Director, Engineering Analysis in Houston, Texas - #73517 | VanderHouwen

Description

Job Id: 73517

Director, Engineering Analysis
Our client is seeking a Director, Engineering Analysis to lead a centralized analytical center of excellence supporting a portfolio of complex, crewed spacecraft and orbital infrastructure programs. This leader will set unified technical standards, scale analytical capabilities across multiple programs, and guide a large multidisciplinary organization in a fast-paced, mission-driven environment. The role combines strategic leadership with hands-on technical insight to deliver safe, reliable analytical products for critical flight systems.

This role is on-site in Houston, Texas.

Director, Engineering Analysis Responsibilities

• Lead, develop, and mentor the engineering analysis organization, building a strong leadership bench through coaching, career development, and succession planning.
• Set the strategic vision for the analysis center of excellence and align it with company and program objectives.
• Establish and enforce consistent analytical standards, methodologies, and best practices across structural, thermal, fluids, loads, dynamics, and multidisciplinary analysis teams.
• Oversee the full analytical lifecycle, including requirements definition, modeling, simulation, correlation, verification, validation, and certification support.
• Provide technical oversight and decision authority for complex modeling strategies, load environments, thermal architectures, and integrated vehicle analyses.
• Ensure all analytical products meet applicable industry and government standards, program requirements, and mission assurance expectations.
• Champion analytical governance, model validation, design assurance, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Coordinate across programs to optimize analytical resources, scalability, and efficiency in a matrixed environment.
• Support program leadership with risk management, design reviews, anomaly resolution, and readiness milestones through high-quality analytical insight.
• Partner with government agencies, commercial customers, industry partners, and internal stakeholders to deliver mission-critical technical solutions.
• Communicate technical progress, risks, and issues to leadership and key stakeholders.
• Identify emerging analysis tools, modeling technologies, and capability gaps, and recommend strategic investments.
• Promote adoption of advanced simulation, digital engineering, and model-based approaches to improve efficiency and quality.
• Work evenings and weekends as needed to meet critical project milestones.

Director, Engineering Analysis Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• 10+ years of progressive engineering analysis experience in aerospace, spacecraft development, or safety-critical flight systems.
• 8+ years of engineering leadership experience, including managing managers and large multidisciplinary teams.
• Demonstrated success leading analytical organizations in complex, fast-paced, mission-driven environments.
• Extensive experience with government space programs, standards, analytical requirements, and verification of crewed or safety-critical systems.
• Proven ability to develop and implement analytical standards, processes, and governance frameworks.
• Direct involvement in the full lifecycle of spacecraft analytical products, from concept modeling through certification and mission readiness.
• Experience driving cross-program alignment, resource planning, and organizational scaling within a centralized engineering structure.
• Strong track record collaborating with government agencies, high-profile customers, and industry partners on mission-critical systems.
• Proven results in ambiguous, rapidly evolving environments, with sound judgment and proactive problem solving in high-stakes technical situations.
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to meet tight deadlines while maintaining high-quality outcomes.
• Entrepreneurial, growth-oriented mindset with high emotional intelligence and the ability to collaborate across teams and functions.
• Passion for the space industry and its mission, with a commitment to accountability, technical rigor, execution discipline, and pride of delivery.
• Master’s degree or Ph.D. in an engineering field is preferred, particularly with aerospace or advanced analysis relevance.

Salary: $180K-$230K/year. (DOE)

Benefits
Benefits are available to eligible full-time employees and include coverage for medical, dental, vision, life insurance, short and long term disability, and matching 401k.

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