Flight Director, AST, Mission Operations Integration (Direct Hire)

Summary The Flight Director Office at Johnson Space Center is seeking skilled individuals to serve as Flight Directors responsible for planning, directing and controlling the activities of a multi-discipline, integrated team in the conduct of real-time mission operations. The Flight Director role is critical to continued success of NASA's human spaceflight programs. It requires leadership, extensive expertise in mission systems, and ability to manage risk in a high stress, real-time environment. Duties

• Duties described below are at the highest grade advertised. Duties assigned at lower grade levels will be of more limited scope, performed with less independence and limited complexity; duties will be commensurate with the grade of selected employee.
• Lead a flight operations team and make decisions which can have consequences for human lives and multi-billion dollar commercial and international space assets. Manage risk in building a mission and resolving issues pre-flight and real-time.
• Develop mission objectives according to programmatic guidelines and constraints. Develop and execute flight plans according to programmatic mission requirements. Develop and enforce mission rules to ensure crew and vehicle safety.
• Chair Flight Techniques Panel/Joint Operations Panel in development of spaceflight missions. Coordinate with programs, technical and safety organizations, Astronaut Office, international/commercial partners, and payloads operations.
• Lead tactical responses to contingency situations or malfunctions which may jeopardize crew and vehicle safety using all knowledge and resources of ground and vehicle systems.
• Certify flight readiness by evaluating integrated ground and on-orbit team performance, mission operational products, and vehicle and ground facility status. Represent Flight Operations at all levels of agency Flight Readiness Reviews.
• Evaluate the technical proficiency and operational performance of flight control team members and certify their ability to execute real-time assignments. Plan and conduct training of the flight control team and crew.
• Drive analysis and integration of spacecraft, launch/landing system performance, and ground architectures from NASA, International Partners, and diverse commercial entities to ensure all elements are compatible for end-to-end mission execution.
• Evaluate development program/project designs for future mission flight systems and operations, providing technical evaluation of operability and certification of adherence to programmatic requirements. Qualifications In addition to the Basic Education Requirement (in the Education section below), to qualify for this position you must meet the requirements below. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped you with the particular ability, skill, and knowledge to successfully perform the duties of this position and is typically in or related to this line of work. NASA utilizes OPM-approved qualification and rating requirements specific for Aerospace Technology (AST) positions which recognizes NASA's unique aerospace work. The specific qualifications and minimum education requirements are further described below and within the education section of the job announcement. To qualify for GS-14, you must have one year of directly related specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 level: Performing duties such as technical operations including risk management and decision making which provided knowledge of spacecraft or launch vehicle design and operations, aspects related to hardware, software, flight control, flight design, orbital mechanics, launch services, or ground support systems (command, telemetry, voice network/TDRSS); Integrating ground, crew, and spacecraft capabilities; Conducting pre-flight planning, developing integrated procedures/rules, preflight training, or real time mission execution; Building coalitions and working with organizations and stakeholders. To qualify for GS-15, you must have one year of directly related specialized experience equivalent to the GS-14 level: Leading design or technical operations, including aspects related to hardware, software, flight control, flight design, orbital mechanics, launch services, or ground support systems (command, telemetry, voice-network/TDRSS); Providing technical and team leadership of ground, crew, or spacecraft capabilities which includes preflight design/planning, development of integrated procedures/rules, preflight training, or real time mission execution; Building coalitions and working with organizations and stakeholders including Commercial Crew/Cargo entities, payload and science representatives, International Space Agencies, or other external organizations. Your resume must include a clear and detailed narrative description, in your own words, of how you meet the required specialized experience. Experience statements copied from a position description, vacancy announcement or other reference material constitutes plagiarism and may result in disqualification and losing consideration for the job. Please visit to review NASA's guidance on the use of artificial intelligent (AI) or AI-assisted tools during the application process. Education This position requires education or exceptional experience Basic Education Requirement: You must have successfully completed a bachelor's degree with a major in one of the following: a) Engineering from a college or university that has ABET accredited engineering programs b) Physical Science, Mathematics, Life Science or other field of Science c) Computer Science that included 30 semester hours or 45 quarter hours of course work in any combination of mathematics, statistics and computer science with at least half of those hours in mathematics and statistics courses that included differential and integral calculus; and that provided an in-depth knowledge of theoretical and practical applications of computer science, including digital computer system architecture and system software organization, the representation and transformation of information structures, and the theoretical models for such representations and transformations. If you did not complete a qualifying bachelor's degree, you may be eligible if you have obtained a graduate degree in an AST qualifying field, as listed above. Applicants who do not fully meet the basic education requirement may still be considered if they possess exceptional relevant experience, or a combination of education and experience, that clearly demonstrates significant full performance-level achievement directly related to the duties of this position. Engineering degrees earned within the United States: Engineering degrees earned within the United States must be from a college or university that has at least one ABET accredited engineering program. To find out if a school has at least one ABET accredited program, please visit Engineering degrees earned outside the United States: Engineering degrees earned outside the United States must be recognized by a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA), often known as accords. These are non-governmental agreements among organizations that accredit academic degree programs. MRAs recognize the substantial equivalence of mature accreditation systems and programs accredited by signatory organizations within their jurisdictions. For a listing of Signatories, please visit, Science and other related degrees earned within the United States: Science and other related degrees must have been awarded from colleges or universities that are accredited by recognized accrediting organizations. For a list of schools that meet this criteria, go to Science and other related degrees earned outside the United States: If you are using education completed