Senior Spacecraft Operations Engineer II — Space Systems

Rocket Lab Corporation; Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 142,000 - 213,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee stock purchase program

Top-tier medical plans

Dental and vision coverage

Paid time off and holidays

401(k) with company match

Job summary

Rocket Lab in Long Beach, CA seeks a Senior Spacecraft Operations Engineer II to ensure health and performance of a growing satellite fleet. You’ll collaborate with design, flight software, propulsion, GNC, and ground software teams to meet mission objectives and SLAs for commercial and government customers.

The role emphasizes automation, CI/CD, and on-call operations across diverse missions, with base pay and stock benefits as part of total compensation. US ITAR/compliance applies.

Qualifications

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

Responsibilities

• Leverage automation to operate spacecraft and focus on software-driven solutions for mission execution.
• Design, develop and test ground software for long-term space operations and scripting.
• Design, develop and test flight software sequences and telemetry/configuration 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 documents.
• Run validation against spacecraft simulations and hardware-in-the-loop tests.
• Support AIT across multiple spacecraft tests (TVAC, propulsion, DITL).
• Perform requirements validation and verification for subsystems and missions.
• Generate and maintain spacecraft mission requirements and dispositions.
• Provide program/project support to leads and managers; coordinate between Auckland and Long Beach teams.

Skills

Software development

Spacecraft operations

US citizenship

Security clearance

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering

Master’s or PhD in engineering

Tools

Git

CI/CD

Cloud infrastructure

Job description

Rocket Lab in Long Beach, CA seeks a Senior Spacecraft Operations Engineer II to ensure health and performance of a growing satellite fleet. You’ll collaborate with design, flight software, propulsion, GNC, and ground software teams to meet mission objectives and SLAs for commercial and government customers.

The role emphasizes automation, CI/CD, and on-call operations across diverse missions, with base pay and stock benefits as part of total compensation. US ITAR/compliance applies.