Mission Planning Engineer III – Blue Ring

About the role

The role is part of the In-Space Systems business unit, which is focused on addressing two of the most compelling challenges in spaceflight today: space infrastructure and increasing mobility on-orbit. With Blue Ring, our customers are empowered to go anywhere in cislunar or Earth orbit domains, redefine mission flexibility, and pursue bold new concepts that were once beyond reach.

Responsibilities

• Design and own end-to-end mission planning process from mission design through operational execution, including planning cycle workflows, activity request intake, deconfliction, resource allocation, and timeline generation.
• Establish constraint frameworks that govern how activities are scheduled, sequenced, and validated across all Blue Ring missions.
• Translate system-level requirements, mission design outputs (trajectory plans, spacecraft models, ConOps), and mission objectives into actionable planning requirements.
• Define command sequence structure, procedure formats, and play architectures that align with the mission planning process and enable development of executable operational products.
• Ensure mission planners have clear, validated activity templates, planning tools, and operational processes to execute planning cycles during mission operations.
• Partner with mission planning software architects and developers to define operational requirements, and design, validate, and integrate mission-unique activity templates and command sequences into planning tools.
• Lead development of mission planning ops products, including activity templates, constraint definitions, planning procedures, and timeline products.
• Contribute to the development and maintenance of mission planning tools and automation capabilities.
• Support test activities and rehearsals as the mission planning technical lead, ensuring planning products are verified and validated through simulation, rehearsal, and review processes.
• Mentor and guide junior mission planning engineers and operations team mission planners on planning processes and best practices.
• Support real-time mission operations as an on-console mission planner during launch and early orbit phase and other critical mission events as needed.
• Represent mission planning in cross-functional forums and design reviews.

Qualifications

• Active US Government Top Secret / Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) clearance.
• Minimum of a B.S. degree in Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical field.
• 5+ years of experience in spacecraft mission operations, mission planning, flight dynamics, or flight operations.
• Demonstrated experience designing or significantly contributing to new mission planning processes, tools, or systems.
• Strong understanding of spacecraft subsystems and how they constrain operational planning (power, thermal, data, comms availability, attitude).
• Software development experience in Python or equivalent programming language.
• Ability to work collaboratively in a fast-paced, dynamic work environment with multiple stakeholders and competing priorities.
• Strong communication and coordination skills for interfacing with customers, engineering teams, and operations personnel.
• Ability to earn trust, build positive professional relationships and collaborate with individuals of broad backgrounds to achieve mission success.

Desired

• M.S. in Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Science, or related field.
• Experience with multi-mission or constellation operations planning.
• Experience leading or coordinating test exercises, rehearsals, or operational readiness activities.
• Familiarity with Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) approaches and how they feed operational planning.
• Experience with ground system command and control architectures.
• Experience with hosted or separable payload mission planning and operations.
• Knowledge of electric propulsion systems and low-thrust trajectory planning.
• Experience applying AI/ML techniques to engineering workflows, such as building or integrating intelligent automation, optimization models, or data-driven decision support tools.