Senior Portfolio Acquisition Advisor

Overview

Stellar Solutions, a nationally recognized “Great Place To Work,” delivers engineering solutions across commercial space and national security missions - from innovative new entrants to established space systems organizations.

We bring talented, energetic, and immediately productive professionals to meet critical customer needs in systems engineering and integration, mission operations, program management, and strategic planning - helping teams deliver resilient capability to the mission with speed, quality, and focus.

Stellar Solutions is seeking a Senior Portfolio Acquisition Advisor to provide strategic acquisition and programmatic counsel supporting the Space-Based Environmental Monitoring mission within the broader Space-Based Sensing and Targeting portfolio.

This highly experienced advisor will support senior Government acquisition leadership as multiple programs, capabilities, stakeholders, and acquisition activities are aligned within an evolving portfolio construct. The advisor will bring the judgment and perspective of a seasoned defense acquisition professional who understands how to move beyond individual program execution and help leadership manage acquisition decisions across an integrated mission portfolio.

Role/Responsibilities/Qualifications

The ideal candidate brings significant experience leading or advising major Department of Defense or national security space acquisition programs and has operated at the Program Executive Officer, Portfolio Acquisition Executive, Program Manager, Deputy Program Manager, Senior Materiel Leader, or equivalent senior advisory level.

This individual will work closely with Government leadership, program offices, systems engineering organizations, operational stakeholders, industry, and other mission partners to help establish acquisition strategy, portfolio governance, decision frameworks, risk posture, priorities, and execution approaches that accelerate delivery of operational Environmental Monitoring capabilities.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as a trusted senior acquisition advisor to Government leadership responsible for Space-Based Environmental Monitoring and related Space-Based Sensing and Targeting capabilities.
• Advise leadership on the development and evolution of acquisition strategies across a portfolio of programs, systems, services, and commercial capabilities.
• Support the transition from individual program-centric acquisition activities toward an integrated portfolio approach aligned to mission outcomes.
• Help establish portfolio-level governance, decision authorities, management rhythms, priorities, and executive-level review processes.
• Assess acquisition approaches across programs and identify opportunities to reduce duplication, streamline decision-making, align resources, and improve delivery speed.
• Advise Government leaders on acquisition trades involving cost, schedule, performance, technical maturity, operational need, risk, and industrial-base considerations.
• Support integration of acquisition strategies across space, ground, mission-processing, data, commercial-services, and operational capability elements.
• Provide strategic guidance regarding traditional acquisition pathways, rapid acquisition approaches, prototyping, commercial solutions, data-as-a-service models, and other flexible acquisition strategies as appropriate to mission needs.
• Help leadership evaluate where commercial capabilities can augment, complement, or accelerate Government-developed Environmental Monitoring capabilities.
• Support portfolio planning and alignment across legacy systems, systems currently in development, modernization efforts, commercial capabilities, and future mission needs.
• Advise on acquisition planning, milestone preparation, acquisition documentation, decision memoranda, program reviews, and executive-level briefings.
• Identify cross-program dependencies, acquisition risks, organizational seams, resource conflicts, and decisions requiring senior leadership attention.
• Support development of integrated portfolio roadmaps connecting operational requirements, capability gaps, acquisition activities, technical development, budgets, schedules, and fielding objectives.
• Provide independent assessment and recommendations regarding program health, contractor performance, acquisition strategy, schedule realism, technical risk, and execution challenges.
• Support coordination among Government program offices, operational organizations, systems engineering teams, contracting organizations, financial management personnel, industry partners, FFRDCs, SETA organizations, and other stakeholders.
• Mentor and advise Government and contractor personnel on acquisition strategy, program execution, risk management, stakeholder engagement, and executive decision support.
• Help prepare leadership for senior-level acquisition, requirements, budget, technical, and programmatic reviews.
• Capture lessons learned and help institutionalize repeatable portfolio-management practices as the Environmental Monitoring acquisition enterprise matures.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Program Management, Business, Acquisition Management, Systems Engineering, or a related field.
• 15+ years of relevant Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, national security space, or major Government acquisition experience.
• Significant experience supporting or leading complex acquisition programs involving space systems, defense systems, intelligence capabilities, remote sensing, ISR, ground systems, or other technically complex mission systems.
• Demonstrated experience advising senior Government acquisition or program leadership on acquisition strategy, program execution, cost, schedule, performance, and risk.
• Strong understanding of Department of Defense acquisition processes, program management principles, contracting approaches, requirements development, budgeting, test, fielding, and lifecycle management.
• Experience working across multiple programs, organizations, or capability areas rather than exclusively within a single technical program.
• Demonstrated ability to assess complex programmatic issues, identify the decisions that matter most, and present clear recommendations to senior leadership.
• Experience developing or reviewing acquisition strategies, acquisition documentation, program plans, executive briefings, decision packages, risk assessments, and integrated program or portfolio roadmaps.
• Strong executive communication, facilitation, stakeholder-management, and strategic advisory skills.
• Ability to operate effectively in an environment with evolving organizational structures, incomplete information, competing priorities, and significant senior-leadership visibility.
• Active U.S. Government security clearance at the level required by the customer.

Desired Qualifications

• Experience supporting U.S. Space Force, Space Systems Command, Department of the Air Force, NRO, NGA, MDA, SDA, or other national security space organizations.
• Direct experience supporting a Program Executive Officer, Portfolio Acquisition Executive, Senior Materiel Leader, Program Manager, acquisition front office, or comparable senior acquisition organization.
• Experience establishing, reorganizing, integrating, or advising a portfolio containing multiple programs or acquisition activities.
• Experience with Space-Based Environmental Monitoring, remote sensing, weather systems, GEOINT, space sensing, ISR, or related mission areas.
• Familiarity with space-based EO/IR, microwave sensing, commercial imagery, environmental data, tactical sensing, or other remote-sensing capabilities.
• Experience integrating space, ground, mission-processing, data, and operational elements within a broader capability portfolio.
• Experience with commercial acquisition strategies, commercial data or analytics services, Other Transaction Authority, rapid prototyping, Middle Tier of Acquisition, software acquisition, or other adaptive acquisition pathways.
• Familiarity with acquisition approaches supporting Government/commercial hybrid architectures and data-as-a-service models.
• Experience with Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution activities and aligning resources across multiple programs or capability priorities.
• Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act or Defense Acquisition Credential Program certifications, Program Management certification, or equivalent senior acquisition credentials.
• Graduate degree in Engineering, Business, Program Management, National Security Studies, or a related discipline.

Clearance & Additional Requirements

• U.S. citizenship is required.
• Active TS clearance is required with SCI eligibility.
• Ability to access U.S.-only data systems and support classified government mission environments is required.
• Ability to travel to temporary work locations up to 10%, as needed

Location

El Segundo, CA. Other Stellar and customer mission locations may be considered based on program need.

Compensation

The typical salary range for this position is USD $180,000 - $225,000 per year. Individual pay is determined by many factors including work location, job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

In addition to base salary, this position is eligible for a comprehensive total rewards package that includes an annual performance bonus, an employer-funded Profit-Sharing Plan (PSP) contribution based on base compensation, and comprehensive employer-paid medical benefits, PTO pay-out options, along with additional company-sponsored benefits. All of these benefits represent an additional 30-40% to your base compensation for a total compensation package.

Deliverable(s)

Deliverables will be in the format of reports, briefings, spreadsheets, or other documents as directed by the Government, using Government-approved and/or mandated systems/software and processes governed by guidance/instructions/policy or direction. The nature of this work will, at times, require quick responses to stringent deadlines and always in a high-quality, professional manner.