Flight Operations Engineer

Team: Engineering & Operations

Location: Saratoga, CA

Commitment: Full-Time

Workplace Type: onsite

Salary:

What you will be doing:

• Operate spacecraft in real-time and scheduled commands, monitor telemetry and subsystem performance, and ensure system safety and mission success through continuous situational awareness and anomaly detection. 
• Conduct deep-dive analysis of spacecraft telemetry to identify trends, diagnose off-nominal behavior, and support root-cause investigations of anomalies across all subsystems. 
• Play a critical role in spacecraft integration and test campaigns including functional testing, Day-In-The-Life (DITL), and end-to-end mission rehearsals to ensure operational readiness. 
• Develop and execute operational scripts and automation tools. Leverage Python and Bash scripting to build and maintain automation pipelines for telemetry analysis, command sequence validation, and alert generation.  
• Contribute to the enhancement of ground software and data visualization dashboards. 
• Collaborate with cross-disciplinary engineering teams to develop and refine CONOPS (Concept of Operations), design test cases, verify procedures, and implement fault mitigation strategies. 
• Participate in Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA), simulate fault conditions, and conduct fault injection testing to validate spacecraft fault management logic and contingency responses. 
• Communicate concise technical updates on spacecraft performance, testing progress, and anomalies to engineering teams, mission management, and stakeholders. 

What you bring to this role:

• Hands-on experience in spacecraft operations, including functional testing, telemetry validation, and operational procedure development. 
• Expertise in Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA), fault injection, and validation of fault management logic. 
• 2–4 years of experience developing automation tools and data pipelines (telemetry analysis, command validation, system monitoring) using Python. 
• Proficiency in scripting languages for process automation, data parsing, and mission operations support. 
• Exposure to high volume data processing systems, telemetry decoding, or real-time monitoring frameworks.
• Strong documentation and communication skills to write clear procedures, technical reports, and deliver concise updates to cross-disciplinary teams. 
• Demonstrated ability to maintain situational awareness, make data-driven decisions under pressure, and contribute to mission success in dynamic operational environments. 

Bonus points:

• Prior spacecraft or satellite operations experience (LEO, GEO, or deep-space missions). 
• Experience working in Linux environments, with familiarity in telemetry processing pipelines, command and telemetry database management, and real-time monitoring tools. 
• Familiarity with containerized environments (Docker, Kubernetes) and CI/CD integration for operational tool deployment. 
• Experience querying and managing data from SQL/NoSQL databases and telemetry filestores. 
• Experience developing or maintaining automation frameworks or real-time alerting systems.