Senior Space Mission Operations Lead

Varda Space Industries; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 179,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

Relocation assistance

Stock options and long-term incentives

401(k) with company match

Wellness reimbursement

Job summary

Varda Space Industries seeks a Senior Space Mission Operations Engineer to own and lead on-orbit operations for Winnie Spaceship. The role demands clear communication, leadership, and cross-disciplinary engineering in a startup setting to deliver bespoke mission solutions.

The ideal candidate has extensive experience in spacecraft operations, familiarity with avionics, GNC, software, and thermal design, and a track record of building scalable operations for a growing flight cadence.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in an engineering discipline (Aerospace, Electrical, or Computer Science preferred).
• 5+ years of experience in a real-time operations role on a complex, high-consequence operation.
• Familiarity with avionics, GNC, software, and thermal design practices for spacecraft.

Responsibilities

• Develop, coordinate, execute, and lead on-orbit missions for Varda's fleet.
• Own the full ops development cycle for mission-unique payloads from profile creation to execution.
• Collaborate across teams to continuously improve mission operations and ensure success.
• Automate and reduce operational burden by building web tools.
• Scale up operational capabilities to support increasing flight cadence.

Skills

Real-time operations

Avionics

GNC

Software

Thermal design

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering

Tools

Git

Atlassian tools

Ground stations networks

Job description

Varda Space Industries seeks a Senior Space Mission Operations Engineer to own and lead on-orbit operations for Winnie Spaceship. The role demands clear communication, leadership, and cross-disciplinary engineering in a startup setting to deliver bespoke mission solutions.

The ideal candidate has extensive experience in spacecraft operations, familiarity with avionics, GNC, software, and thermal design, and a track record of building scalable operations for a growing flight cadence.