Satellite Operations Engineer Jobs in Virginia (NOW HIRING)

Join TrustPoint and Build the World's First Commercial GPS System in Space

GPS is a ubiquitous global utility in modern society; knowing one's location is critical for government, commercial, and personal applications. Still, today's solutions for determining location are inaccurate, slow, unencrypted, and susceptible to jamming and spoofing. These shortcomings make today's GPS insufficient for tomorrow's safety-critical and high-precision applications.

TrustPoint is developing a fully commercial next-generation GPS service to provide significant performance, security and reliability improvements for GPS users. Our work includes both the development and launch of orbiting satellites along with the software needed to provide better accuracy, faster positioning, and both anti-spoof and anti-jam advanced capabilities. The improvements will support US Government position and timing service resiliency as well as enable next-generation commercial applications like drone delivery, self-driving cars, urban air mobility, and augmented reality. The $260B annual GNSS Hardware, Software and Data Services market is ripe for disruption and TrustPoint intends to lead that revolution with our commercial infrastructure and services.

The Position

With locations outside Washington DC and in Silicon Valley, TrustPoint is currently seeking a Full Time Satellite Operations Engineer to join the team and help design, build, and operate the ground infrastructure required for our commercial Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) constellation. You will be responsible for mission planning, mission operations software architecture, constellation management, and flight dynamics as we grow from initial launch to a fully operational service. You will also support broader TrustPoint engineering needs including flight software development and data processing pipelines. As an early hire with deep academic preparation, significant upward mobility will be available to this individual given strong performance, including technical lead and senior engineer roles in the coming years.

We'll Expect You To...

• Lead constellation mission planning, including pass scheduling, contact planning, and maneuver timeline management for our GNSS satellite fleet.
• Develop and maintain mission operations software architecture, including ground system tools, commanding frameworks, and telemetry processing pipelines.
• Perform flight dynamics analyses including orbit determination, maneuver planning, collision avoidance, and station-keeping for the TrustPoint constellation.
• Support constellation management across all phases: launch and early orbit phase (LEOP), on-orbit commissioning, steady-state operations, and anomaly recovery.
• Contribute to flight software development, including onboard software testing, verification, and integration with ground systems.
• Design and implement data processing solutions to support navigation signal performance analysis, health monitoring, and service assurance.
• Develop operations procedures, mission rules, and CONOPS documentation to enable safe and reliable satellite operations.
• Support system commissioning, operations automation, anomaly investigation, and mitigation for both space and ground segments.
• Maintain unwavering focus on meeting operational milestones and mission readiness objectives.

You'll Need to Have...

• BS or MS in Aerospace Engineering, Astrodynamics, Systems Engineering, or a related technical field (PhD preferred or in progress).
• Demonstrated experience with orbital mechanics, astrodynamics, and flight dynamics, including orbit propagation and maneuver design.
• Proficiency with flight dynamics tools such as STK, GMAT, FreeFlyer, Orekit, or equivalent.
• Experience developing software or analysis tools in Python, MATLAB, or C/C++ for space mission applications.
• Familiarity with satellite telemetry and commanding processes, ground system architectures, and mission operations concepts.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to document operations procedures and interface with multi-disciplinary teams.
• Highly motivated, self-starting, and able to perform duties with significant autonomy in a fast-paced startup environment.
• Strong organizational skills and ability to manage competing priorities across multiple workstreams.
• Must be U.S. Person.

We'd Like to See...

• PhD in Aerospace Engineering or closely related field, with research in orbital mechanics, GNSS/PNT, flight dynamics, or spacecraft systems.
• Hands-on experience with GNSS, GPS, or PNT constellation operations or receiver technology.
• Prior internship or research experience with satellite mission operations, flight dynamics, or ground systems development.
• Experience with space mission software development including flight software, CONOPS tools, or data processing systems.
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and software version control tools such as Git.
• Experience with Amazon Web Services (AWS) or other cloud infrastructure for data processing and operations automation.
• Active US security clearance, or eligibility to obtain one.
• Self-starter with a builder mindset and experience thriving in a startup or research environment.

Cultural Fit

• Thrive in a start-up environment where every team member's contributions directly shape the product.
• Effective communication style that instills a culture of optimism and positivity.
• Sense of humor and ability to proactively problem solve.
• Encourages colleagues to think and plan strategically while executing well tactically.
• Works well with all company levels and disciplines (i.e. Legal, HR, etc.).
• Willing to "roll up sleeves" in a new venture, working closely with colleagues.

Compensation and Benefits

The selected candidate will be competitively compensated with salary, equity (stock options), and standard benefits.

TrustPoint, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer that does not discriminate on the basis of actual or perceived race, creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, disability or handicap, sex, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, arrest record or any other characteristic