Senior Spacecraft Operations Ground Software Engineer at Rocket Lab USA

Apply for Senior Spacecraft Operations Ground Software Engineer at Rocket Lab USA in Auckland City, N, NZ. This full‑time on‑site position offers great opportunities for career growth. About Rocket Lab Rocket Lab is an end‑to‑end space company delivering responsive launch services, complete spacecraft design and manufacturing, payloads, satellite components, and more – all with the goal of opening access to space. The rockets and satellites we build and launch enable some of the most ambitious and vital space missions globally, supporting scientific exploration, Earth observation, and missions to combat climate change, national security, and exciting new technology demonstrations. Senior Spacecraft Operations Ground Software Engineer As a Senior Spacecraft Operations Ground Software Engineer at Rocket Lab, you'll be at the forefront of space mission operations, developing critical ground software for spacecraft ranging from LEO to interplanetary missions. Join our dynamic team in Auckland and help shape the future of space exploration. What you'll get to do Develop mission‑critical operations software for spacecraft command and data handling, automation, and visualization across LEO, re‑entry, interplanetary, and proximity operations missions. Build full‑stack web applications including database schema design, back‑end services, front‑end interfaces, and machine‑to‑machine communications for spacecraft operations. Support live spacecraft operations by providing on‑call technical expertise during critical mission phases and participating in ground‑based test campaigns. Architect scalable software solutions by designing and evolving versatile ground software systems that can adapt to diverse and complex mission requirements. Lead technical initiatives including facilitating scrum activities, conducting code reviews, approving software architectures, and mentoring junior engineers on best practices. You'll bring these qualifications Strong educational foundation with a tertiary qualification in Software Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a similar discipline, plus a minimum of 5 years of professional experience. Full‑stack development expertise with proficiency in Python for async backend development and TypeScript with modern frameworks (Angular, React, or Vue) for frontend applications. Database and infrastructure knowledge including RDBMS design and SQL, containerization technologies (Docker, Kubernetes), cloud provider experience, and Linux proficiency for development and production environments. Testing and quality focus as a proponent of unit, integration, and end‑to‑end testing methodologies with experience implementing comprehensive test coverage. Collaborative leadership skills with experience in Agile scrum methodologies, ability to lead technical meetings, and a positive team‑player attitude that fosters cross‑functional collaboration. Qualifications that would be nice to have Distributed systems experience with third‑party integrations including metrics collection, message brokers, and time‑series databases (e.g., InfluxDB). DevOps proficiency with an understanding of CI/CD pipelines and experience creating clean REST APIs for system integration. Network programming skills including experience with TCP, WebSockets, and real‑time communication protocols. Aerospace industry background with experience in satellite operations, interface specifications, CONOPS definition, and mission design documentation. Advanced system design experience in building highly available, fault‑tolerant systems that support critical space mission operations. Candidate Eligibility – U.S. Offices To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), Rocket Lab employees must be a U.S. citizen, lawful U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or be lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State and/or the U.S. Department of Commerce, as applicable. Applicants requiring a reasonable accommodation for the application/interview process for a job in the United States should contact Giulia Johnson at [email protected]. Candidate Eligibility – New Zealand Offices For security reasons, background checks will be undertaken prior to any employment offers. These checks will include nationality checks as it is a requirement of this position that you be eligible to access equipment and data regulated by the United States' International Traffic in Arms Regulations. Under these Regulations, you may be ineligible for this role if you do not hold citizenship of Australia, Japan, NewZealand, Switzerland, the European Union, or a country that is part of NATO, or if you hold ineligible dual citizenship or nationality. Equal Employment Opportunity Statement Rocket Lab provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment at Rocket Lab, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training. How to Apply Training – Under these Regulations, you may be ineligible for this role if you do not hold citizenship of Australia, Japan, NewZealand, Switzerland, the European Union, or a country that is part of NATO, or if you hold ineligible dual citizenship or nationality. #J-18808-Ljbffr