Spacecraft Ops Engineer: Automation & Flight

Segment (Twilio); Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 82,000 - 118,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company equity and robust benefits

Top-tier medical and HSA plan

3 weeks paid vacation and 5 days sick

11 paid holidays and 401(k) match

Onsite gym and subsidized amenities

Job summary

Rocket Lab in Long Beach, CA seeks a Spacecraft Operations Engineer I/II to manage the health, safety, and performance of a growing satellite fleet across commissioning, orbit raising, and routine operations.

You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to enhance satellite and ground capabilities, supporting commercial and government missions with software-driven solutions and automated operations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering or related field.
• Experience in space mission design, satellite subsystems, ground systems, or spacecraft operations.
• Understanding of attitude determination and control, power systems, comms, and thermal control.
• Software development experience in Python/Ruby/C/C++ or other high-level languages.

Responsibilities

• Leverage automation to operate spacecraft with software-driven solutions for reliable mission execution.
• Design, develop and test ground software for long-term space operations—ground scripting for robust ops.
• Design, develop and test flight software sequences and FDIR/telemetry configuration for spacecraft health and fault management.
• Maintain continuous integration and testing of operational code.
• Ensure on-call or shift operations.
• Develop test methods and data analysis.
• Develop interface specifications, CONOPS, and other design documents.
• Run validation against spacecraft simulation tools (flatsat, HITL).
• Support AIT teams across spacecraft tests (TVAC, propulsion, DITL).
• Perform requirements validation and verification for subsystems and missions.
• Generate and maintain requirements for missions, including creation and disposition.

Skills

Python

C/C++

Space mission design

Ground systems

Telemetry/configuration

On-orbit operations

Team collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering

Tools

Git

CI/CD

HIL testing

SIL testing

Job description

Rocket Lab in Long Beach, CA seeks a Spacecraft Operations Engineer I/II to manage the health, safety, and performance of a growing satellite fleet across commissioning, orbit raising, and routine operations.

You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to enhance satellite and ground capabilities, supporting commercial and government missions with software-driven solutions and automated operations.