SlipstreamJobs tracks this role from the company's public career site. Apply directly on the employer's site.
Salary: USD 120,000 - 170,000 / annual
Varda Space Industries is building commercial space infrastructure, including in-orbit pharmaceutical processing systems, reentry capsules, and satellite buses. The Mission Operations team executes and leads on-orbit missions for Varda's W-Series vehicles.
As a Mission Operations Engineer, you will own the full lifecycle of mission operations development—from creating mission profiles through execution. Your responsibilities include developing, coordinating, and executing Varda's on-orbit missions; working cross-functionally to improve mission operations and ensure success; automating operational workflows by building web tools; and scaling operational capabilities to support growing flight cadence.
You will be an experienced spacecraft operator with exceptional communication skills and cross-disciplinary engineering capability. This is a startup environment where you will have significant ownership over on-orbit operations and the opportunity to shape a unique mission framework for space operations.
Required qualifications: Bachelor's degree in engineering (Aerospace, Electrical, or Computer Science preferred); 2+ years in real-time operations on complex, high-consequence systems; 1+ years developing software tools in Python, JavaScript, and/or HTML; familiarity with avionics, GNC, software, and thermal design practices for spacecraft.
Preferred: 3+ years with spacecraft systems; prior operator experience in a leadership role; in-orbit spacecraft operations experience; Git and Atlassian experience; ground station network familiarity.
Varda is headquartered in El Segundo with additional offices in Washington, DC and Huntsville, AL. The company was founded in 2021 by Will Bruey and Delian Asparouhov, backed by Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, and other top-tier investors. The team includes veterans from SpaceX, Blue Origin, major pharma, and Silicon Valley.
