Mission Planner II – Blue Ring
On-siteReston, Virginia, United States
Job Summary
Support real-time Blue Ring mission operations as an on-console flight crew member, developing and maintaining integrated mission schedules that balance operational priorities, customer activities, and engineering tasks. Perform tactical scheduling of ground network resources and spacecraft activities to maximize mission effectiveness, generating and validating command sequences for routine operations and mission-critical events. Coordinate with astrodynamics, flight dynamics, and engineering teams to integrate trajectory and maneuver planning, while performing deconfliction analysis to ensure all scheduled activities comply with operational constraints. Collaborate with mission planning software developers to improve operational efficiency and scalability. Based in Reston, VA, with relocation provided. Shift work including nights, weekends, and holidays is required, with on-call availability for operational support.
Required Qualifications
- Minimum of a B.S. degree in engineering or equivalent technical field
- 2+ years of related experience in one or a combination of the following: systems engineering, spaceflight operations, flight dynamics and/or satellite mission planning
- Knowledge or experience with satellite tasking, ground contact planning, activity planning, flight dynamics, orbital mechanics, and/or orbit analysis
- Experience with command and control systems or mission planning software platforms
- Software development experience in Python or equivalent programming language
- Ability to work collaboratively in a fast-paced, dynamic work environment with multiple stakeholders and competing priorities
- Strong communication and coordination skills for interfacing with customers, engineering teams, and operations personnel
- Ability to earn trust, build positive professional relationships, contribute to a culture of inclusion, and collaborate with individuals of diverse backgrounds to achieve mission success
- Passion for our mission
- Must be able to work during business hours, with periods of shift work including nights, weekends, and holidays as required by mission objectives
- On-call availability for operational support
- U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e. current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum
- Blue's Standard Background Check
- Ability to obtain and maintain Merchant Mariner Credential, which includes pre-employment and random drug testing as well as DOT physical
Desired Qualifications
- M.S. in Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related field
- Top Secret / Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) Eligible
- Demonstrated proficiency in orbital mechanics principles, satellite dynamics, and control theory, with a strong foundation in academic or professional experience
- Experience with hosted or separable payload mission planning and operations
- Knowledge of electric propulsion systems and low-thrust trajectory planning
- Familiarity with ground station networks, RF communications planning, and link budget analysis
- Experience developing and/or optimizing mission planning processes
- Experience with supporting pre-launch development of mission planning software and CONOPs
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