Mission Operations Engineer II
Astranis builds advanced satellites for high orbits, expanding humanity’s reach into the solar system. Today Astranis satellites provide dedicated, secure networks to highly-sophisticated customers across the globe – large enterprises, sovereign governments, and the US military.
With five satellites on orbit and many more set to launch soon, the company is servicing a backlog of more than $1 billion of commercial contracts. Astranis is the preferred satellite communications partner for buyers with stringent requirements for uptime, data security, network visibility, and customization.
Astranis has raised over $1.2 billion from some of the world’s best investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Baillie Gifford, Blackrock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, and Snowpoint, and employs a team of 500 engineers and entrepreneurs. Astranis designs, builds, and operates its satellites out of its 153,000 sq. ft. headquarters in Northern California, USA.
As a Mission Operations Engineer you will be working closely with hardware engineers to figure out how their hardware should be operated, and writing procedures we will use to safely and reliably operate the satellite. You will get a chance to work with some incredibly smart people who have flown things in space before. No prior space experience is needed, you just need to enjoy getting your hands dirty with real hardware, and be okay with tackling ambiguous challenges.
This role will contribute to both commercial and US Government programs.
- Play a large role in the design and development of our satellite operations system and team
- Work with satellite engineers to design, create, test, and execute satellite operations procedures, including commissioning procedures and nominal operations procedures
- Investigate anomalies and work with the mission operations and engineering team to safely resolve them
- Automate manual processes using scripting and software tools
- Work with our ground software team as the user and requirements owner for tools that will help us operate our fleet of satellites
- Lead commanding activities during the launch and commissioning of our first production satellite
- Develop tools and processes to enable the Mission Operations team to maintain a high level of service uptime for our customer
- 2-6+ years total experience with satellite or spacecraft mission operations, not including internships.
- 1+ years experience with on-console spacecraft operations.
- Experience scripting in any language - Python preferred
- Experience doing telemetry analysis and anomaly investigation
- Experience designing and executing satellite operations
- Basic understanding of satellite subsystems (hardware and software)
- Highly motivated, self-starting, and able to perform duties autonomously without supervision
- A passion for working in a fast-paced environment and hands-on development and testing
- Don't meet them all? Not a problem. Please apply even if you do not meet all these criteria.
- Experience building operational software tools and user-friendly UIs
- Experience with software development tools such as Git and Phabricator
- Experience operating GEO satellites
Base pay is just one component of Astranis’s total rewards package. Your compensation also includes a significant equity package via incentive stock options, high-quality company-subsidized healthcare, disability and life insurance, 401(k) retirement planning, flexible PTO, and free on-site catered meals.
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- How much does the Mission Operations Engineer II at Astranis pay?
- The posting lists a range of $130K–$170K per year. Ranges reflect what Astranis publicly declared on the source posting.
- Where is this Mission Operations Engineer II role based?
- The role is based in San Francisco.
- What experience does Astranis expect for this role?
- The posting is tagged as a lead-level role, typically 7+ years of experience. Check the requirements section for specifics.
- Where is Astranis headquartered?
- Astranis is headquartered in San Francisco, USA.
- How was this posting sourced?
- This role was pulled directly from Astranis's Greenhouse careers site. Apply links open in the employer's own ATS — no reposts or aggregator middleware.
Apply links open in the employer's official ATS. Always verify recruitment messages on the company's careers page before sharing personal information.