Senior Spacecraft Operations Lead

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

Benefits offered by this job

Company stock

Employee stock purchase program

401(k) matching

Job summary

Rocket Lab is seeking a Senior Spacecraft Operations Engineer II to oversee health, safety, and performance of a growing satellite fleet from Long Beach, CA. You will coordinate commissioning, orbit raising, and operational phases while collaborating with design, AIT, flight software, propulsion, and GNC teams.

The role requires deep experience in spacecraft subsystems and at least 8+ years in related fields, including software development.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering or related technical field.
• 8+ years in space mission design, satellite subsystems, ground systems, or spacecraft operations.
• 3+ years leading teams of engineers on spacecraft missions or aerospace projects.
• Experience in roles such as Mission Lead or Flight Director is preferred.
• Experience supporting mission operations in operator-in-the-loop environments.
• Strong understanding of ADCS, EPS, C&DH, thermal control, propulsion, and FDIR.
• 5+ years of software development using Python, Ruby, C, or similar languages.
• Active U.S. Government Secret Security Clearance.

Responsibilities

• Serve as mission operations technical lead: set direction, plan work, and act as main operations contact for design decisions.
• Advocate operability across the program: influence spacecraft and ground architecture for safe, efficient operations.
• Own mission operations requirements and lead validation for spacecraft missions and system capabilities.
• Define automation strategy and develop software-driven methods for operations, testing, and data analysis.
• Design, develop, and test flight software sequences and telemetry/FDIR configurations.

Skills

Space mission design

Satellite subsystems

Ground systems

Spacecraft operations

Python

C/C++

Jira

Git

CI/CD

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering

Tools

Jira

Git

CI/CD

Job description

Rocket Lab is seeking a Senior Spacecraft Operations Engineer II to oversee health, safety, and performance of a growing satellite fleet from Long Beach, CA. You will coordinate commissioning, orbit raising, and operational phases while collaborating with design, AIT, flight software, propulsion, and GNC teams.

The role requires deep experience in spacecraft subsystems and at least 8+ years in related fields, including software development.