ARES Corporation
ARES Corporation is an employee-owned space and defense company providing program management, safety and mission assurance, engineering, operations, and integration and test services to NASA, the Missile Defense Agency, the Space Force and other agencies.
In Huntsville, AL
ARES Corporation has an office at 5021 Technology Drive in Huntsville, and its leadership includes a vice president for Huntsville. Its Huntsville-area work spans NASA and missile defense: the company says it supports the Space Launch System team at Marshall Space Flight Center and ISS science operations through Marshall's MOSSI II contract, and in 2026 NASA selected it for CPSS PP&C II, the follow-on to a Marshall program planning and control contract. Since 2023 its joint venture with Rothe Development has assessed cybersecurity across Missile Defense Agency information systems, with work in Huntsville.
About ARES Corporation in Huntsville, AL
ARES Corporation is an employee-owned space and defense company headquartered in McLean, Virginia. Founded in 1992 as an engineering consulting firm, it lists NASA, the Missile Defense Agency, the Space Force, the Air Force Research Laboratory and DARPA among its clients, and its services cover program management, safety and mission assurance, engineering, operations, integration and test, and IT. In Huntsville, ARES has an office on Technology Drive. On the NASA side, the company says it supports the Space Launch System team at Marshall Space Flight Center with program planning and control, risk management and systems engineering, and supports ISS science mission operations through Marshall's MOSSI II contract. In 2026 NASA selected ARES Technical Services Corporation for CPSS PP&C II, an agency-wide contract for earned value management, cost estimating, scheduling and risk analysis that follows a Marshall contract of the same name. On the defense side, ARES says it has supported missile defense programs since 2006. In 2023 ROAR JV, its joint venture with Rothe Development, won a Missile Defense Agency contract for cybersecurity test and risk assessment, with work in Huntsville, Fort Belvoir and Colorado Springs. In 2010 Lockheed Martin named ARES among the Huntsville-based partners on its Ground-based Midcourse Defense team, for reliability, availability and maintainability engineering.
Culture & Work Environment
ARES says it promotes "a culture of continuous learning, exploration, and collaboration" and encourages taking calculated risks in order to learn and grow. Since 2022 it has been 100% employee-owned through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, which the company says lets it stay independently managed with an employee-centered culture. The company lists what matters to it as having fun, doing work that matters on aerospace and defense programs, developing quality products, valuing diversity of thought, investing in a stable workforce, and giving back, and says each office runs community programs such as food drives and Toys for Tots. It is an authorized DoD SkillBridge organization for transitioning service members. In Huntsville, much of its work is programmatic and analytical support to NASA programs at Marshall and to the Missile Defense Agency, so the site and schedule depend on the contract; ask about them in your interviews.
Hiring Process & Timeline
ARES posts its openings on its careers pages, and applications go through its online job system. For the CPSS PP&C II contract it runs a separate transition page where incumbent staff and other candidates can submit their information. Ask the recruiter which interview stages the role involves and how long each step usually takes. For Huntsville roles, put experience that matches the customer up front: NASA program planning and control (scheduling, earned value, cost estimating, risk), human spaceflight operations, or missile defense safety, reliability and cybersecurity work. ARES warns applicants about recruitment scams using its name and offers accommodation for applicants with disabilities.
Interview Tips
Be ready to discuss your own analytical and engineering work in detail. For program planning and control roles, expect questions on the tools and methods you have used: integrated master schedules and critical path analysis, earned value reporting, cost estimates, and quantitative risk analysis, and how you presented results to program managers. It helps to know the customers ARES supports in Huntsville: the Space Launch System and ISS science operations at Marshall Space Flight Center, and the Missile Defense Agency. If you have worked under NASA program and project management requirements, or on missile defense test, safety or cybersecurity, say so with concrete examples. Ask which contract the position sits on and who the government customer is, since that shapes the work and the requirements.
Security Clearance Requirements
Requirements depend on the contract. Roles supporting the Missile Defense Agency may ask for a security clearance, often Secret or higher, while roles supporting NASA at Marshall Space Flight Center generally need the applicant to pass the background check required for site access. Each listing states its own requirements, so check them carefully. Many positions on federal space and defense contracts are open only to U.S. citizens. If a listing asks for a clearance you do not hold, ask the recruiter whether the program can sponsor one. For how investigations work and what each clearance level means, see the clearances guide on this site.
Compensation & Salary
For current pay, use the posted ranges in ARES Corporation's Huntsville listings on this site. The company lists these benefits on its careers page, noting that eligibility can vary by employment status and work location: medical insurance with most of the premium paid by ARES, dental, life, AD&D and short- and long-term disability insurance, a 401(k) plan with a company match, the Employee Stock Ownership Plan, paid time off that grows with years of service, paid holidays and educational assistance.
Peak hiring: October 2026 (4 roles)
Open Positions
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