Senior Operations Training Engineer (TS/SCI Required) - Blue Ring

Blue Origin Personnel, LLC; Reston (VA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Blue Origin is seeking a Senior Training Engineer to design, build, and execute training for Blue Ring spacecraft operators. You will ensure crews are trained, certified, and ready before launch, coordinating with cross-functional teams across space and ground segments.

You will write scenarios, run simulations, supervise exercises, and drive certification and records in the training system, while evolving curricula with mission needs and changing vehicle content.

Qualifications

• Active TS/SCI security clearance required.
• B.S. in Engineering, Physical Science, Education or related field or equivalent military training/experience.
• 8+ years operating spacecraft or training operators, incl. 4+ years designing delivering evaluating training for satellite crews.
• Hands-on experience running operator training in a simulator or live system with scenario building.
• Experience writing training course materials and evaluating operators against standards.
• Willingness to travel up to 20% and support varied work hours.

Responsibilities

• Own one or more Blue Ring training areas end-to-end from analysis to final evaluation.
• Design training with ADDIE or equivalent, including objectives, lesson plans, and evaluation criteria.
• Write and run simulation scenarios covering nominal and failure events for crew readiness.
• Serve as simulation supervisor and lead instructor for integrated exercises and debriefs.
• Assess operator proficiency through written, practical, and on-console evaluations.
• Define certification flows and training records in the training system and report readiness to leadership.
• Collaborate with flight software, GNC, power, propulsion, and ground systems to keep content current.
• Mentor junior training engineers and drive continuous improvement from rehearsals and operations.
• Develop requirements for simulators and training assets, and coordinate with software teams to validate.
• Prepare the team for mission readiness reviews and support training during mission phases.

Skills

Security clearance

Cross‑functional collaboration

Instructional design

Simulation training

Public speaking / facilitation

Travel readiness

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering/Physical Science/Education

Equivalent military training and experience

Tools

Training Management System

Python scripting (basic)

Job description

Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the requisition is closed.

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight! This role is part of Blue National Security (BNS), where our focus is the design, development, and delivery of launch and spacecraft systems for national security missions. Through Blue Ring, our all-in-one, high-powered hybrid solar-electric and chemical-propelled spacecraft, we provide unmatched mission maneuverability, versatility, and capacity at dramatically lower-profile costs. With Blue Ring, our customers are empowered to go anywhere in Earth, cislunar, or interplanetary orbit domains, redefine mission flexibility, and pursue bold new concepts that were once beyond reach. If you’re energized by the idea of working with a platform capable of enabling missions without compromise, this is your moment to make history with us. Special Mentions: Based at Reston, VA or Denver, CO office. Relocation provided. Travel expected up to 20% of the time to support training events, rehearsals, and working sessions.

As a Senior Training Engineer, you will collaborate with cross-functional teams spanning both space and ground segments to ensure the people flying Blue Ring spacecraft are trained, certified, and ready before launch. You’ll play a key role in designing curriculum, building and running exercises and mission rehearsals, and evaluating and certifying operators. Your expertise and initiative will directly enable Blue Origin to deliver and sustain next-generation space capabilities for a diverse set of customers. Join us in enabling Blue Origin’s vision of millions of people living and working in space to benefit earth – passion for our mission is required!

Responsibilities

• Own one or more Blue Ring training areas end to end, such as a console position’s certification flow, the anomaly response curriculum, or a mission’s rehearsal campaign, from task analysis through final evaluation.
• Build training with a systematic instructional design process (ADDIE or equivalent), covering job and task analysis, learning objectives, lesson plans, evaluation criteria, and the hands-on events that tie them together.
• Write and run the simulation scenarios that get a team ready to fly, including nominal timelines, subsystem failures, ground segment outages, and compound anomalies that force real decisions on console.
• Serve as simulation supervisor and lead instructor for integrated exercises and mission rehearsals, then run the debrief and turn the findings into training updates and procedure change requests.
• Evaluate operator proficiency and currency through written, practical, and on-console evaluations.
• Recommend certification and decertification, and build remedial and contingency training when an operator falls short.
• Define and maintain certification flows and training records in our training management system, and report team readiness to mission leadership ahead of mission readiness reviews.
• Define requirements for training simulators and other training assets (software simulators, hardware-in-the-loop and software-in-the-loop test beds, malfunction injection, scenario scripting), and work with the simulation and ground software teams to get them built and validated.
• Work with flight software, GNC, power, propulsion, communications, ground systems, and payload engineers to keep training content technically correct as the vehicle and the ops products change.
• Train the wider mission team as needed, including integration and test, engineering support, launch services, and payload customers.
• Mentor junior training engineers and set the standards for lesson quality and evaluation consistency across the training team.
• Foster continuous improvement by tracking training effectiveness and feeding lessons-learned from rehearsals and on-orbit operations back into the curriculum.

Minimum Qualifications

• Active TS/SCI Security Clearance.
• B.S. in Engineering, Physical Science, Education, or related fields, or equivalent military training and experience.
• 8+ years of experience operating spacecraft or training spacecraft operators, including at least 4 years designing, delivering, and evaluating training for satellite operations crews.
• Hands‑on experience running operator training in a simulator or on a live system, including building scenarios, injecting failures, and evaluating crew response.
• Experience writing training course materials (lesson objectives and plans, evaluation criteria, hands‑on training activities).
• Experience evaluating and certifying operators against a written standard.
• Working knowledge of spacecraft subsystems (GNC, power, propulsion, thermal, command and data handling, communications) and the ground segment, deep enough to write a credible failure scenario and judge the crew’s response to it.
• Strong facilitation and communication skills to lead technical training and debriefs.
• Ability to travel up to 20% of the time to support training events, rehearsals, and working sessions.
• Frequency will fluctuate depending on phase of mission or concurrent missions.
• Ability to support varied workday hours.
• Training may be required off hours or in shifts to accommodate time zones and work schedules.
• On‑call support may also be required.
• Ability to work collaboratively in a fast‑paced, dynamic work environment.
• Ability to earn trust, build positive professional relationships, contribute to a culture of inclusion, and collaborate with individuals of diverse backgrounds to achieve mission success.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Preferred Qualifications

• Instructor qualification on an operational satellite system, for example as a Space Force crew instructor or formal training unit instructor.
• Standardization and Evaluation (Stan/Eval) evaluator experience on an operational satellite system, including administering initial and recurring qualification evaluations, grading crew performance against a written standard, and maintaining unit standards and checklists.
• Graduate of the U.S. Air Force Weapons School Weapons Instructor Course (space weapons officer) or an equivalent advanced instructor program, including experience training a unit’s instructors and planning, running, and debriefing large‑scale exercises.
• Experience building or revising initial qualification, mission qualification, and continuation training syllabi, and managing crew qualification and currency across a unit.
• Experience as an operator, crew commander, or mission lead on a satellite system (communications, navigation, missile warning, space domain awareness, or orbital warfare).
• Experience planning and running exercises or multi‑crew rehearsal campaigns with mission partners or external agencies.
• Experience developing training for maneuvering spacecraft, rendezvous and proximity operations, or hosted and separable payloads.
• M.S. in Engineering, Instructional Systems Design, or related fields.
• Experience with Training Management Systems.
• Experience defining requirements for and integrating simulators or other training assets, including malfunction modeling and scenario scripting.
• Proficiency with Python and/or command‑and‑control scripting languages.
• Experience working with virtualized Ground Software (e.g., Command & Control, Mission Planning,