
Spacecraft Operations Engineer
Chantilly, VAJob$160–200K/yrSeen 6 days agoSeen in employer's feed 6 days ago
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Requirements
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Job overview
SAIC seeks a Spacecraft Operations Engineer to support an Intelligence Community Space Demonstration program and its on-orbit experimentation activities. The engineer will serve as an operations subject matter expert for the System Program Office, supporting industry partners as they field the demonstration system and train Government end-users. The role focuses on evaluating mission concepts, use cases, experimentation activities, and spacecraft capabilities.
Skills & qualifications
Skills
Qualifications
Full job description
Description
SAIC is seeking a Spacecraft Operations Engineer to join the Air Force, Space, and Intelligence Business Group providing systems engineering and technical advisory services to a Government Intelligence Community (IC) customer. The customer is developing the next generation of space and ground systems, architectures, and hardware and software solutions.
The Spacecraft Operations Engineer will serve as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in support of an Intelligence Community Space Demonstration program focusing on the enablement of on-orbit experimentation activities in collaboration with program partners. The Spacecraft Operations Engineer will support the System Program Office (SPO) in the planning, executing, monitoring, and oversight of developmental industry partners as they field the demonstration system and train Government end-users on daily management of the system, to include the evaluation of mission CONOPs, Use Cases, and experimentation activities in relation to the Space Vehicle capabilities.
The Spacecraft Operations Engineer responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
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Ensures mature operations procedures are developed, system limitations and constraints are factored into ground system activity planning, and the fielded system meets Government demonstration objectives.
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Evaluates operational activities to ensure Government CONOPs is satisfied.
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Applies operations expertise to requirements evaluation, system design and test activities, systems integration, and developmental test activities.
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Collaborates with program partners to ensure demonstration objectives are properly factored into vehicle management procedures.
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Collaborates with satellite operators, mission planners, and supporting entities to ensure operations procedures are aligned to organizational requirements and processes.
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Evaluates operations products and develops recommendations for Government and industry partners consideration.
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Uses tools, models, and system functionality to evaluate vehicle tasking, management, and sustainment activities.
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Supports the daily management of satellite activities as the SPO operations SME.
Qualifications
Required:
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Bachelor’s degree in a STEM field and a minimum of 9 years of relevant experience.
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Experience in satellite operations and the development of operations products.
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Current Top Secret SCI w/ Polygraph and enrolled in the Continuous Vetting program.
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Must be willing to be nominated for SCI and SAP accesses.
Desired:
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5+ years on-console satellite operations and/or space operations engineering experience
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Experience with MATLAB, STK, and other math-based analytical software suites.
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Experience in the development of operational procedures.
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Experience in the development and/or implementation of satellite anomaly management processes and procedures.
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Experience working on compartmented DoW and/or IC space systems.
Target salary range: $160,001 - $200,000. The estimate displayed represents the typical salary range for this position based on experience and other factors.
REQNUMBER: 2618417
SAIC is a premier technology integrator, solving our nation's most complex modernization and systems engineering challenges across the defense, space, federal civilian, and intelligence markets. Our robust portfolio of offerings includes high-end solutions in systems engineering and integration; enterprise IT, including cloud services; cyber; software; advanced analytics and simulation; and training. We are a team of 23,000 strong driven by mission, united purpose, and inspired by opportunity. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, SAIC has annual revenues of approximately $6.5 billion. For more information, visit saic.com. For information on the benefits SAIC offers, see Working at SAIC. EOE AA M/F/Vet/Disability
How this job compares
Set against the 2,936 open Systems Engineering jobs on Olive Jobs, counted November 3, 2026.
- Pay
- This posting$160–200K/yr
- Virginia median$131–200K/yr186 salary ranges
- US median$133–208K/yr2,145 salary ranges
This range's midpoint, $180K, is 4% above the Virginia median midpoint ($174K) — in the middle half of Systems Engineering salary ranges in Virginia.
- Openings
- Olive Jobs lists 238 open Systems Engineering jobs in Virginia and 2,936 across the US. 5% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
- Hiring the most in Virginia
- SAIC (this employer)30 open
- Serco17 open
- The MITRE Corporation14 open
- Experience
- This posting asks for at least 9 years of experience; Systems Engineering postings that state a minimum ask for 7 years at the median (2,301 postings).
- Education
- This posting asks for a bachelor's degree; 971 of the 2,936 open Systems Engineering jobs (33%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.
Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on November 3, 2026. Pay medians are the middle values of the low ends and of the high ends of postings that list both ends of a range in the same cadence (a yearly salary or an hourly rate); a range's midpoint is halfway between its ends. Pay and experience figures resting on fewer than 20 postings are left out.
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