Senior Manager, DevOps Engineering

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.

SPACE SYSTEMS At Rocket Lab, we’re not just launching rockets — we're building the future of space. Our Space Systems team builds everything from complete spacecraft, precision payloads to the components and subsystems that allow them to thrive in space, like solar panels, flight software, star trackers, optical systems, separation systems, radios, and more.

Our Space Systems team has enabled more than 1,700 missions, ranging from interplanetary exploration, in-space manufacturing to national security and defense initiatives.

Space Force. Whether it’s a single high-performance spacecraft, constellation, or the vertically integrated components that help them get to space — our world class Space Systems team is empowering some of the boldest and most ambitious space missions.

SENIOR MANAGER, DEVOPS ENGINEERING Rocket Lab’s Optical Systems division solves mission-critical space domain and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) challenges for Department of Defense (DoD) and Intelligence Community (IC) customers.

Our vision is to revolutionize the space-based payload market with innovative and novel designs for space, terrestrial, and airborne environments.

Building on more than 20 years of electro-optical and infrared systems innovation from Geost, Optical Systems delivers solutions to the warfighter for responsive, scalable sensing solutions across all orbital domains.

As a Senior Manager, DevOps Engineering based at our Optical Systems site in Chantilly, VA, you will have the privilege of supporting of Tranche 3 of the U.S.

Space Development Agency's (SDA) Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) by managing a team of software development operations engineers that deploys applications for advanced space payloads.

WHAT YOU’LL GET TO DO:

• Lead a team of engineers across business level functions – enterprise tools, finance tools, engineering development process, software development integration and deployment.
• Drive best practices for AWS Cloud based architecture and development and production environments.
• Collaborate with project leaders and team members to meet mission objectives.
• Work directly with Security and IT for policy assurance.
• Develop and support pipelines that include automation and configurations for containers, data management, and release/deployment solutions for programs.
• Automate software deployments into varied and complex environments using virtual machines, container technologies, Kubernetes, Cloud environments, and bare metal servers.
• Support engagements related to assessing, refactoring and identifying opportunities for existing applications to leverage modern application architectures (e.g. containers).
• Lead Agile sprints and associated activities.
• Support onsite work, as well as travel or off-site work, as needed.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

YOU’LL BRING THESE

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, or an equivalent technical discipline.
• 1-3 years of software engineering or devops management experience.
• Active TS/SCI security clearance and Counterintelligence Polygraph.
• 10+ years of experience in architecting AWS cloud solutions with EC2, ELB, RDS, Route53, CloudWatch, or S3.
• Experience with DevOps tools and pipelines such as Bitbucket, Jenkins, SonarQube, or Artifactory.
• Ability to design, enable, deliver scalable and automated IaC tools such as Ansible and Terraform.
• Experience working with containerization technologies Kubernetes or Docker.
• Experience with cloud network resources such as VPC, URL, DNS, ACLs, security, and routing tables.
• Background in scripting or coding with Java, Python, Terraform, or Bash.
• Experience with cross-compilation for embedded systems.
• Proficiency in Linux system administration.
• CompTIA Security+ certification (or in pursuit of).
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate.

THESE QUALIFICATIONS WOULD BE NICE TO HAVE:

• Master’s degree in computer science, engineering, or an equivalent discipline.
• Experience with on-premises to cloud migrations or IT transformations.
• Experience in database administration with MySQL, MariaDB, or PostgreSQL.
• Experience in AWS ElastiCache for Redis.
• Expertise in the Git version control system command line.
• Familiarity with Information Security frameworks including CIS, NIST, or RFC2196.
• Familiarity with Software Systems Security including ATO, CtF, or RMF.
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional.
• Excellent oral, written, and verbal communication skills.

The expected salary range for the position is displayed in accordance with the state of Virginia’s pay transparency requirements. Final agreed upon compensation is based upon individual qualifications and experience.

Base salary is only one part of Rocket Lab’s compensation package for this role. You may be eligible for company stock, or cash incentives, and can purchase discounted stock through Rocket Lab’s Employee Stock Purchase Program.

Employee benefits also include medical, dental, and vision insurance coverage; 401(k) retirement plan options; paid vacation, holidays, and sick leave; paid parental leave; and other discounts and perks.

Base Pay Range (VA Only) $160,500 — $267,500 USD WHAT TO EXPECT We’re on a mission to unlock the potential of space to improve life on Earth, but that’s not an easy task.

Our people out-think, out-work, and out-pace. We pride ourselves on having each other’s backs, checking our egos at the door, and rolling up our sleeves on all tasks big and small.