Rocket Lab's Space Systems team is responsible for every satellite and satellite component made by Rocket Lab: from complete satellites destined for missions to the Moon and Mars, to the individual components and subsystems that make up a satellite like solar panels, flight software, reaction wheels and star trackers, separation systems, radios, and more. Our Space Systems team is made up of engineers, technicians, and designers who design, create, and put together our own satellites for missions across the commercial, government, and defense sectors, or who build and assemble satellite hardware and software that supports other satellite missions.
SENIOR SPACECRAFT OPERATIONS ENGINEER I/II - Top Secret Clearance
Based on site at Rocket Labs headquarters in Long Beach, CA, the Senior Spacecraft Operations Engineer I/II is responsible for ensuring the health, safety, and optimal performance of a growing fleet of satellites while meeting mission objectives and SLAs for both commercial and government customers. This includes supporting diverse missions such as LEO constellations, interplanetary exploration, LEO rendezvous, and SDA-related deployments. Your expertise would be critical during commissioning, orbit raising, routine operations, and potentially re-entry phases, ensuring the health and safety of Rocket Lab's expanding fleet.
The Spacecraft Operations team works closely with related teams, such as spacecraft design, AIT, flight software, propulsion, GNC, flight dynamics, and ground software development to help improve both the ground and satellite-based capabilities over time.
Space operations experience at Rocket Lab is unique because you will cover a multitude of roles/positions and responsibilities, with the large majority of the technical products being supplied through the vertical integration/in-house.
WHAT YOU'LL GET TO DO:
• Leverage automation as a key enabler to operate spacecraft, focusing on software-driven solutions for efficient and reliable mission execution. • Design, develop, and test ground software for long-term space operations: ground scripting for robust and automated ops. • Design, develop, and test flight software sequences and FDIR/telemetry configuration to ensure spacecraft health and fault management through software-driven processes. • Maintain the continuous integration and testing of our operational code. • Ensure the on-call or shifts of operations. • Develop test methods and data analysis. • Develop interface specifications, CONOPS, and other design documents. • Run validation against spacecraft simulation tools: flatsat, HITL, etc. • Support AIT teams across multiple spacecraft integrated tests (TVAC, propulsion stack, DITL, …). • Perform requirements validation and verification for subsystems and spacecraft missions. • Generate and maintain requirements for spacecraft missions, including the creation and disposition. • Provide program and product support to team leads and program managers and be a key technical interface between the Auckland, NZ, and Long Beach, USA engineering teams.
YOULL BRING THESE QUALIFICATIONS AS A SENIOR SPACECRAFT OPERATIONS ENGINEER I:
• Bachelor's degree in engineering (software, computer, electrical, aerospace, mechanical, or other technical engineering discipline) • 5+ years of direct experience in any of the following: space mission design, satellite subsystems, ground systems, spacecraft command control, or spacecraft operations • Understanding of key spacecraft subsystems and their associated components, including attitude determination and control, spacecraft electrical power systems, space-ground communications, on-orbit command and data handling, and thermal control • Understanding of the space environment, orbital mechanics, and rigid body dynamics • Software development experience (Python/Ruby/C/C++/other high-level languages) • U.S. citizenship required due to program requirements • TS/SCI Clearance Required
YOULL BRING THESE QUALIFICATIONS AS A SENIOR SPACECRAFT OPERATIONS ENGINEER II:
• Bachelor's degree in engineering (software, computer, electrical, aerospace, mechanical, or other technical engineering discipline) • 8+ years of direct experience in any of the following: space mission design, satellite subsystems, ground systems, spacecraft command control, or spacecraft operations • Understanding of key spacecraft subsystems and their associated components, including attitude determination and control, spacecraft electrical power systems, space-ground communications, on-orbit command and data handling, and thermal control • Understanding of the space environment, orbital mechanics, and rigid body dynamics • Software development experience (Python/Ruby/C/C++/other high-level languages) • U.S. citizenship required due to program requirements • TS/SCI Clearance Required
THESE QUALIFICATIONS WOULD BE NICE TO HAVE:
• Master's or PhD engineering in engineering (software, computer, electrical, aerospace, mechanical, or other technical engineering discipline) • Prior experience in spacecraft operations • Prior experience in satellite system design • Prior experience in satellite ground systems • Exposure to modern development practices - GIT, CI/CD, cloud infrastructure • Software-in-the-Loop (SIL) Testing: Exposure to testing frameworks that simulate software behavior in operational environments • Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) Testing: Familiarity with testing frameworks that integrate software and hardware systems
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to focus • Regularly required to sit, use hands and fingers, operate computer keyboard and controls, and communicate verbally and in writing • Must be physically able to commute to buildings • Occasional exposure to dust, fumes, and moderate levels of noise