Head of Mission Operations

ReOrbit is looking for an experienced Head of Mission Operations who will lead the planning, execution, and delivery of mission operations for satellite launches, LEOP activities and customer handover. You will oversee a team of spacecraft engineers and operators, manage interfaces with launch providers, and ensure seamless handover of operational responsibilities to customers post-LEOP.

This role is pivotal in ensuring mission success and customer readiness.

The ideal candidate will bring deep experience in satellite operations, cross-functional leadership, and technical understanding of space systems, as well as the ability to train teams and work across globally distributed teams and facilities.

It's an exciting chance to join a dynamic start-up, with the opportunity to make a real impact, to reach our goal of pushing the boundaries of space data transfer.

Responsibilities

• Mission Strategy & Leadership

  • Lead the development of mission operations implementation for all satellite launches and on-orbit activities, working closely with the engineering teams and the end customers.

  • Oversee end-to-end mission lifecycle including supporting integration, pre-launch operations testing, end-to-end testing, launch operations, commissioning, and handover to customer.

  • Design and implement customer training and readiness assessments to ensure seamless handover of operations at the right time.

  • Manage all operations related reviews and support others e.g. Mission Readiness Reviews (MRR), Flight Readiness Reviews (FRR), Hand-Over Reviews (HOR) and post-mission analysis.

• Operations Leadership

  • Manage a global network of mission operations centres and ground stations. Note: the build will be led from the engineering teams and will require strong collaboration with the Head of Mission Operations.

  • Establish 24/7 operations capability with redundancy, resiliency, and secure communications. Assign KPIs and ensure design, training and operations supports achieving them.

  • Ensure all mission operations software, procedures, and teams are launch-ready.

  • Ensure all team members are well-trained in liaising with and supporting the customer as they develop their own ops teams.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration

  • Work closely with satellite engineering, manufacturing, software, launch integration, and ground systems teams.

  • Collaborate with customers to adapt training to their needs.

  • Collaborate with international partners, ground station networks, and government agencies (e.g., regulatory bodies, space traffic coordination).

• Team Leadership & Development

  • Recruit, grow, and manage a high-performance mission operations team including flight directors, controllers, operations engineers, specialist engineers and analysts.

  • Foster a culture of precision, accountability, and continuous improvement.

  • Develop training programs and simulations to ensure mission team readiness and ongoing certification.

• Systems, Tools & Compliance

  • Oversee the development and deployment of mission operations software and tools.

  • Ensure compliance with international and national regulations, including ITU filings, FCC licensing, and space situational awareness protocols.

  • Implement best practices for cybersecurity and secure satellite command and telemetry.

Skills and Requirements

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, Physics, or related technical field.

• 10+ years of experience in satellite or space mission operations, including flight operations and ground control.

• Proven track record of leading successful satellite missions, from LEO to GEO.

• Experience in regulated, mission-critical environments (e.g., NASA, ESA, commercial space).

• Familiarity with space communication protocols, mission planning tools, and satellite bus subsystems.

• Exceptional leadership, communication, and critical incident management skills.

• Willingness to travel internationally and participate in launch campaigns.

What does ReOrbit do?

ReOrbit builds the foundation for the next generation of space applications by transforming satellites into truly intelligent, interconnected platforms, defined by software. Our satellite design philosophy revolves around the idea that satellites must network, communicate with each other and thus improve mission efficiency. How can this be achieved? Thanks to a flexible software-first architecture, where all these aspects are dealt with upfront in the mission concept, as integrated functionalities.

ReOrbit’s top-notch team of software engineers and system architects develop in-house software, procure hardware from the best-in-class suppliers, and seamlessly integrate the components to create flexible and secure satellites. Today, we are a rapidly growing company building a very strong multidisciplinary team to support our activities. We are headquartered in Helsinki, Finland with a subsidiaries in Bristol, UK, Bariloche, Argentina and Bengaluru, India.

Working at ReOrbit

At ReOrbit, we are focused on building a strong team as we believe nothing can be accomplished without innovative, humble and curious minds working together on a common goal. We’re all about fostering an inclusive, dynamic environment where equality and diversity are our strength.

We offer

• Challenging but rewarding environment – you will thrive if you are always reflecting on how to make things better. Your ideas will be heard.

• Ambitious and supportive network of people, who are motivated to change the space industry, bringing expertise from both classic and new space .

• Benefits such as lunch vouchers, events, parties, occupational health care and additional health insurance - but most importantly a possibility to be a part of a unique and diverse team, connected by similar mindset and sense of humor.

• We like to spend time together! You can choose activities whichever is to your liking – runOrbit, climbOrbit; become ping pong or board games champion.

• We support relocation and integration into Finnish society.

Join us in our journey of building software enabled satellites for secure communications
and, thus, creating the most compelling in space data flow company of the new space era.

The Company may require a security clearance for certain positions. Any such security clearance will be conducted in accordance with applicable law and the Company's relevant policies

For agencies: We do not accept unsolicited CVs for our open vacancies. Any CV sent to our team unsolicited will reserve us the right to pursue a candidate without obligation to the sender. All candidate submissions must be conducted through our official channels and in accordance with our terms of engagement.