Senior Spacecraft Operations Engineer – Hands-on Orbit Control

Rocket Lab; Littleton (CO); On-site; USD 100,000 - 138,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options & incentives

Medical/dental/vision insurance

401(k) retirement plan

Job summary

Rocket Lab in Long Beach, CA seeks a Senior Spacecraft Operations Engineer I to manage health, safety, and performance of a growing satellite fleet across commissioning, orbit raising, routine operations, and re-entry, partnering with design, software, propulsion, and ground systems teams.

You will work across missions from constellations to interplanetary efforts, using software-driven processes, CI/CD practices, and hands-on validation with simulation tools; US citizenship and ability to

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering (software, computer, electrical, aerospace, mechanical, or other technical engineering discipline).
• 5+ years of direct experience in space mission design, satellite subsystems, ground systems, spacecraft command/control or spacecraft operations.
• Understanding of key spacecraft subsystems and their components (ADCS, power, comms, OBDH, thermal).
• Understanding of space environment, orbital mechanics, and rigid body dynamics.
• Software development experience (Python/Ruby/C/C++/other high-level languages).
• U.S. citizenship required due to program requirements
• Ability to obtain and maintain a US security clearance

Responsibilities

• Leverage automation to operate spacecraft with software-driven solutions.
• Design, develop and test ground software for long-term space operations.
• Design, develop and test flight software sequences and telemetry config for health and fault management.
• Maintain continuous integration and testing of operational code.
• Ensure on-call or shift coverage for operations.
• Develop test methods and data analysis.
• Develop interface specs, CONOPS, and design docs.
• Run validation against spacecraft simulations (flatsat, HITL).
• Support AIT tests across multiple spacecraft and subsystems.

Skills

Space mission design

Satellite subsystems

Ground systems

Spacecraft operations

Python

C/C++

Git

CI/CD

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering

Master’s or PhD in engineering (nice to have)

Tools

Git

CI/CD

Job description

Rocket Lab in Long Beach, CA seeks a Senior Spacecraft Operations Engineer I to manage health, safety, and performance of a growing satellite fleet across commissioning, orbit raising, routine operations, and re-entry, partnering with design, software, propulsion, and ground systems teams.

You will work across missions from constellations to interplanetary efforts, using software-driven processes, CI/CD practices, and hands-on validation with simulation tools; US citizenship and ability to