Satellite Operations Center Director.

Accountabilities

• Direct daily satellite operations center activities, ensuring safe, reliable, and efficient execution of mission requirements.

• Manage shift schedules, staffing plans, operator assignments, and workload distribution across multiple missions, payloads, and spacecraft.

• Establish, implement, and maintain standard operating procedures, operational checklists, escalation protocols, and response processes.

• Serve as the primary operational authority during routine activities and off-nominal events, making timely decisions to protect mission objectives and operational continuity.

• Oversee mission scheduling, satellite pass planning, payload tasking coordination, and allocation of operational resources.

• Coordinate with systems engineering teams, payload specialists, mission controllers, and external partners to align operational plans with mission priorities.

• Ensure operational readiness for new satellites, payloads, mission phases, and changes to existing operational requirements.

• Develop and manage operator training programs, certification standards, qualification requirements, and recurring proficiency assessments.

• Lead simulation exercises, operational rehearsals, and readiness reviews to ensure personnel can respond effectively to routine and contingency scenarios.

• Maintain accurate training documentation, certification records, operational procedures, and audit-ready records.

• Oversee the operation and maintenance of ground infrastructure, including antenna farms, radio frequency (RF) chains, networking equipment, power systems, and monitoring platforms.

• Coordinate preventive maintenance, calibration, system upgrades, and anomaly resolution with RF engineers, technicians, vendors, and other technical stakeholders.

• Monitor operational performance, establish key metrics, prepare reports, and implement continuous improvement initiatives.

• Lead incident response, root-cause investigations, and corrective actions to prevent recurrence and strengthen operational resilience.

• Ensure compliance with applicable safety, security, and regulatory requirements.

• Support operational audits, mission readiness assessments, and reviews to maintain high standards of reliability and accountability.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field or equivalent experience managing or operating a mission-critical operations center.

• Demonstrated experience in satellite operations, spacecraft mission operations, or satellite ground systems environments.

• Previous experience leading or supervising technical teams, with the ability to establish clear expectations and promote accountability.

• Experience managing shift-based operations, on-call rotations, or 24/7 operational teams.

• Strong understanding of mission planning, scheduling, execution workflows, and operational resource coordination.

• Familiarity with operator training programs, certification frameworks, qualification tracking, and readiness metrics.

• Active Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) security clearance required.

• Strong leadership, communication, organizational, and decision-making skills, particularly in time-sensitive or high-pressure situations.

• Ability to establish and enforce operational procedures while balancing mission requirements, personnel readiness, and infrastructure availability.

• Experience coordinating across engineering, operations, technical support, and external stakeholder groups.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities, including incident management, root-cause analysis, and corrective action implementation.

• Excellent attention to detail and a disciplined approach to safety, security, documentation, and regulatory compliance.

• Experience operating spacecraft constellations or managing multi-mission operations centers is preferred.

• Background in antenna farm operations, RF ground infrastructure, or network operations centers (NOCs) is an advantage.

• Experience establishing or scaling an operations center from initial operations to steady-state execution is desirable.

• Previous experience supporting government or commercial mission partners is preferred.

• Ability to work in a demanding operational environment where mission continuity, readiness, and reliability are critical.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation: Salary and benefits aligned with the role's responsibilities and experience.

• Mission-critical leadership: Direct influence over satellite operations, mission execution, and overall operational success.

• Operational ownership: Opportunity to shape procedures, workflows, staffing models, and operational standards.

• Training and development: Opportunity to establish and improve operator training, certification, and mission-readiness programs.

• Technical collaboration: Work alongside experienced satellite operations professionals, engineers, technicians, and mission partners.

• Professional growth: Build leadership experience across satellite operations, ground infrastructure, and complex mission environments.

• High-impact work: Contribute to reliable and secure satellite operations in a technically challenging, fast-paced environment.

• Competitive benefits package: Access to benefits offered for the position, with specific details provided during the hiring process.