Mission Operations Engineer II

Description

The company builds next-generation space stations and related infrastructure using an incremental, hardware-heavy, low-cost method.

Its multi-module station is being built to keep people living in space continuously for America and its allies, supporting advanced microgravity research and manufacturing and opening a space economy for government, corporate and private customers.

The company's 2025 demonstration flight made it the only commercial space station firm to have flown and operated its own spacecraft. Its first commercial station is set to launch in 2027, followed by more modules. It has also recently announced a high-power satellite line built on station components and that demonstration's heritage.

Headquartered in Long Beach, California, the company has more than 1,000 employees and more than a billion dollars in private capital. It has built the facilities to make and run the next US space station and plans future habitats for the Moon and Mars, dedicated stations for government partners, and other crewed systems.

This Level 2 Mission Operations Engineer reports to the Senior Manager of Crew Operations & Training. You will help build the systems needed to deliver crew operations, flight controller training and crew training for human-rated stations, and you will plan and carry out technical training for spacecraft missions.

Responsibilities

• Create technical training for crew members, including government astronauts and private customers who have never flown before.
• Build training covering every vehicle subsystem for the flight controllers who will run the station.
• Help build and run training simulations: write scenarios, script and automate them, and test and troubleshoot them.
• Help plan end-to-end training flows and run technical training events that certify both crew and flight control staff, across varied environments and delivery platforms.
• Own all crew-facing procedures, including writing, testing and maintaining them.
• Run task analyses and human-in-the-loop tests for crew operations in a range of environments and on different platforms.
• Create scalable human-in-the-loop test processes to verify and validate human interface requirements.
• Act as subject matter expert on how people operate a safety-critical system, covering crew load analysis, human error risk, hazard controls, and interface and display design across all engineering disciplines.
• Serve as the operations expert for pre-flight testing and checkouts, confirming that training systems, spacecraft and ground systems can support readiness campaigns and flight.
• Work with Mission Management to turn customer needs, such as payloads, customer-directed science and research, into a Concept of Operations that balances everything.
• Work with engineers in every discipline on operations training and crew procedures, using ground procedures, flight rules, hazard reports and controls, and products and processes, so that a newly launched spacecraft and crew operate safely.
• Find improvements to training systems, Mission Systems, mission operations software and other ground architecture, and work with the Mission Systems Engineering and Mission/Ground Software Engineering teams to test, deploy and maintain them.
• Implement and keep refining processes and systems that advance mission operations, crew operations, training and human-in-the-loop testing, holding to a high standard.
• Train for, certify as, and work as an Operator on missions run from Mission Control: uncrewed vehicle commissioning, uncrewed and crewed on-orbit operations, anomaly resolution and final de-orbit.
• Routinely analyze vehicle telemetry and send clear summaries and recommendations to mission stakeholders and other engineering disciplines for review.

Requirements

• A bachelor's degree in aerospace, mechanical, software engineering or another engineering field.
• 1+ years in human factors engineering, human systems integration, human-in-the-loop testing, or user research and usability testing.
• Proven ability to work across engineering disciplines.
• Proven ability to think critically under high stress and in fast-changing situations.
• Clear, effective communication of technical engineering information.
• Strong skills in writing technical documents, communicating, and building and giving presentations.
• Willing to support 24/7 operations during mission-critical phases.
• Preferred: that the experience above was in a safety-critical industry such as human spaceflight.
• Preferred: experience in human spaceflight mission operations.
• Preferred: experience developing and delivering technical training for crew and flight control teams.
• Preferred: a master's degree in a technical field.
• Preferred: 2+ years supporting systems and processes for human-in-the-loop testing, complex real-time operations with demonstrated on-console competence, or training development and delivery for an aerospace system such as a launch vehicle, satellite or crew capsule.
• Preferred: knowledge of spacecraft systems engineering, including avionics, propulsion, attitude control, RF or optical communications, orbital mechanics, life support, and thermal and power control.
• Preferred: knowledge of space-to-ground communication systems, such as RF, ground stations, modems and antenna systems.
• Preferred: software skills in tools and languages such as Git, C++, Golang, Markdown, JavaScript, React, Matlab, Python/Octave, software architecture, databases and cloud.
• Preferred: proficiency with command line interfaces and scripting languages used in spaceflight ground systems.

Conditions

Full-time, exempt position based in Long Beach, California.

The base salary range is $112,000 to $159,000 USD.

Base pay depends on job-related knowledge, education, skills, experience, business needs and market demand. Level and pay are set to the selected candidate's experience and demonstrated capability, and applicants across experience levels are welcome.

Travel of up to 20% of the time.

Willing to work overtime or weekends to support critical mission milestones.

Benefits

• Company equity for full-time employees.
• Medical, dental and vision coverage for employees and dependents.
• Generous paid time off: up to 20+ days of vacation for exempt staff and up to 10+ days for non-exempt staff, with unused vacation cashed out annually.
• Paid parental leave, short- and long-term disability insurance, and life insurance.
• 401(k) retirement plan.
• ClassPass credits, personalized mental healthcare through Spring Health, and other discounts and perks.
• Food: snacks, drip coffee and an onsite barista, cold drinks and free dinners, with lunch subsidized.