WHAT WE LOOK FOR
Mission-Driven Problem Solvers – The problems in missile defense demand ingenuity. We want engineers who approach challenges with curiosity, embrace failure as a learning opportunity, and stay focused on delivering the best solution for the mission.
Total Ownership – We seek engineers who take full responsibility for delivering flight-ready work while recognizing that no one succeeds alone. The best engineers make their teammates better, knowing that complementary skills create force multiplication and drive mission success.
DESCRIPTION
The Project Engineer for the RSX, derived directly from RS1 and GS0, drives the rapid engineering and integration effort that underpins development of Long Wall’s target vehicle product. This role ensures that internal priorities, resources, and schedules remain synchronized with technical baselines, enabling fast, disciplined execution within a private‑investment‑driven development environment complemented by government‑funded testing.
While the Program Manager handles customer‑facing commitments, the Project Engineer owns the engineering‑centric project flow: coordinating cross‑functional development, maintaining internal schedule fidelity, resolving execution roadblocks, and ensuring technical work stays aligned with project goals, verified requirements, and readiness needs. The project engineer partners closely with chief engineering, responsible engineers, systems engineering, and mission assurance to protect technical integrity while ensuring consistent development velocity.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Drive day‑to‑day internal execution of the RSX target vehicle development, ensuring engineering, integration, and test teams operate with clarity, pace, and alignment.
- Maintain detailed internal schedules, resource plans, resource constrained critical paths, and cross‑functional work coordination.
- Manage internal priorities and development flow, ensuring rapid progress while maintaining technical rigor defined by chief engineering and systems engineering.
- Coordinate closely with the Program Manager to ensure internal execution supports external commitments, contractual milestones, and program reporting.
- Facilitate technical decision flow by ensuring engineering discussions, trade studies, design changes, and integration plans remain documented, coordinated, and tracked.
- Work directly with engineering discipline leads to identify and resolve roadblocks, accelerate hardware development, and maintain configuration stability during fast‑paced builds.
- Support integration and test operations by ensuring engineering artifacts, procedures, and configurations are ready on time and aligned with verification plans.
- Track and communicate internal risks, schedule drivers, and technical dependencies; support company‑wide risk management led by mission assurance.
- Maintain alignment with systems engineering’s requirements, architecture, ICDs, and verification flows, ensuring internal schedules accurately reflect technical needs.
- Support chief engineering by ensuring development activities remain aligned with the technical baseline, and escalate issues that affect reliability, safety, or mission readiness.
- Help build scalable project management processes, templates, and execution models that will be used for future programs as the company grows
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering or technical discipline, or equivalent experience in complex aerospace or defense development.
- 8+ years of experience or support of engineering project management, integration leadership, or technical project execution.
REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:
- Demonstrated experience coordinating engineering teams, managing schedules, and driving technical development cycles.
- Strong experience with engineering workflow management, development planning, and coordinating cross‑functional technical work.
- Proven ability to operate effectively in fast‑paced environments that combine private‑investment‑driven development with government test requirements.
- Ability to interpret engineering artifacts, requirements, and configurations and convert them into actionable schedules and resource plans.
- Excellent organizational and communication skills; capable of aligning engineering teams, surfacing risks early, and maintaining clarity across disciplines.
- Demonstrated ability to partner closely with technical authorities (chief engineering, systems engineering, mission assurance) to ensure disciplined technical execution.
PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:
- Experience supporting missile defense, launch vehicle development, aerospace hardware integration, or other technically complex systems.
- Familiarity with requirements flow‑down, verification planning, ICD management, and configuration control.
- Prior experience working within a hybrid program environment (internal rapid development + government‑funded test campaigns).
- Working knowledge of common project management tools for scheduling, risk control, and engineering tracking.
- Ability to translate ambiguous technical input into structured execution plans.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
- Ability to sit or stand for extended periods.
- Ability to use a computer for assignments and communicate effectively in person, via telepresence, and by phone.
- Ability to travel between Long Wall sites as needed
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in engineering or a technical discipline, or equivalent experience in complex aerospace or defense development
- 8 or more years of experience supporting engineering project management, integration leadership, or technical project execution
- Experience coordinating engineering teams, managing schedules, and driving technical development cycles
- Experience with engineering workflow management, development planning, and cross-functional technical coordination
- Ability to work in fast-paced environments combining private-investment-driven development with government test requirements
- Ability to interpret engineering artifacts, requirements, and configurations and convert them into schedules and resource plans
- Strong organizational and communication skills, including risk identification and cross-disciplinary alignment
- Ability to partner with chief engineering, systems engineering, and mission assurance authorities
- Experience supporting missile defense, launch vehicle development, aerospace hardware integration, or other technically complex systems
- Familiarity with requirements flow-down, verification planning, ICD management, and configuration control
- Experience in hybrid internal rapid-development and government-funded test environments
- Working knowledge of project management tools for scheduling, risk control, and engineering tracking
- Ability to translate ambiguous technical input into structured execution plans
- Ability to sit or stand for extended periods and use a computer for assignments
- Ability to communicate effectively in person, via telepresence, and by phone
- Ability to travel between company sites as needed
- U.S. person status, including U.S. citizenship, permanent residency, asylum, or refugee status, due to ITAR/EAR requirements
What We Do
Long Wall is an American aerospace company based in Long Beach, California, that specializes in developing and manufacturing deployable launch vehicles and infrastructure for missile defense. Formerly known as ABL Space Systems, the company focuses on creating containerized, mass-producible missile defense systems and providing rapid, low-cost flight testing to enhance global security and stability through advanced defensive technology.
