MILSATCOM Mission Planner

Amentum; Arlington (VA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Amentum is seeking a MILSATCOM Mission Planner to support planning, integration, and employment of AEHF satellite communications for US DoD in the National Capital Region. The role involves building and maintaining mission plans, conducting link budgets, and ensuring secure, resilient communications for warfighter operations.

The position is full-time and on-site in Northern Virginia, with participation in an on-call rotation to support operational requirements.

Qualifications

• Experience with MILSATCOM planning and AEHF systems.
• Ability to develop and maintain mission scenarios and CONOPS.
• Strong analytical skills for link budgets and performance.
• On-site availability in Northern Virginia; ability to participate in on-call rotation.

Responsibilities

• Build, modify and maintain AEHF communications plans using MPSS/MPE.
• Manage resource allocation, beam assignments, terminal access, and network configurations.
• Plan and deconflict data rates and services across modulations to meet priorities.
• Provide real-time support for service requests, contingency operations, and rapid re-planning.
• Coordinate with terminal program offices, field operators and satellite planners to ensure data consistency.

Job description

Purpose and Impact

Amentum is seeking a MILSATCOM Mission Planner to support critical Department of War strategic communications capabilities in the National Capital Region. This position directly supports the planning, integration, and employment of Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite communications capabilities used by Combatant Commands, Joint Forces, and National-level decision makers. The selected candidate will be part of a highly skilled team responsible for ensuring secure, resilient communications supporting global military operations and strategic deterrence missions. The ideal candidate brings operational experience from military communications, SATCOM, NC3, signal, communities and understands how strategic communications capabilities enable commanders to maintain assured communications in contested and degraded environments. Your expertise will help ensure America's most critical communications systems remain available, protected, and ready to support the warfighter whenever and wherever needed.

Work Schedule

• Monday through Friday, standard business hours
• Full-time, on-site position in Northern Virginia
• Participation in an on-call rotation is required
• On-call support may require response outside of normal business hours to support operational requirements.

Essential Responsibilities

Mission Planning and System Operations

• Build, modify and maintain AEHF communications plans using the Mission Planning Subsystem (MPSS/MPE). Responsible for resource allocation, beam assignments, terminal access, and network configurations.
• Develop and maintain operational mission scenarios and communications plans and distribute them to operational crews to ensure accurate and timely implementation.
• Plan and deconflict Extended Data Rate (XDR) services across all modulations and modes to meet user priorities and throughput requirements.
• Manage spot beam allocations to support shifting operational priorities and theater demands.
• Responsible for crosslink planning and multi-satellite network configurations to ensure global connectivity without reliance on ground relays.
• Provide support to real-time requests for service, contingency operations, and anomaly resolution, rapidly re‑planning resources when conditions change.

Ground Terminal Planning and Integration

• Build and maintain accurate terminal profiles and network membership data within the MPSS and MPE, ensuring each terminal's supported waveforms, data rates (LDR/MDR/XDR), and configuration parameters match what is fielded.
• Assess terminal RF characteristics, including antenna size and gain, EIRP, G/T, and pointing and tracking performance, and incorporate them into link budgets so plans reflect real-world terminal capability rather than nominal system values.
• Provide organizational support to operational personnel including but not limited to advanced troubleshooting, field and unit level removal and replacement, and terminal maintenance.
• Track terminal software and hardware baselines.
• Support terminal integration testing, operational readiness checks, and exercise activation, serving as the link between terminal program offices, unit operators, and satellite operations planners.
• Incorporate terminal fielding schedules, availability, and maintenance status into long‑range planning and CONOPS, identifying where terminal limitations, rather than space segment capacity, constrain operational capability.

Technical Analysis

• Understand link budget analyses accounting for EIRP, G/T, free‑space path loss, atmospheric and rain attenuation (particularly significant at EHF/SHF frequencies), pointing losses, and implementation margins.
• Assess link margins to determine whether proposed services will close under nominal, degraded, and contested conditions, and recommend mitigations when they will not.
• Evaluate the effects of modulation and waveform choices, including frequency hopping spread spectrum, FSK and PSK variants, coding, and interleaving, on data rate, robustness, anti‑jam performance, and LPI/LPD characteristics.
• Analyze terminal capabilities and limitations (e.g., FAB‑T, SMART‑T, NMT, and other AEHF‑compatible terminals) to ensure plans match fielded equipment.
• Characterize threats to the link, including jamming, interference, and environmental effects, and quantify their impact on service availability.

Documentation as required

• Support Requirements Translation and CONOPS Development. Translate technical specifications and performance parameters into operationally meaningful requirements, capability statements, and planning factors.
• Draft and update CONOPS, tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), and planning guidance for protected SATCOM employment.
• Brief technical findings to non‑technical and senior audiences, explaining how system parameters such as link margin or data rate limits drive operational risk and decision space.
• Support requirements development and gap analyses for current and future protected SAT