Flight Director, Amazon LEO - Mission Operations

Amazon LEO is an initiative to launch a constellation of Low Earth Orbit satellites that will provide low-latency, high-speed broadband connectivity to unserved and underserved communities around the world.

About the role

As a Flight Director you will own and execute the overall operational success of the mission at a systems level and coordinate between engineering teams across ground and space systems to achieve it. Because of the scale of the mission, you will be focused on driving automation and operational excellence — identifying areas of improvement and initiating changes to improve the productivity of the fleet. You will coordinate and prepare for each launch and on-orbit demonstration, design and conduct operational rehearsals, and drive automation efforts with scalability in mind, ensuring that the constellation functions at peak performance with no manual intervention. You will develop concepts of operation for missions and experiments, lead launch and early operations, develop and perform analysis on system data, and identify areas and mechanisms for further improvement.

The ideal candidate will be detail oriented, have strong verbal and written communication skills, strong organizational skills, able to juggle multiple tasks at once, able to work independently, and maintain professionalism under pressure. You should have knowledge in space system design and software engineering practices.

Responsibilities

• Own and execute the overall operational success of the mission at a systems level
• Coordinate between engineering teams across ground and space systems
• Drive automation and operational excellence to improve fleet productivity
• Prepare for each launch and on-orbit demonstration
• Design and conduct operational rehearsals
• Develop concepts of operation for missions and experiments
• Lead launch and early operations
• Develop and perform analysis on system data
• Identify areas and mechanisms for further improvement
• Work with internal engineering teams to define operational processes
• Identify opportunities to optimize and automate, and collaborate with software and hardware teams to implement

Requirements

Due to applicable export control laws and regulations, candidates must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e., current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications

• Experience in automating, deploying, and supporting large-scale infrastructure
• Experience programming with at least one modern language such as Python, Ruby, Golang, Java, C++, C#, Rust
• Experience with Linux/Unix
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines build processes
• 3+ years of experience in the Aerospace industry
• 1+ year of prior experience in a spacecraft operations or direct support role
• Technical understanding of space system architecture and subsystem functionality

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with distributed systems at scale
• Familiarity with all of the following disciplines and demonstrated technical understanding of at least two:
  • Orbital mechanics and constellation design
  • Spacecraft guidance, navigation, and control hardware and software
  • Electrical engineering
  • Terrestrial and satellite communications systems and networking
  • Spacecraft structures and mechanisms
  • Embedded software
  • Satellite propulsion systems
• Data-driven engineering approach and ability to assess system performance with statistical analysis
• Strong communications skills, ability to work collaboratively in a team environment, and enjoyment of learning and teaching new skills
• Demonstrated ability to drive requirements for concepts of operation and space systems
• Experience developing, working with, and scaling autonomous space mission operations
• Experience working through the software development lifecycle, including requirements development and integrated testing
• Comfortable working with ambiguous problems, assessing risk, reducing uncertainty, and handling the pressure of mission critical operations

About the team

Amazon LEO Mission Operations team owns the infrastructure that manages and operates the constellation, providing a stable foundation for the networking team to run customer-facing connectivity service.

Pay

USA, WA, Redmond - $129,200.00 - $174,800.00 USD annually

Benefits

• Sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs)
• Health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription)
• Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and Mental Health Support
• Medical Advice Line
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage
• 401(k) matching
• Paid time off
• Parental leave