Satellite Mission Operations Engineer IV

Blue Origin • Reston, VA

305d • $152,235 - $213,127

About The Position

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We're working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our diverse team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight! This role is part of the In-Space Systems business unit, which is focused on development, manufacturing, and operation of satellite systems to address one of the most compelling challenges in spaceflight today: space mobility. As part of a hardworking team of diverse engineers, you will lead small teams of mission operations engineers in accomplishing these tasks throughout the program lifecycle, while also collaborating extensively with engineers from across the space and ground segments. Through your technical leadership, Blue Origin will implement and efficiently operate impactful new capabilities in space to serve a variety of customers. The ideal candidate is a systems-thinker possessing a strong end-operator and customer focus, along with the persistence and passion to build space operations capabilities from the ground up. Join us in enabling Blue Origin's vision of millions of people living and working in space to benefit Earth - passion for our mission is required!

Requirements

• B.S. in Aerospace, Electrical, Computer Science, Systems, or related fields.
• 3+ years of experience leading technical teams.
• 10+ years of validated experience in spacecraft operations development and execution, including real-time support for on-orbit operations in a flight director or comparable leadership role.
• Extensive development of spacecraft operations products, including procedures, telemetry displays, scripts, and other technical documents.
• Experienced in configuration and product data management.
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills, including the ability to make persuasive presentations to external customers at significant achievements reviews.
• Ability to earn trust, maintain positive and professional relationships, and contribute to a culture of inclusion.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Nice To Haves

• M.S. in Space Systems, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or Aerospace Engineering.
• Proven role in supporting a commercial or government spacecraft operations organization, along with comprehensive insight into their use cases and operational strategies.
• Familiarity with multi-manifest spacecraft missions and crafting operations for hosted or separable payloads.
• Skilled in command-and-control scripting languages, such as Python, SPELL, STOL, or JAS.
• Background in working with virtualized Ground Software (e.g., Command & Control, Mission Planning, Flight Dynamics, Electronic Procedures, Software Simulators).
• Acquaintance with mission planning and contact planning tools.
• Knowledgeable in scrum methodology and agile product development.
• Involvement in the full development lifecycle of space systems' ground segments.
• Competence in mission analysis, flight planning, and timeline development (tool and analysis).
• Expertise in designing and evaluating operational readiness tests with hardware-in-the-loop and software-in-the-loop simulators.
• Familiarity with managing operational faults and anomalies.
• Skill in conducting system safety analyses, including Functional Hazard Assessments (FHA), Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analyses (FMECA), and Fault Tree Analysis (FTA).

Responsibilities

• Build mission plans, operational concepts, tools, and processes for efficient spacecraft and ground system operations.
• Lead small teams in developing operations procedures, executables, telemetry displays, and user manuals.
• Ensure work meets quality standards while supporting reuse and backward compatibility.
• Test and validate operations products in various hardware and software simulation environments.
• Work with systems engineering to optimize spacecraft concepts for end-user efficiency and operability.
• Track progress and provide realistic completion forecasts, aiding new business estimates.
• Develop test procedures to confirm end-to-end system capabilities.
• Analyze and select ground stations for efficient communications.
• Coordinate spectrum licensing with regulatory bodies.
• Lead staffing for mission events and ensure personnel certification with the training team.
• Support mission readiness activities like rehearsals and timeline developments.
• Provide leadership during launches and early orbit phases from mission control.
• Monitor spacecraft health, analyze trends, and maintain system configurations.
• Help resolve on-orbit anomalies within the response team.
• Support continuous improvement by implementing lessons learned for future missions.
• Mentor early career engineers to enhance team expertise and capabilities.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance.
• Paid parental leave.
• Short and long-term disability.
• 401(k) with a company match of up to 5%.
• Education Support Program.
• Paid Time Off: Up to four (4) weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours, and up to 14 company-paid holidays.
• Discretionary bonus designed to reward individual contributions as well as allow employees to share in company results.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Industry: Transportation Equipment Manufacturing
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree