Senior Spacecraft Ops Engineer I

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

Benefits offered by this job

Company stock options

Medical, dental, vision insurance

401(k) retirement plan

Job summary

Rocket Lab, a leading end-to-end space company, seeks a Senior Spacecraft Operations Engineer I to manage health and performance of a growing satellite fleet from the Long Beach, CA base with collaboration across Auckland, Littleton, and Long Beach teams. You will support commissioning, orbit raising, routine ops, and re-entry for diverse missions, using software-driven tools.

You will design and test ground and flight software sequences, validate telemetry, and ensure spacecraft health, safety,

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering or related field.
• 5+ years of direct experience in space mission design, satellite subsystems, ground systems, or spacecraft operations.
• Understanding of spacecraft subsystems and components.
• Knowledge of space environment, orbital mechanics, and rigid body dynamics.
• Software development experience in Python, Ruby, C, or similar.
• US citizenship required by program rules.
• Ability to obtain and maintain US security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Operate spacecraft with automation-focused software solutions.
• Develop and test ground software for long-term space operations.
• Develop flight software sequences and telemetry configurations for health and fault management.
• Maintain CI testing and validation of operational code.
• Support on-call or shift operations.
• Develop test methods and data analysis.
• Create interface specs and CONOPS documents.
• Run validations against spacecraft simulations and HITL systems.
• Assist AIT teams during multi-spacecraft tests.
• Perform requirements validation and verification for subsystems and missions.
• Generate and maintain mission requirements and dispositions.
• Provide program support to leads and managers across multiple sites.

Skills

Space mission design

Satellite subsystems

Ground systems

Spacecraft operations

Programming (Python/C/C++)

US citizenship

Security clearance

Git

CI/CD

Cloud infrastructure

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering

Tools

Git

CI/CD

Cloud infrastructure

Job description

Rocket Lab, a leading end-to-end space company, seeks a Senior Spacecraft Operations Engineer I to manage health and performance of a growing satellite fleet from the Long Beach, CA base with collaboration across Auckland, Littleton, and Long Beach teams. You will support commissioning, orbit raising, routine ops, and re-entry for diverse missions, using software-driven tools.

You will design and test ground and flight software sequences, validate telemetry, and ensure spacecraft health, safety,