Senior Mission Operations Engineer – Blue Ring

About this role

Application close date: Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the requisition is closed. 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 team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight!   

The role is part of the In-Space Systems business unit, which is focused on addressing two of the most compelling challenges in spaceflight today: space infrastructure and increasing mobility on-orbit.

As a Senior Mission Operations Engineer, you will lead the preparation and execution of on-orbit Blue Ring operations—developing ConOps, building operations products, streamlining workflows through strategic use of automation and AI/ML technologies, forming and leading on-console crews, and executing early mission operations on orbit.

You will lead small teams of mission operations engineers across the program lifecycle while collaborating extensively with engineers from both the space and ground segments. Your technical leadership will directly enable Blue Origin to field and efficiently operate game-changing new capabilities in space for a range of customers.

The ideal candidate is a systems thinker with a strong operator and customer focus, combined 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!

Responsibilities: • Develop mission plans, operations concepts, tools, and processes that enable highly effective and labor-efficient real-time spacecraft and ground system operation. • Lead small teams in the development and implementation of detailed operations procedures, executables, telemetry displays, technical documentation, and other products. • Ensure deliverables meet applicable quality standards, while promoting maximum reuse and backward compatibility. • Conduct testing and validation of ops products using a variety of hardware and software simulation environments that span the space and ground domains. • Drive operations toward ever-increasing levels of efficiency and reliability through automation and the application of AI/ML technologies. • Support systems engineering and other disciplines in developing a spacecraft concept of operations, ensuring efficiency and operability for the end-user. • Implement meaningful progress tracking to provide realistic completion forecasts and inform basis-of-estimates provided for new business pursuits. • Create detailed test procedures to validate end-to-end system capabilities. • Analyze and assess ground station selection for optimal communications availability. • Coordinate staffing for mission operations events and work with our training team to ensure certification of on-console personnel. • Support mission readiness activities including mission rehearsals, mission timeline development, and post-launch test development. • Provide real-time leadership during spacecraft launch and early orbit phase, including shift work, from Blue Origin’s mission control facilities in Florida and elsewhere. • Monitor spacecraft state-of-health across all subsystems, perform trending and analyses, and track spacecraft and ground system configurations. • Support the troubleshooting and resolution of on-orbit anomalies as part of an anomaly response team. • Foster continuous improvement by contributing, tracking, and implementing lessons-learned for the benefit of future missions. • Provide instruction and mentorship to early career engineers, building depth of expertise and capability within the mission operations engineering team.

Qualifications: • B.S. in Aerospace, Computer Science, Systems, or related fields • 3+ years of experience managing technical teams. • 10+ years of proven experience in spacecraft operations development and execution, including real-time support for on-orbit operations in a flight director or comparable leadership role. • Experience with development of spacecraft operations products, including procedures, telemetry displays, scripts, and other technical documents. • Experience with configuration and product data management. • Excellent verbal and written communications skills, including ability to make persuasive presentations to external customers at gated milestone reviews. • Ability to earn trust, build positive professional relationships, and collaborate with individuals of various backgrounds to achieve mission success.

Desired: • Active TS/SCI Security Clearance • M.S. in Space Systems, Computer Science, or Aerospace Engineering, • Direct support for a government spacecraft operations organization, as well as a deep understanding of their use cases and approach to operations. • Experience with multi-manifest spacecraft missions and developing operations for hosted or separable payloads. • Proficiency with command-and-control scripting languages, such as Python, SPELL, STOL, or JAS • Experience working with virtualized Ground Software (e.g., Command & Control, Mission Planning, Flight Dynamics, Electronic Procedures, Software Simulators) • Experience with mission planning and contact planning tools. • Experience with scrum methodology and agile product development. • Experience in full development lifecycle of space systems’ ground segments. • Mission analysis, flight planning and timeline development (tool 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 with performing system safety analyses including Functional Hazard Assessments (FHA), Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analyses (FMECA), and Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)

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