Jordan Evans
Director for Flight Projects
Jordan Evans became Director for Flight Projects in April 2026 after serving as Deputy Director beginning in July 2025. He has spent his career developing Earth-orbiting and deep space missions across all phases of the mission lifecycle. Before stepping into Flight Projects leadership, Jordan served as the Project Manager for the Europa Clipper mission and led the team through the successful design, development, launch, and early operations of this NASA flagship mission. A JPL executive since 2017, he previously served as the Deputy Director for Engineering & Science and also managed JPL’s Mechanical Systems, Fabrication, and Test Division.
In addition to over 20 years at JPL, Jordan’s career spans key contributions across the aerospace sector. Early in his career, he worked on the first two operational B-2 Stealth Bombers at Northrop, followed by nearly a decade developing space telescope missions at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and Spectrum Astro. His project portfolio includes the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera-3, the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE), the GLAST/Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna), and the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). He has successfully developed directed missions, competed missions, and firm-fixed price spacecraft efforts across government and industry.
Jordan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from San Diego State University, where he was named a distinguished alumnus. He completed graduate research at the University of Maryland focused on ultra-stable composite structures for space telescopes and later completed the Advanced Executive Program at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. He is a recipient of the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal for his work on MSL, along with numerous NASA Group Achievement Awards for his leadership and technical contributions across a range of missions.