We are looking for a Spacecraft Assembly, Integration, and Test (AIT) Operations Engineer to help scale our spacecraft production capabilities. In this role, you will be at the center of turning spacecraft designs into flight-ready vehicles—driving process efficiency, enabling facility growth, and ensuring smooth daily operations on the production floor. You will partner closely with engineering, integration, and test teams to track operational performance, optimize workflows, and implement data-driven improvements that enhance quality, throughput, and repeatability. This position is ideal for engineers who thrive at the intersection of hands-on spacecraft operations, process design, and cross-functional collaboration, and who are eager to build the infrastructure and practices that will define the future of spacecraft manufacturing.

Key Responsibilities

As a Spacecraft AIT Operations Engineer, you will:

• Define requirements for facility expansion, infrastructure upgrades, and in-house test capabilities to support scaling spacecraft production.
• Collaborate with subject matter experts to define cleanroom and facility layouts to balance flow and operational efficiency.
• Assist in measuring production capacity, identifying bottlenecks, and implementing integration improvements to support delivery schedules.
• Collaborate with engineering and manufacturing teams to define tooling, ground support equipment, and automation needs.
• Develop metrics and dashboards to track production throughput, quality, and operational performance.
• Help standardize work instructions, procedures, and best practices to transition from one-off builds to a production environment.
• Drive development and adoption of automated test frameworks, tools, and processes to increase throughput, reduce manual effort, and improve consistency across spacecraft functional test campaigns.
• Ensure all AIT activities comply with safety, contamination control, and regulatory requirements.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, Industrial Engineering, or related field.
• 3+ years of experience in spacecraft, aerospace, or complex electromechanical system manufacturing, assembly, or test operations.
• Experience with cleanroom facility planning, production flow optimization, or manufacturing process development.
• Familiarity with Lean, Six Sigma, or similar continuous improvement methodologies.
• Proficiency with SQL or other database query languages and data visualization tools such as Power BI to analyze production, test, and inventory data for process optimization and decision-making.
• Strong organizational, problem-solving, and data analysis skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively across engineering, operations, and leadership teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting the transition from prototype/one-off spacecraft builds to scalable, production-style integration and test operations.
• Proven track record implementing standardized processes, work instructions, and best practices across multiple spacecraft programs.
• Background in production system design, including cleanroom/facility layout optimization, takt time planning, and throughput modeling.
• Hands-on experience developing and deploying automation tools, fixtures, or ground support equipment to support repeatable builds.
• Demonstrated ability to balance engineering change management with maintaining production flow in a low-rate, high-complexity environment.
• Knowledge of scalability challenges unique to spacecraft AIT, including configuration control, contamination control, and cross-program standardization.