Senior Mission Operations Engineer – 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. As a Senior Mission Operations Engineer, you will lead the preparation and execution of on-orbit Blue Ring operations.

Responsibilities

• Develop mission plans, operations concepts, tools, and processes that enable highly effective and labor-efficient real-time spacecraft and ground system operation.
• Lead small teams in the development and implementation of detailed operations procedures, executables, telemetry displays, technical documentation, and other products.
• Ensure deliverables meet applicable quality standards, while promoting maximum reuse and backward compatibility.
• Conduct testing and validation of ops products using a variety of hardware and software simulation environments that span the space and ground domains.
• Drive operations toward ever-increasing levels of efficiency and reliability through automation and the application of AI/ML technologies.
• Support systems engineering and other disciplines in developing a spacecraft concept of operations, ensuring efficiency and operability for the end-user.
• Create detailed test procedures to validate end-to-end system capabilities.
• Analyze and assess ground station selection for optimal communications availability.
• Coordinate staffing for mission operations events and work with our training team to ensure certification of on-console personnel.
• Support mission readiness activities including mission rehearsals, mission timeline development, and post-launch test development.
• Provide real-time leadership during spacecraft launch and early orbit phase, including shift work, from Blue Origin’s mission control facilities in Florida and elsewhere.
• Monitor spacecraft state-of-health across all subsystems, perform trending and analyses, and track spacecraft and ground system configurations.
• Support the troubleshooting and resolution of on-orbit anomalies as part of an anomaly response team.
• Foster continuous improvement by contributing, tracking, and implementing lessons-learned for the benefit of future missions.
• Provide instruction and mentorship to early career engineers, building depth of expertise and capability within the mission operations engineering team.

Qualifications

• B.S. in Aerospace, Computer Science, Systems, or related fields
• 3+ years of experience managing technical teams
• 10+ years of proven experience in spacecraft operations development and execution, including real-time support for on-orbit operations in a flight director or comparable leadership role
• Experience with development of spacecraft operations products, including procedures, telemetry displays, scripts, and other technical documents
• Experience with configuration and product data management
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills, including ability to make persuasive presentations to external customers at gated milestone reviews
• Ability to earn trust, build positive professional relationships, and collaborate with individuals of various backgrounds to achieve mission success

Desired

• Active TS/SCI Security Clearance
• M.S. in Space Systems, Computer Science, or Aerospace Engineering
• Direct support for a government spacecraft operations organization, as well as a deep understanding of their use cases and approach to operations
• Experience with multi-manifest spacecraft missions and developing operations for hosted or separable payloads
• Proficiency with command-and-control scripting languages, such as Python, SPELL, STOL, or JAS
• Experience working with virtualized Ground Software (e.g., Command & Control, Mission Planning, Flight Dynamics, Electronic Procedures, Software Simulators)
• Experience with mission planning and contact planning tools
• Experience with scrum methodology and agile product development
• Experience in full development lifecycle of space systems’ ground segments
• Mission analysis, flight planning and timeline development (tool and analysis)
• Experience designing and evaluating operational readiness tests integrated with hardware-in-the-loop, and software-in-the-loop simulators
• Experience with operational fault and anomaly management
• Experience with performing system safety analyses including Functional Hazard Assessments (FHA), Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analyses (FMECA), and Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)