Director of Vehicle Engineering
Location: Playa Vista, California (in-person, five days per week)
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 can bring payloads back from space and deliver them to a precise location within hours. We call it exologistics, space-to-Earth logistics at planetary scale. This is not a paper concept or a distant roadmap. Our system is in active development, with core technologies advancing toward flight readiness.
The need is already here and the market has responded. We have validated demand through multiple defense and civil agreements, and a growing pipeline across government and commercial customers.
Outpost is building the logistics layer that makes space economically useful in a new way: the ability to move material from orbit to Earth quickly, reliably, and affordably. Over time, that supports point-to-point logistics, 10 tons of cargo, anywhere on Earth in an hour. It also creates the foundation for a reusable reentry network and enables new categories of space activity, including in-space manufacturing, supporting AI data centers, advanced manufacturing and novel materials.
We have a strong foundation, clear demand, and a technical path in front of us. Now the company is scaling rapidly. We are expanding the team, growing our operational footprint, and building the systems needed to execute at the next level. This is a chance to join a company with real traction, working on a problem that matters, at the point where execution and scale begin to define the outcome.
The Role
The Director of Vehicle Engineering is the technical authority and operational leader for our two core product lines: the Carryall orbital return vehicle and the Airdrop precision delivery system. You will be accountable for the entire vehicle lifecycle from architecture and requirements through design, build, test, and flight recovery. Reporting directly to the VP of Engineering, you will lead the integrated vehicle team (Structures, Mechanisms, Heat Shields, Paragliders, Parachutes, Avionics, Software, and more). This is not just a management role; you are the systems leader for the vehicle, owning the hard technical decisions that balance performance, mass, and schedule while driving the transition from R&D into low-rate production. As Director of Vehicle Engineering, you are the responsible engineer for all vehicles developed at Outpost.
Responsibilities
Qualifications
Preferred Experience
Compensation & Benefits