Spacecraft Operations Engineer II — Automation & Missions

Rocket Lab USA; Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 94,000 - 147,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity grant

Employee Stock Purchase Program (15% 5

Top-tier medical plans

Dental and vision coverage

Paid vacation and holidays

401(k) with company match

Job summary

Rocket Lab USA in Long Beach, CA seeks a Spacecraft Operations Engineer II to ensure health and performance of a growing satellite fleet. You will work with cross‑functional teams on commissioning, orbit raising, and routine operations for diverse missions, including LEO and interplanetary campaigns.

Strong software skills and security clearance readiness are required. The role emphasizes design and testing of ground and flight software, CI/CD practices, and collaboration across Auckland and

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering or related technical field required.
• 2+ years experience in space mission design, satellite subsystems, ground systems, spacecraft command/control or operations.
• Software development experience in Python, Ruby, C, C++ or similar.
• Ability to obtain and maintain US security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Leverage automation to operate spacecraft and enable reliable mission execution.
• Design, develop and test ground software for long term space operations.
• Develop flight software sequences and telemetry configurations for health and fault management.
• Maintain continuous integration and testing of operational code.
• Support on-call or shift operations.
• Develop test methods and data analysis.
• Create interface specifications and CONOPS documents.
• Run validation against spacecraft simulations and hardware-in-the-loop tools.
• Collaborate with AIT teams on spacecraft tests and validation.
• Provide program and product support to team leads and managers.

Skills

Software development

Spacecraft subsystems knowledge

Python/C/C++ programming

Git/CI-CD

Cloud infrastructure

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering

Tools

Git

CI/CD

Cloud infrastructure

Job description

Rocket Lab USA in Long Beach, CA seeks a Spacecraft Operations Engineer II to ensure health and performance of a growing satellite fleet. You will work with cross‑functional teams on commissioning, orbit raising, and routine operations for diverse missions, including LEO and interplanetary campaigns.

Strong software skills and security clearance readiness are required. The role emphasizes design and testing of ground and flight software, CI/CD practices, and collaboration across Auckland and