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Salary: USD 120,000 - 170,000 / annual
Varda Space Industries is building commercial space infrastructure, including in-orbit pharmaceutical processing systems and reentry capsules. The company designs and operates its W-Series vehicles end-to-end, from satellite buses to heat shields to processing payloads.
As a Space Mission Operations Engineer, you will be a core member of the Mission Operations team, responsible for developing, coordinating, executing, and leading Varda's on-orbit missions. You will own the full operations development cycle for mission-unique payloads, from mission profile creation through execution. This includes working cross-functionally with teams across avionics, guidance/navigation/control, software, and thermal disciplines to ensure mission success.
Key responsibilities include:
- Develop and execute on-orbit mission operations for the Winnie Spaceship and future vehicles
- Own end-to-end ops development for mission-unique payloads
- Build web-based tools and automation to reduce operational burden and scale Varda's capabilities
- Collaborate across engineering disciplines to continuously improve mission operations
- Support growing flight cadence as the company scales
You will bring a Bachelor's degree in an engineering discipline (Aerospace, Electrical, or Computer Science preferred), 2+ years in real-time operations on complex, high-consequence systems, and 1+ years developing software tools in Python, JavaScript, and/or HTML. Familiarity with spacecraft avionics, GNC, software, and thermal design is required.
Preferred qualifications include 3+ years with spacecraft systems, prior operator leadership experience, in-orbit operations background, Git/Atlassian experience, and ground station network familiarity.
This is an on-site role in El Segundo, CA, where Varda operates its production facility and headquarters. The company also has offices in Washington, DC and Huntsville, AL. Varda was founded in 2021 by Will Bruey and Delian Asparouhov and is backed by top-tier investors including Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, and Founders Fund.
