Senior Spacecraft Operations Lead - Secret Clearance

Rocket Lab Corp.; Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 173,000 - 231,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Top-tier medical benefits

Company equity

401(k) with company match

Paid vacation and holidays

Company-sponsored HSA

Onsite gym and facilities

Job summary

Rocket Lab in Long Beach, CA is seeking a Senior Spacecraft Operations Engineer II/Principal to ensure health, safety, and optimal performance of a growing satellite fleet, supporting commercial and government missions. The role covers commissioning, orbit raising, routine operations, and potential re-entry, collaborating with design, flight software, and ground software teams to improve capabilities.

The position emphasizes leadership, software development, and integration across mission ops,

Qualifications

• 8+ years in space mission design, satellite subsystems, ground systems, spacecraft command control, or spacecraft operations.
• 3+ years leading teams of engineers through spacecraft missions or aerospace projects.
• Active U.S. Government Secret Security Clearance.
• 5+ years of direct software development experience (Python/Ruby/C/C++/other high‑level languages).

Responsibilities

• Serve as the program's mission operations technical lead: set the technical direction and strategy for operations and act as primary operations contact for design decisions.
• Define the automation strategy and lead software-driven methods for mission operations, testing, and data analysis.
• Design, develop, and test flight software sequences and ground software for robust, scalable operations.

Skills

Python

Ruby

C/C++

Security clearance

Team leadership

Spacecraft operations

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering

Tools

Jira

Git

CI/CD

Cloud infrastructure

Job description

Rocket Lab in Long Beach, CA is seeking a Senior Spacecraft Operations Engineer II/Principal to ensure health, safety, and optimal performance of a growing satellite fleet, supporting commercial and government missions. The role covers commissioning, orbit raising, routine operations, and potential re-entry, collaborating with design, flight software, and ground software teams to improve capabilities.

The position emphasizes leadership, software development, and integration across mission ops,