Staff Mission Operations Engineer

Turion is developing the critical infrastructure of the space economy. We're doing this by building vertically integrated hardware and software: DROID, our line of space vehicles, and Starfire, our software suite covering simulation, modeling, planning, and operations. We're a group of people who fell in love with the future sci-fi promised us, and we're building it into reality. We build hard things. We build them well. And we're just getting started.

We are looking to add a dedicated Staff Mission Operations Engineer to our team in Irvine, CA. The Staff Mission Operations Engineer will be responsible for leading the development, integration, and execution of mission operations across the spacecraft lifecycle, with a particular emphasis on GEO Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO).

This role serves as the senior operational integrator between engineering and flight teams, ensuring that operational constraints, procedures, risk mitigations, and readiness activities are thoroughly defined, validated, and aligned with mission objectives.

The Staff Mission Operations Engineer will lead real-time operations and anomaly response, establish operational standards and architecture, drive cross‑team coordination and process improvement, and provide technical leadership and mentorship to raise the capability of the operations team.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as principal subject-matter expert across mission operations activities and lead tactical execution, including command sequencing, real-time decision making, and anomaly response during testing, rehearsals, and on-call operations.
• Lead the operational development and execution of GEO RPO/RPOD missions, including proximity operations processes and procedures, abort and safing FDIR strategies, and constraints and flight rules governing close-proximity decision making.
• Lead cross‑team project and mission execution activities with systems engineering, GNC, software, and ground teams, influencing spacecraft and ground system design for operability and ensuring operational implications are captured in system interfaces, requirements, and mission planning products.
• Define, evaluate, document, and validate operational constraints across mission phases; drive updates when requirements, risks, or design changes dictate.
• Establish standards for operational procedures, flight rules, and operator workflows, and lead their development, improvement, and validation to ensure accurate, consistent, and reliable execution.
• Lead and contribute to mission risk assessments by identifying operational risks and gaps, proposing mitigations, and ensuring operational considerations influence design and mission decisions.
• Drive mission readiness by identifying prep risks early, leading closure of operational gaps (constraint updates, procedure improvements, workflow issues, readiness blockers), validating tools and processes, and ensuring teams are prepared for rehearsals and flight.
• Mentor Senior and Mission Operations Engineers, lead development of operator training, certification, and onboarding materials, and provide guidance and constructive feedback to build technical depth across the broader operations team.

Minimum Qualifications:

• 5+ years experience in mission operations, spacecraft operations engineering, or related aerospace operations roles.
• Bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering or related field, or equivalent work experience.
• Prior GEO operational experience, RPO/RPOD experience, and/or mission planning experience.
• Expert-level understanding of mission operations concepts including constraints, procedures, ground systems, anomalies, and test‑to‑flight workflows.
• Experience owning and developing operational processes, procedures, flight rules, and constraints.
• Experience leading operational activities, rehearsals, and real‑time operations across multiple mission phases.
• Demonstrated technical leadership, including leading operational projects to completion and mentoring engineers.
• Strong cross‑disciplinary communication skills with the ability to build alignment between engineering and operations teams.
• Demonstrated ability to work autonomously and solve complex technical and operational issues with little oversight.
• Must be a US citizen with ability to obtain TS/SCI clearance.

Preferred Qualifications:

• 6+ years experience in mission operations, spacecraft operations engineering, or related aerospace operations roles.
• Experience across the full lifecycle of a space mission (design, integration, testing, rehearsals, commissioning, operations).
• Experience establishing operational approaches for a new vehicle, new mission type, of first-of-kind operation.
• Working proficiency with mission risk frameworks (hazards, FMEA, fault trees) and readiness assessments.
• Scripting experience (Python, Ruby) for operations automation, analysis, or workflow improvements.
• Enthusiasm for working on small, fast‑paced teams in rapidly evolving mission environments.

Staff Mission Operations Salary Range: $175,000 - $225,000 USD

Employees may be asked to support alternate shifts, extended shifts, and/or travel during peak work periods.

ITAR Requirements:

This position may include access to technology and/or software source code that is subject to U.S. export controls. To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.