---
title: 'Director of Capture and Proposal Operations at Lodestar'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-capture-and-proposal-operations-lodestar-los-angeles-81ha6p7n0ymq'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-16'
---

# Director of Capture and Proposal Operations at Lodestar

- **Company:** Lodestar
- **Location:** Los Angeles, CA
- **Posted:** 2026-06-11
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-16
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.eu.greenhouse.io/lodestarspace/jobs/4884448101

## Job description

## About Lodestar

Lodestar Space is rewriting the paradigm of national security in orbit. We don't wait for a decade-long government requirements cycle; we build autonomous capabilities ahead of the threat and deliver them at the speed of relevance.

As space transforms into a contested operational and war-fighting domain, our national security assets and critical infrastructure that underpins our modern way of life faces unprecedented vulnerabilities. Lodestar addresses this crisis head-on. We are the architects of Mithril, the world's first fully autonomous, AI-driven intelligence designed to operate independently in space. We're building Mithril to autonomously maneuver and enable complex RPO missions, while simultaneously conducting the length of the kill-chain from detection, classification and intent prediction, to responding to orbital threats in denied environments. Combining cutting-edge machine vision, onboard edge computing, and pioneering fires and effects architectures, Lodestar gives warfighters and commercial operators unprecedented situational awareness and space superiority in the final frontier.

Backed by elite deep-tech venture capital, international space agencies and government stakeholders, Lodestar is rapidly expanding its footprint across the U.S. Space Force, the Department of War, and major commercial satellite operators. We are a lean, high-autonomy team of engineers and operators building the space defense infrastructure of tomorrow. Join us.

## About the Job

As the Director of Capture & Proposal Operations, you will own the end-to-end lifecycle of our federal acquisition pipeline. Moving beyond traditional business development, you will lead the strategic shaping, competitive positioning, and rigorous execution of high-value proposals for the U.S. Space Force (USSF), SpaceWERX, Air Force Research Lab (AFRL), Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), Space Rapid Capabilities Office (Space RCO), Space Development Agency (SDA) and other Department of War (DoW) and Intelligence Community (IC) entities. This role sits at the intersection of strategy and tactical execution, translating technical capabilities into compliant, high-scoring, and winning programmatic bids, including formal Request for Information (RFIs), Request for Proposal (RFPs), Other Transaction Authority (OTAs), Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO’s), Broad Agency Announcements (BAA’s), etc.). You will autonomy to manage, grow and shape your future team, directly contributing to the strategic vision for Lodestar.

Organizational Structure

In this role you will report directly to the VP, Commercial and Federal and/or Chief Business/Revenue Officer. You will work closely with the other Commercial Leads (Business Development, Mission Operations, Government Relations, Growth and Marketing) to develop a strategic vision and execution plan to grow Lodestar’s federal business and operations.

## What You’ll Do

1. Capture Strategy & Pipeline Shaping

- Identify, qualify, and lead high-priority federal procurement opportunities from initial identification through contract award. Working closely with Lodestar’s technical team to craft and write winning proposals.
- Develop comprehensive capture plans, including Black Hat competitive assessments, Price-to-Win (PTW) strategies, cost-vs-price modeling and customer value proposition mapping.
- Engage directly with Space Force Program Managers, Contracting Officers, and technical stakeholders to shape upcoming requirements and mission profiles prior to solicitation release and through the selection process.
- Ensure absolute compliance with government regulations (FAR/DFARS), TINA and Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) when applicable, all while maintaining startup-level margins, pace and agility.
- In the case of an unsuccessful bid, conduct rigorous after action reports, feedback sessions and de-briefings with the internal team and external stakeholders. In certain unique situations and in conjunction with our legal team, advise if a formal protest is warranted.
- Formulate strategic teaming agreements, identifying and onboarding subcontractors or prime partners to maximize win probability.

1. Proposal Operations & Management

- Own the entire proposal development process, establishing a rigorous, repeatable framework for volume management, compliance tracking, and quality control.
- Act as the Proposal Manager on major bids, generating compliance matrices, work breakdown structures (WBS), and detailed proposal schedules.
- Lead formal milestone reviews to critically evaluate technical, management, and cost volumes.
- Coordinate cross-functional inputs from Engineering, Business Development, Marketing, Mission Operations, Finance, and Legal to synthesize complex technical data into compelling, compliant narratives.

1. Content Creation & Knowledge Management

- Write, edit, and polish executive summaries, technical descriptions, cost volumes, slide decks and past performance history.
- Establish and maintain an institutional "proposal library" containing boilerplate content, past performance sheets, security capability write-ups, and verified technical architectures to accelerate submission cycles. Use this “proposal library” to scale and improve efficiencies across your team and the organization.

## Qualifications

- Experience: 6–10+ years of proven experience in federal capture management and proposal operations, specifically within the defense aerospace, defense software, space systems, or national security technology sectors.
- Track Record: Demonstrated success winning prime contracts with the Department of War, U.S. Space Force, U.S. Air Force, DIU, MDA, NRO, etc. Strong familiarity with FAR/DFARS regulations, contracting structures and non-traditional pathways such as OTAs, Consortiums, IDIQ’s, Multiple Authority Announcements (MAA’s) and Middle Tier of Acquisitions (Section 804).
- Skills: Mastery of formal capture and proposal methodologies. Exceptional technical writing skills with the ability to convey technical jargon, complex orbital mechanics, space domain awareness and hardware architecture concepts clearly to non-technical evaluators. Previous experience using capture and proposal writing software.
- Security Clearance: Active Secret clearance required; TS/SCI preferred or must be eligible to obtain.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Aerospace, Political Science, Business, or a related field required. Master’s degree in a related field preferred.

## Preferred Skills & Experience

- Experience operating within a fast-paced, venture-backed, defense tech startup environment, where challenging the status-quo is the norm.
- You speak engineer and seamlessly navigate the grey space between the technical team and the commercial team. Example, you can read a system architecture diagram or orbital mechanics profile and immediately write the first-draft compliance text without needing an engineer to hold your hand.
- You thrive in ambiguity and self-reliance. You possess the rare ability to work independently, manage your own tasks, critically think through challenging problems, maximize limited resources and maximize returns from your highly valuable time.
- The excitement of managing and growing a future capture team that will be reporting directly to you in this position. Willingness to cultivate a culture of winning, despising bureaucratic red-tape and moving fast.
- Existing, strong professional relationships within the defense space ecosystem (e.g., USSF, OSD, SSC, DIU, DoW, SpaceWerx, Space RCO, SDA, AFRL-RV, etc.)

ITAR Requirements

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR [here](https://www.pmddtc.state.gov/?id=ddtc_kb_article_page&sys_id=24d528fddbfc930044f9ff621f961987).

## Compensation & Benefits

- Annual Salary Pay Range: $175,000.00 to $250,000.00
- Meaningful equity incentives as part of our employee option pool
- Unlimited PTO with generous paid vacation, holidays, and sick leave
- Comprehensive medical, dental & vision coverage
- 401(k) retirement plan with company match

Additional Information

Compensation bands are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual level and base pay is determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on job-related skills, education, experience, technical capabilities and internal equity. In addition to base salary, for full-time hires, you may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of stock options , and access to medical, vision and dental coverage, as well as access to a 401(k) retirement plan.

Lodestar is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Lodestar is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

## About Lodestar

## Core Business
- **Primary Industry**: Defense and Space Manufacturing
- **Target Customers**: Government and allied defense agencies (B2G); specifically US and allied space asset operators
- **Mission**: To deter conflict in space by providing credible, sovereign orbital defense capabilities through autonomous AI software and satellite platforms.

## Products & Services
- **Mithril AI (Autonomous AI Fighter-Pilot)**: Software that runs on orbital bodyguard satellites, enabling real-time space situational awareness, threat detection, classification, and autonomous response. Designed for on-orbit SDA, inspection, and effect delivery.
- **Orbital Defence as a Service**: End-to-end protection stack for high-value satellites, from detection and intelligence to active response, delivered via a fleet of bodyguard satellites.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available (private company)
- **Key Metric**: Total funding of approximately $3.55M (as of early 2026), comprising a $2.5M Pre-Seed round led by Lunar Ventures and Inflection, plus grants from the UK Space Agency ($1M) and European Space Agency.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Lunar Ventures, Inflection, UK Space Agency, European Space Agency, Charlie Songhurst, Zehan Wang
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - 14 employees with 8 active job postings (indicating rapid scaling)
  - First satellite payload scheduled for launch in early 2027
  - Government contracts and briefings with Pentagon and UK defense stakeholders
  - Growing European defense budgets (e.g., Germany’s €30-35B by 2030)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Purpose-built for defense**: Unlike competitors that repurpose commercial tech, Lodestar designs from the ground up for resilience, responsiveness, and sovereignty in contested orbits.
- **End-to-end protection stack**: The only company offering a unified system from detection to autonomous response, rather than point solutions.
- **AI-first approach**: The core asset is the AI model, not the satellite hardware, allowing rapid adaptation to evolving threats without long hardware cycles.
- **Government trust**: Early backing from UK Space Agency and ESA, plus direct engagement with Pentagon-level customers.

## Strategic Focus
- Launch first on-orbit payload to gather proximity data and validate AI models in space
- Expand partnerships with allied defense agencies and prime contractors
- Scale the team (especially engineering and avionics) to accelerate product development
- Win additional government contracts for operational bodyguard satellite systems

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-driven culture**: Work on one of the most pressing national security challenges – space defense – with a clear, unapologetic mission to deter conflict.
- **Cutting-edge technology**: Tackle hard problems in AI, computer vision, on-board autonomy, and spacecraft systems.
- **Small team, big impact**: 14-person team with flat structure; engineers have direct ownership of critical systems.
- **Growth opportunity**: Rapidly scaling with 8 open roles; chance to shape the company’s technical direction.
- **Locations**: Offices in Los Angeles (HQ) and London, UK; hybrid/remote flexibility likely (based on speculative applications accepted from US and UK).
- **Notable perks**: Work with former engineers from MBDA, Orbex, Airbus Defence & Space, and Imperial College London rocketry teams.

## Sources
1. [Lodestar Space Website](https://www.lodestar.space/)
2. [LinkedIn Company Page](https://www.linkedin.com/company/lodestarspace)
3. [CB Insights Profile](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/lodestar-3)
4. [UKspace Member Profile](https://www.ukspace.org/start-up-member/lodestar-space/)
5. [Resilience Media Interview](https://resiliencemedia.co/lodestar-is-building-satellite-bodyguards/)
6. [Greenhouse Careers Page](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/lodestarspace)

## Other roles at Lodestar

- [Software Engineer I or II: State Estimation & Prediction](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-i-or-ii-state-estimation-prediction-lodestar-los-angeles-x94pk8tr5jsg) — Los Angeles, CA
- [Software Engineer I,II,III: Simulations](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-i-ii-iii-simulations-lodestar-los-angeles-nqya82tma539) — Los Angeles, CA
- [Software Engineer I: Perception](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-i-perception-lodestar-los-angeles-86nt051a9fsr) — Los Angeles, CA
- [Technical Proposal Writer](https://feeny.ai/job/technical-proposal-writer-lodestar-los-angeles-8m9d888rr3ft) — Los Angeles, CA
- [Avionics Hardware Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/avionics-hardware-engineer-lodestar-london-v88vfnycw44z) — London, United Kingdom
- [Avionics Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/avionics-software-engineer-lodestar-london-tnxkbb7w530b) — London, United Kingdom
- [Software Engineer II: On-board Autonomy](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-ii-on-board-autonomy-lodestar-los-angeles-ps92yzwddgz3) — Los Angeles, CA