Lead Spacecraft Operations Engineer — Mission-Critical Ops

Rocket Lab Corporation; Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 174,000 - 270,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity compensation

Stock purchase program

Medical, dental & vision

Job summary

Rocket Lab in Long Beach, CA seeks a Senior Spacecraft Operations Engineer II to ensure health, safety, and optimal performance of a growing satellite fleet across commercial and government missions. You will support commissioning, orbit raising, routine operations, and potentially re-entry, coordinating with design, AIT, flight software, propulsion, GNC, and ground software teams.

You will lead mission operations, define automation, and own operational design documents while interfacing with NZ

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related field.
• 8+ years in space mission design, satellite subsystems, ground systems, or spacecraft operations.
• 3+ years leading teams of engineers on spacecraft missions or aerospace projects.
• Active U.S. Government Secret Security Clearance.
• Experience in console/operator-in-the-loop roles for mission operations.

Responsibilities

• Serve as mission operations technical lead: set direction and prioritize staff work.
• Advocate operability across the program and influence design for safe, autonomous operation.
• Own mission operations requirements and validate system capabilities.
• Define automation strategies and develop software-driven operation methods.
• Design, test flight software sequences and telemetry configurations for health and fault management.
• Develop ground software and automation frameworks for scalable operations.
• Maintain integration, testing, and maintenance of mission operations tooling.

Skills

Mission operations

Software development

Leadership

Spacecraft systems

ADCS

EPS

C&DH

US Secret Clearance

Ground systems

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering

Tools

Python

C/C++

Ruby

Job description

Rocket Lab in Long Beach, CA seeks a Senior Spacecraft Operations Engineer II to ensure health, safety, and optimal performance of a growing satellite fleet across commercial and government missions. You will support commissioning, orbit raising, routine operations, and potentially re-entry, coordinating with design, AIT, flight software, propulsion, GNC, and ground software teams.

You will lead mission operations, define automation, and own operational design documents while interfacing with NZ