L

Loft Federal

Mission-as-a-service smallsat launch and management

Program Manager

Full-TimeUpdated on 10/23/2026
$125k - $210k+ Equity options + Relocation assistance
Mid
Golden, CO, USA
In PersonDaily catered lunches and snacks are provided in the office.
Project & Program ManagementProgram Management
No H1B Sponsorship
US Citizenship Required

About the job

Requirements
  • U.S. citizenship is required.
  • Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance.
  • At least 3 years of experience in program management, project management, engineering project coordination, technical operations, government contracting, aerospace, defense, space, national security technology, or a similar program-based environment.
  • Experience supporting customer-facing programs, technical projects, government contracts, or complex engineering efforts.
  • Ability to organize and track actions, deliverables, schedules, risks, dependencies, and decisions across multiple stakeholders.
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to prepare customer-facing materials, meeting notes, status updates, and program review inputs.
  • Ability to work directly with customers, technical teams, contracts, finance, security, and business leadership.
  • Working knowledge of program execution concepts, including scope, schedule, budget, risks, deliverables, customer commitments, and change control.
  • Familiarity with federal contracts, statements of work, contract deliverables, funding, period of performance, and customer reporting expectations.
  • Ability to understand technical content well enough to coordinate across engineering and mission teams, ask informed questions, and communicate status clearly.
  • Ability to operate in a scaling business where systems, processes, and data are still maturing.
Responsibilities
  • Support execution of customer contracts across cost, schedule, technical, contractual, and deliverable requirements.
  • Serve as a day-to-day customer-facing program interface for assigned programs, task orders, studies, demonstrations, or contract workstreams.
  • Prepare for and support customer meetings, program reviews, technical interchange meetings, status calls, and internal execution reviews.
  • Track customer commitments, meeting actions, deliverables, risks, issues, decisions, and follow-up items through closure.
  • Maintain program execution artifacts, including action trackers, deliverable trackers, risk registers, status reports, meeting notes, schedules, and program review materials.
  • Partner with senior program managers and Federal leadership to ensure customer priorities are clearly understood and translated into internal execution plans.
  • Coordinate with Engineering, Mission, Product, Security, Contracts, Finance, and subcontractors to keep program work aligned and moving.
  • Support development and maintenance of program schedules, milestones, dependencies, deliverables, and internal execution plans.
  • Monitor program execution against contract requirements, statements of work, data deliverables, funding limits, period of performance, and customer expectations.
  • Support financial discipline by helping track program budgets, burn rates, labor plans, material needs, subcontractor inputs, invoices, and forecast inputs.
  • Coordinate with Contracts and Legal on customer deliverables, contract modifications, customer correspondence, funding status, and compliance requirements.
  • Support Engineering and Mission teams by tracking technical dependencies, interface needs, verification activities, test readiness, delivery readiness, and customer review inputs.
  • Identify execution risks early and escalate issues before they become customer-facing problems.
  • Support proposal and follow-on growth activities by helping capture customer needs, execution assumptions, lessons learned, risks, deliverables, and program inputs.
  • Help improve Loft Federal’s program management processes, templates, reporting cadence, and execution discipline as the business scales.
Desired Qualifications
  • Experience supporting U.S. government, Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, NASA, civil space, or national security customers.
  • Experience in spacecraft, hosted payloads, satellite systems, mission software, mission operations, ground systems, radio frequency systems, autonomy, edge processing, or complex hardware/software integration.
  • Experience supporting customer program reviews, technical interchange meetings, contract deliverables, schedule reviews, or program status reporting.
  • Experience with firm-fixed-price, time-and-materials, cost-plus, Other Transaction Authority, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity or task order, subcontract, or similar government contracting structures.
  • Familiarity with Federal Acquisition Regulation and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement, Controlled Unclassified Information, export controls, classified program environments, security requirements, and government contract compliance.
  • Experience supporting proposals, rough order of magnitude estimates, Basis of Estimates, customer white papers, Requests for Information, or follow-on contract activities.
  • Experience with Jira, Confluence, Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, Excel, PowerPoint, Google Workspace, enterprise resource planning systems, customer relationship management systems, or program management tools.
  • Experience supporting program financial tracking, labor planning, burn rate reviews, invoices, accruals, or forecast inputs.
  • Project Management Professional, Certified Associate in Project Management, Agile, systems engineering, project management, or related certification.
  • Active Secret or Top Secret clearance.

About the company

Loft Federal provides mission-as-a-service for small satellite missions to the U.S. national security space community. It handles the entire process of getting a payload to orbit, offering regularly scheduled missions so clients can focus on their data rather than the launch. The company uses pre-procured satellite buses and proprietary plug-and-play software and hardware to quickly integrate and launch payloads, delivering missions in months instead of years. This makes Loft Federal different from competitors by targeting government payloads with a turnkey, cost-effective, and predictable path to space, backed by a streamlined operations model rather than standalone launch services. The overall goal is to give government and defense organizations reliable, timely access to space for their data-gathering payloads.

Company Size

11-50

Company Stage

N/A

Total Funding

N/A

Headquarters

Golden, Colorado

Founded

2022

Get referred to Loft Federal

See people who can refer or advise you

Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • The August 20, 2026 Arvada opening supports 100 employees and signals demand growth.
  • Initial cleanroom capabilities arrive in October 2026, enabling faster payload integration and customer onboarding.
  • Loft Federal won the Space Force STEP 2.0 vehicle in May 2025, extending program visibility through 2035.

What critics are saying

  • Firefly, Rocket Lab, and others are packaging launch-plus-payload services, squeezing Loft Federal margins by 2028.
  • Loft Federal still depends on Loft Orbital execution, so any launch slip hits government credibility immediately.
  • If SDA and Space Force awards slow after 2026, Loft Federal’s classified-facility expansion becomes stranded capacity.

What makes Loft Federal unique

  • Loft Federal’s Candelas facility gives secure, classified-ready integration space in Arvada, Colorado.
  • Its mission-as-a-service model bundles payload integration, software, launch, and operations for government customers.
  • Loft Orbital booked $500M lifetime revenue and launched Loft Federal into classified programs by 2025.

Help us improve and share your feedback! Did you find this helpful?

Benefits

  • Performance Bonus
  • Company Equity

Company News

Jeffco Business District
Aug 20th, 2026
Loft Federal opens major ops facility in Arvada.

Loft Federal opens major ops facility in Arvada. Gen AI | August 20, 2026 | Loft Federal has opened a new 60,000-square-foot operations and integration facility in Arvada, a notable investment inside Jefferson County that adds high-value aerospace and government-contracting activity to the local economy. The new site is expected to support up to 100 employees, contractors and mission partners, making it relevant for area businesses that serve growing technology, advanced manufacturing and professional services needs. Why this is relevant to businesses in Jefferson County: * The facility is located in Arvada, directly within Jefferson County, making it a local business expansion with potential spillover for suppliers, service providers and commercial real estate. * Loft Federal said the site is expected to support 100 employees, contractors and mission partners as operations grow, which can increase demand for local vendors and business services. * The investment strengthens Jefferson County's aerospace and defense business base, sectors that can attract additional partnerships and follow-on economic activity.

Global Risk Community
Apr 8th, 2025
global optical satellite imaging market

In April 2023, Ball Corporation partnered with Loft Federal and Microsoft for the Space Development Agency's NExT contract, involving an experimental testbed of 10 satellites scheduled for launch in 2024.

Nasdaq
Apr 3rd, 2024
Volume Production Begins for Mynaric's Flagship Space Laser Terminal - CONDOR Mk3

Mynaric was also selected by Loft Federal to supply the CONDOR Mk3 terminals to NExT - the SDA's Experimental Testbed.