Senior Spacecraft Operations Lead, Secret Clearance

Rocket Lab Corporation; Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 223,000 - 339,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee Stock Purchase Program

Top-tier medical plans

401(k) with company match

Dental and vision coverage

Job summary

Rocket Lab Corporation in Long Beach, CA is seeking a Principal Spacecraft Operations Engineer with a Secret Clearance to lead mission operations for a growing satellite fleet. You will work with design, AIT, flight software, and ground software teams to ensure health, safety, and mission success across diverse missions.

Responsibilities include owning requirements, defining automation, developing flight sequences, validating procedures, and coordinating with international teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering or similar technical field.
• Experience in space mission design, satellite subsystems, ground systems, or spacecraft operations.
• Proven leadership of teams on spacecraft missions or aerospace projects.
• Experience supporting mission operations in an operator-in-the-loop capacity.
• Strong knowledge of ADCS, EPS, comms, C&DH, thermal, propulsion, and FDIR.

Responsibilities

• Serve as mission operations technical lead and set direction for operations.
• Advocate operability and influence spacecraft/ground architecture design decisions.
• Own mission operations requirements and validation activities.
• Define automation strategies and develop software-driven ops methods.
• Design, develop, and test flight software sequences and FDIR configs.
• Architect and test ground software for long-duration operations.
• Establish and maintain mission operations tooling and CI processes.
• Create interface specs, CONOPS, and contingency procedures.
• Lead validation of flight products against simulators and testbeds.
• Support AIT across spacecraft integration testing.
• Collaborate with NZ and USA engineering teams as a key interface.
• Represent operations in reviews and drive continuous improvements.

Skills

Spacecraft operations

Mission operations leadership

Software development

Python/C/C++

GNC/ADCS/EPS

US citizenship

Secret clearance

Ground systems

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering

Tools

Jira

Git/CI-CD

Job description

Rocket Lab Corporation in Long Beach, CA is seeking a Principal Spacecraft Operations Engineer with a Secret Clearance to lead mission operations for a growing satellite fleet. You will work with design, AIT, flight software, and ground software teams to ensure health, safety, and mission success across diverse missions.

Responsibilities include owning requirements, defining automation, developing flight sequences, validating procedures, and coordinating with international teams.