; chair PDR, CDR, TRR, and CoFR reviews.
• Own Material Review Board /Failure Reporting, Analysis, and Corrective Action System rigor, oversight of test planning and execution.
• Establish DFM, QMS, configuration management, and acceptance criteria to move Carryall and Airdrop from development into LRIP and fleet-scale production.
• Own make/buy and supplier strategy across propulsion, avionics, TPS, and recovery subsystems.
• Represent vehicle engineering to the CEO, Board, customers, and government stakeholders; align execution with Programs, BD, and Operations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or higher in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, or Systems Engineering.
• 10+ year's experience, spanning the full life cycle of space vehicle and spacecraft development.
• Demonstrated operational technical authority on a complete vehicle program from architecture through flight and anomaly resolution.
• Track record building and scaling multi-disciplinary engineering orgs of 50+ through Directors and Principal ICs.
• Deep system-level fluency across mass, power, GNC, structural loads, and thermal environments.
• Experience bridging R&D and manufacturing (DFM, travelers, acceptance criteria, LRIP).

Preferred Experience

• Active U.S. Government Security Clearance (not required, but beneficial)
• Reentry vehicles, hypersonics, precision aerial delivery, or autonomous recovery systems.
• FAR/DFARS, OTA, or NASA safety and mission assurance fluency.
• Venture-backed or rapid-growth aerospace experience.

Compensation & Benefits

• $275,000 – $325,000; Salary may vary with experience
• Incentive Stock Options
• Annual Performance-Based Bonus
• Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• Short- and Long-Term Disability Insurance
• Life Insurance
• PTO
• 401k with Company match
• Subsidized daily catered lunch, snacks, and coffee