GOES Senior Payload Operations Engineer

ASRC Federal•Suitland-Silver Hill, MD

23h•Onsite

About The Position

Within Geostationary Constellation Engineering Group for the Engineering and Mission Operations Support Services -VII (EMOSS-VII) contract, this position, based in Suitland, MD requires proven education and experience to demonstrate capacity to perform satellite payload engineering at a high-performance level. Our client is responsible for engineering and mission operations support for environment monitoring satellites managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Satellite and Product Operations (OSPO). Position’s primary responsibility is to support the Geostationary Operational Environment Satellite (GOES) system which requires application of knowledge and skills in engineering and mission operations of satellite health, safety and performance of radiometer, sounder and communications payloads. Candidate must have 3+ years of direct experience as a GOES Payload Engineer performing real-time and offline on-orbit operations, spacecraft command/control, telemetry procedure development, space systems communications, software test/command script development, training and operations procedure development. Candidate must possess excellent written, verbal and presentation skills.The candidate will participate in integration and test and contribute to the development and verification of command procedures and mission operations plans and procedures. The candidate will participate in the operational validation of the ground segment, including interface tests, end-to-end tests and mission simulations. ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS DUTIES: The GOES Senior Payload Operations Engineer will perform flight systems related assignments supporting the GOES missions or other constellation system disciplines as directed by the technical lead and management. Applicants are expected to possess and develop detailed knowledge in assigned areas. Specific tasks include, but are not limited to: Support the operations of GOES satellite payloads during routine operations phases, including activity planning/scheduling. Maintain the set of payload operation procedures including the update and operational validation of procedure releases and changes, database maintenance, Man-Machine-Interface (MMI) development. Perform real time troubleshooting and analysis during payload anomalies, including real-time problem identification and resolution, support in case of any in-orbit anomaly and participate in the investigation of satellite anomalies. Raising and tracking of Anomaly Reports, including investigations into Payload-level anomalies and regression testing of associated fixes. Responsibility for analyzing, trending and reporting the performance of GOES Payload suites. Participate in the development and elaboration of additional operations tool such as Analysis and Reporting tools or contingency procedure tree; Preparation and presentation of GOES Payloads Operations training documentation. Participation in any necessary meetings and reviews with external partners. Propose new or execute improvements to tools that will increase long term reliability, monitoring, and anomaly detection capability. Develop and improve products used to control the payload. Develop changes to products based upon changes to spacecraft configuration. Support various ground system software testing and verifications.Provision of on-call support to real-time operations. Preparation of regular reports and liaison with internal and external personnel. Provide input to feasibility study and requirements Participate in reviews and design Technical Interchange Meetings (TIMs) Coordinate and perform training of NOAA operations control center personnel Other Job Functions Prepare, simulate and execute flight software uploads relevant to payload operations. Communicate and coordinate tests, instrument configuration modifications and maintenance changes with data users and products team. Coordinate NOAA efforts by providing and explaining instrument trending analysis to multiple NOAA divisions in support of meetings, reviews and anomaly investigations.

Requirements

3+ years of direct experience as a GOES Payload Engineer performing real-time and offline on-orbit operations, spacecraft command/control, telemetry procedure development, space systems communications, software test/command script development, training and operations procedure development.
Excellent written, verbal and presentation skills.
Bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering or related field, and 5 to 7 years of aerospace engineering experience.
A Master’s degree in relevant discipline is equivalent to two years’ experience.
Writing and presentation skills for wide diverse audience.
Perform contingency real time troubleshooting and analysis during anomalies, including real-time problem identification and resolution, support in case of any in-orbit anomaly and participate in the investigation of ground system anomalies.
Propose new or execute improvements to tools that will increase long term reliability, monitoring, and anomaly detection capability.

Nice To Haves

Configuration management and document management supporting flight operations.
Support integration of AI/ML, data platforms, and cloud infrastructure into cohesive, mission-ready tools that can be reused and scaled across satellite operating systems.
Programming in languages such as C++, Visual basic, Unix Shells, PERL, TCL, JAVA
User experience with Window XP/NT, Linux and Unix operating systems

Responsibilities

Support the operations of GOES satellite payloads during routine operations phases, including activity planning/scheduling.
Maintain the set of payload operation procedures including the update and operational validation of procedure releases and changes, database maintenance, Man-Machine-Interface (MMI) development.
Perform real time troubleshooting and analysis during payload anomalies, including real-time problem identification and resolution, support in case of any in-orbit anomaly and participate in the investigation of satellite anomalies.
Raising and tracking of Anomaly Reports, including investigations into Payload-level anomalies and regression testing of associated fixes.
Responsibility for analyzing, trending and reporting the performance of GOES Payload suites.
Participate in the development and elaboration of additional operations tool such as Analysis and Reporting tools or contingency procedure tree
Preparation and presentation of GOES Payloads Operations training documentation.
Participation in any necessary meetings and reviews with external partners.
Propose new or execute improvements to tools that will increase long term reliability, monitoring, and anomaly detection capability.
Develop and improve products used to control the payload.
Develop changes to products based upon changes to spacecraft configuration.
Support various ground system software testing and verifications.
Provision of on-call support to real-time operations.
Preparation of regular reports and liaison with internal and external personnel.
Provide input to feasibility study and requirements
Participate in reviews and design Technical Interchange Meetings (TIMs)
Coordinate and perform training of NOAA operations control center personnel
Prepare, simulate and execute flight software uploads relevant to payload operations.
Communicate and coordinate tests, instrument configuration modifications and maintenance changes with data users and products team.
Coordinate NOAA efforts by providing and explaining instrument trending analysis to multiple NOAA divisions in support of meetings, reviews and anomaly investigations.