Senior Mission Operations Engineer

Blue Origin•Reston, VA

2d•Onsite

About The Position

Blue Origin’s Blue National Security business unit is developing, manufacturing, and operating Blue Ring, a hybrid solar-electric and chemical-propelled spacecraft platform for national security missions. The Senior Mission Operations Engineer will serve as Mission Operations Lead for a deep-space mission that will cruise to Mars, enter orbit, and operate for years as a high-rate relay between assets at Mars and Earth. The role leads small mission operations engineering teams throughout the program lifecycle and works closely with engineers across the space and ground segments. The ideal candidate brings spacecraft operations experience beyond Earth orbit, systems thinking, an end-operator and customer focus, and persistence in building deep-space operations capability. The position is based in the Reston, Virginia, or Denver, Colorado, office; relocation is provided. On-console shift work at Blue Origin’s Virginia mission control facilities is required during launch, early orbit, orbit insertion, commissioning, and critical mission events. Applicants must meet the stated U.S. citizenship, permanent-residency, refugee, or asylum status requirement.

Requirements

Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace, Computer Science, Systems, or a related field.
At least 3 years of experience managing technical teams.
At least 10 years of proven experience in spacecraft operations development and execution, including on-console leadership of on-orbit operations as a flight director or in a comparable role.
Demonstrated ownership of scope, schedule, and budget for a mission or major deliverable, with direct accountability to an external customer.
Direct experience operating a spacecraft beyond Earth orbit on a deep-space, lunar, or planetary mission, including interplanetary cruise operations, planetary orbit insertion, or sustained operations at a planetary destination.
Experience planning and executing operations with one-way light time of minutes or more, using onboard command sequences and post-event telemetry assessment rather than interactive vehicle control.
Experience developing spacecraft operations products, including procedures, telemetry displays, scripts, and technical documents.
Experience with configuration and product data management.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to make persuasive presentations to external customers at gated milestone reviews.
Ability to earn trust, build positive professional relationships, contribute to an inclusive culture, and collaborate with people of diverse backgrounds.
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

Master of Science degree in Space Systems, Computer Science, or Aerospace Engineering.
Mars mission operations experience, including familiarity with services and interfaces used to schedule relay passes.
Experience operating a relay or other shared communications asset, including user service planning, pass deconfliction, and store-and-forward delivery.
Experience planning around solar conjunction and other extended communications outages.
Experience with Deep Space Network interfaces and processes, including scheduling, data links, and radiometric tracking data delivery.
Experience with NASA civil space programs and their operations deliverable and review expectations.
Proficiency with command-and-control scripting languages such as Python, SPELL, STOL, or JAS.
Experience with virtualized ground software, such as Command & Control, Mission Planning, Flight Dynamics, Electronic Procedures, and Software Simulators.
Experience with mission-planning and contact-planning tools.
Experience managing projects using traditional and agile methodologies.
Experience as operations lead or project manager on a competitively awarded government contract, including deliverable-driven reporting and gated milestone reviews.
Experience in the full development lifecycle of space systems’ ground segments.
Experience with mission analysis, flight planning, and timeline development tools 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 performing system safety analyses, including Functional Hazard Assessments (FHA), Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analyses (FMECA), and Fault Tree Analysis (FTA).

Responsibilities

Lead the mission from contract award through closeout, owning operations scope, schedule, budget, risk, reporting, and the customer relationship.
Own the operations concept across launch, Earth departure, interplanetary cruise, orbit insertion, transfer to the final service orbit, relay commissioning, and steady-state service.
Deliver contract operations data products, including the mission operations plan, operations data book and user guide, and flight operations procedure library with supporting data.
Serve as the operations point of contact for the customer through development and early orbit.
Develop mission plans, operations concepts, tools, and processes for effective, labor-efficient operations under significant one-way light time without real-time vehicle interaction.
Develop the commanding approach around onboard command sequences and time-tagged activity, accounting for solar conjunction and other extended loss-of-signal periods.
Coordinate with the ground segment team on deep-space ground-station integration, scheduling, data links, radiometric tracking data interfaces, and compatibility testing.
Lead small teams developing and implementing operations procedures, executables, telemetry displays, technical documentation, and other products.
Test and validate operations products using hardware and software simulation environments spanning space and ground domains.
Improve operations efficiency and reliability through automation and AI/ML technologies.
Support systems engineering and other disciplines in developing an efficient, operable spacecraft concept of operations for the end user.
Create detailed test procedures to validate end-to-end system capabilities.
Coordinate staffing for mission operations events and work with the training team to certify on-console personnel.
Support mission readiness activities, including rehearsals, timeline development, and post-launch test development.
Provide real-time leadership during launch and early orbit, including shift work at Blue Origin’s mission control facilities.
Monitor spacecraft health across subsystems, conduct trending and analyses, and track spacecraft and ground-system configurations.
Support troubleshooting and resolution of on-orbit anomalies as part of an anomaly response team.
Contribute, track, and implement lessons learned for future missions.
Represent operations to the customer at gated milestone reviews and in routine performance reporting.
Instruct and mentor early-career engineers, building expertise and capability within the mission operations engineering team.

Benefits

Medical insurance
Dental insurance
Vision insurance
Basic and supplemental life insurance
Paid parental leave
Short- and long-term disability
401(k) with company match of up to 5%
Education Support Program
Stock options for regular employees working at least 20 hours per week
Paid time off of up to four weeks per year, based on weekly scheduled hours
Up to 14 company-paid holidays
Depending on role type and job level, possible benefits and bonuses based on individual contributions and company results; eligibility and amounts are not guaranteed and may change or be canceled