Space Operations Engineer

About the Role

Space Operations Engineers are dedicated to innovation in all aspects of spaceflight execution and training. As an Operations Training Engineer, you will prepare a team of spacecraft operators to safely execute human and cargo spaceflight missions, become a SpaceX spacecraft operator yourself, and personally drive the development of a new paradigm for 21st century spaceflight training. Our team’s charter is to efficiently prepare hundreds of humans to safely operate space vehicles on interplanetary missions.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop, train, and evaluate operations teams to safely conduct Dragon and Starship missions
• Devote 50% of time to full stack development and 50% to operator training and supporting operations
• Challenge requirements, develop tooling, and reshape training workflows to create efficient operator training processes
• Create training content, develop training plans, and provide instruction to mission control operators
• Plan, schedule, and execute training events and simulations with SpaceX, NASA, and customer teams
• Script, test, and deploy simulation software components to ensure a high-quality training experience
• Develop and maintain the simulation environment (servers, applications, and automation)
• Become an on-console mission control operator to support human and cargo spaceflight missions
• Develop subject matter expertise and clearly communicate technical concepts to a wide audience
• Work closely with operations teams to innovate how humans interact with a diverse fleet of interplanetary spacecraft

Requirements & Tech Stack

• Bachelor’s degree in an engineering or science discipline
• 1+ years of experience providing technical training to an audience that must apply it in a critical environment or real-time operations experience on a system that has high consequence of failure (e.g. a pilot, flight or test engineer, spacecraft operator, high performance automotive, etc.)
• 1+ years of programming experience in Python or JavaScript

Qualifications

• Master's degree in a technical discipline
• Previous experience with spacecraft/aircraft engineering or operations
• Previous experience writing software in a professional environment
• Excellent organizational and interpersonal skills
• Clear verbal and written technical communication skills
• Capacity to balance conflicting opinions and manage expectations between multiple teams and customers
• Able to quickly adapt and change course in a fast-paced environment
• Insatiable hunger for continuous improvement and self-motivated to challenge the status quo

Additional Requirements

• Must be open to occasional travel to other SpaceX sites (California, Texas, and Florida)
• Must be willing to work long hours and weekends to support mission operations and critical project timelines

ITAR Requirements

• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.