Space Flight Operations Lead - Staff Engineer Systems

The Payload and Ground Systems organization within the Northrop Grumman Space Systems pushes the boundaries of innovation, redefines engineering capabilities, and drives advances in various sciences. Our team is chartered with providing the skills, innovative technologies to develop, design, produce and sustain optimized product lines across the sector while providing a decisive advantage to the warfighter. Come be a part of our mission!

Northrop Grumman Space Systems in Linthicum, Maryland is seeking a Space Flight Operations IPT (Integrated Product Team) Lead role for a space payload program.  The role is responsible for leading the development of mission operations products, team training, executing on-orbit payload initialization, checkout, and day-to-day operations.  This is a technical leadership role that requires effective communications skills and interfaces directly with senior program leadership, the customer office, and mission partner.

The successful candidate will:

• Lead mission readiness activities, including mission simulations, mission timeline development, and post launch test development

• Control Account Manager (CAM) responsibility, which comprises cost and schedule management for the Flight Operations work scope

• Coordinate customer communications and execution of day-to-day operational activities

• Provide on-going status of mission operations to program leadership and customers

• Lead a cross-discipline team of engineers to develop operational documentation, such as scripts and procedures, for use during mission operations

• Provide technical direction for on-orbit mission support, plan for critical payload or ground issues/anomalies, and recommend alternate operating approaches to continue maximum mission support

• Lead on-orbit anomaly resolution, including immediate response and return to mission, coordination of factory SME involvement, and root cause corrective action

• Facilitate flight Discrepancy Report process, both internal to the program and with external parties, to resolve payload and ground issues

• Coordinate shift schedules and staffing demands for a 24/7 operational constellation

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in STEM with 12 years of experience; or Master's degree in STEM with 10 years of experience

• Must have an active U.S. Government DoD Top Secret security clearance at time of application, current and within scope, with the ability to obtain and maintain SCI approval/access.

• Experience supporting mission readiness activities, including mission simulations, Day In The Life (DITL) and daily operations testing

• Experience with planning/executing rehearsals and/or launch and early operations activities

• Prior experience conducting on-orbit mission operations and resolving satellite and ground system anomalies

• Experience writing technical documents for external customers

• Outstanding verbal and written communications skills, including ability to make persuasive presentations to external customers and mission partners

• Willingness to support occasional shift work

 
Preferred Qualifications:

• Prior experience with Mission Planning or Command and Control (C2) for large constellations of satellite vehicles

• Prior experience with virtualized deployment of ground control software onto a ground system infrastructure

• Familiarity with automation or “Lights Out” satellite operations

• Risk and Opportunity Management experience.

• Experience with Earned Value Management (EVMS)

• Experience with Space sensor payloads, including antennas, RADAR, EO/IR, and/or communications.

• Experience interfacing with large multi-site/multi-division teams.

Northrop Grumman is committed to hiring and retaining a diverse workforce. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer, making decisions without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, or any other protected class. For our complete EEO/AA and Pay Transparency statement, please visit http://www.northropgrumman.com/EEO. U.S. Citizenship is required for all positions with a government clearance and certain other restricted positions.