Staff Systems Engineer, Flight Ops Software

Salary: $105,000 - 154,000 per year Requirements:

• We require U.S. citizen status and the ability to obtain a United States Government Secret Security Clearance.
• We require a bachelors degree in systems engineering, aerospace engineering, computer science, software engineering, electrical engineering, or a closely related technical field.
• We require 5+ years of relevant industry experience developing, integrating, or operating aerospace, spacecraft, ground, command-and-control, or similarly complex technical systems.
• We require working knowledge of spacecraft command-and-control and space-to-ground architectures, including commanding, real-time telemetry flows, and the interactions between spacecraft, ground systems, flight software, and mission operations.
• We require experience performing systems engineering across architecture, requirements, interfaces, integration, verification, and operational deployment.
• We require experience applying Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) to define architectures, interfaces, behaviors, and dependencies.
• We require experience defining and maintaining service APIs and interfaces within Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA) or other distributed software systems.
• We require experience translating mission and stakeholder needs into software capabilities, requirements, Epics, User Stories, Acceptance Criteria, and prioritized development work.
• We require experience with Agile software development methodologies and direct collaboration with software teams throughout the development lifecycle.
• We require strong technical judgment and the ability to drive decisions and coordinate across spacecraft, ground, operations, and software engineering disciplines.
• We require strong written and verbal communication skills, along with demonstrated ownership, initiative, and accountability in a fast-paced development environment.
• Preferred qualifications include direct experience developing, integrating, or operating spacecraft flight operations software, mission control systems, ground software, or command-and-control systems.
• Preferred qualifications include prior experience as a Product Owner, systems engineer, or software systems engineer with responsibility for both technical definition and software development priorities.
• Preferred qualifications include hands-on spacecraft integration, test, commissioning, mission operations, or similar flight-system experience.
• Preferred qualifications include software development or integration experience with distributed, service-oriented, event-driven, or mission-critical systems, including REST, gRPC, publish/subscribe, or similar architectures.
• Preferred qualifications include experience with spacecraft communications and commanding protocols such as CCSDS, Space Packet Protocol, CFDP, or comparable mission-specific protocols.
• Preferred qualifications include experience developing or integrating real-time telemetry processing pipelines, including data ingest, validation, transformation, distribution, storage, or visualization.
• Preferred qualifications include experience developing system models, interface definitions, API specifications, sequence diagrams, state models, or similar artifacts that directly support implementation and integration.
• Preferred qualifications include experience with SysML and MBSE tools such as Ansys, Enterprise Architect, Cameo Systems Modeler, or equivalent.
• Preferred qualifications include familiarity with modern software development and deployment practices, including CI/CD, DevSecOps, containerized services, automated testing, and cloud or hybrid infrastructure.
• Preferred qualifications include experience with Jira Cloud or similar Agile planning and issue-tracking tools.
• Preferred qualifications include experience developing product roadmaps and balancing mission capabilities, architectural evolution, technical debt, and operational priorities.
• Preferred qualifications include flight heritage on spacecraft, ground systems, mission operations software, or other high-reliability operational systems.

• We own systems engineering and product ownership for Flight Operations Software across spacecraft commanding, real-time telemetry processing, ground systems, and mission operations.
• We translate mission, spacecraft, ground, and operational needs into executable software capabilities, Epics, User Stories, and Acceptance Criteria.
• We own and prioritize the FOS development backlog, balancing mission needs, architectural progress, technical debt, integration dependencies, and operational priorities.
• We develop and maintain system architectures and MBSE models that define behaviors, interfaces, dependencies, and operational flows.
• We define, document, and maintain service APIs and interfaces between FOS and adjacent ground system software services.
• We drive technical decisions and tradeoffs across spacecraft systems, ground systems, flight software, mission operations, and software development teams.
• We partner directly with software engineers through design, implementation, integration, verification, deployment, and operational use.
• We identify architectural, interface, and integration risks early and drive cross-functional teams toward resolution.
• We support integration and verification of FOS capabilities across spacecraft, ground, and operational interfaces.
• We contribute to our enterprise architecture, engineering practices, and the long-term architectural roadmap for mission systems.

• API
• Architect
• CI/CD
• Cloud
• DevSecOps
• Support
• JIRA
• Product Owner
• REST
• Security
• gRPC

More:

We are Vantor, forging the new frontier of spatial intelligence to help decision makers and operators understand what is happening now and anticipate what is next. We are looking for problem solvers, changemakers, and go-getters to join SpaceWrx as a Systems Engineer and Product Owner for our Flight Operations Software team, a hybrid role blending systems engineering with product ownership. This position works at the intersection of ground systems, spacecraft systems, mission operations, and software engineering, with a hybrid in-office schedule of Tuesdays through Thursdays in the office and Mondays and Fridays from home. We offer a competitive total rewards package, including a robust 401(k) with company match, mental health resources, student loan repayment assistance, adoption reimbursement, and pet insurance, and this role is incentive eligible.

last updated 38 week of 2026