Satellite Service Operations Engineer

About the role

This role is part of the Blue National Security (BNS) Business Unit, which is focused on delivering resilient, mission-critical space capabilities, including Blue Ring, to support national defense and intelligence objectives.

Responsibilities

• Own and direct day-to-day, long term mission operations, including flight operations, ground systems operations, mission execution, and customer service delivery.
• Direct real-time spacecraft operations, including monitoring, commanding, health and status management, and performance trending across the fleet.
• Ensure mission objectives, performance standards, and delivery commitments are consistently met on behalf of customers.
• Oversee ground system command and control operations, ensuring telemetry, tracking, and command (TT&C) infrastructure meets mission needs and reliability standards.
• Conduct anomaly resolution activities, including problem identification, root cause analysis, corrective action implementation, and documentation.
• Conduct system performance assessments and generate reports for routine operations, anomaly events, and mission milestones for both internal leadership and external customers.
• Collaborate with ground software teams to define requirements, design interfaces, and integrate automation and AI tools into the ground system architecture.

Qualifications

• Minimum of a B.S. degree in Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical field.
• 5+ years of experience in on-orbit spacecraft mission operations or space systems engineering.
• Strong understanding of spacecraft subsystems (power, thermal, data, communications, attitude, propulsion) and/or satellite ground systems (command and control software, mission planning systems, remote ground terminals, etc.).
• Experience performing on-orbit operations, including anomaly resolution activities.
• Understanding of multi-mission or constellation-level spacecraft operations concepts and challenges.
• Software/scripting development experience in Python or equivalent programming language.
• Experience with automation and efficiency improvements.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to convey complex technical and operational issues to audiences including executive leadership and external customers.
• 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, or related field.
• Active or eligible for Top Secret / Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) clearance.
• Demonstrated proficiency in orbital mechanics principles, satellite dynamics, and control theory, with a strong foundation in academic or professional experience.
• Experience with hosted or separable payload mission planning and operations.
• Experience with developing and/or maintaining "Lights Out" satellite operations products.
• Knowledge of electric propulsion systems and low-thrust trajectory planning.
• Experience applying AI/ML techniques to operational workflows, such as predictive anomaly detection, intelligent scheduling, or data-driven decision support.
• Experience with government or defense space programs and associated customer relationship management.
• Experience with trending and analysis platforms for long-term spacecraft health monitoring (e.g., Databricks, Grafana, or similar).
• Experience scaling operations from initial missions through fleet-level services.

Pay

Base Pay Range For WA applicants is $130,706.00 - $182,987.70 Other Site Ranges May Differ