Recovery Operations Engineer (m/f/d)

Mission Brief As a Recovery Operations Engineer in the Reusability Program, you define and mature the CONOPS for post‑flight recovery, refurbishment, and return‑to‑flight of reusable launch vehicle elements. You enable safe, repeatable, and cost‑efficient reuse by embedding recovery and refurbishment considerations into vehicle design, ground operations, and long‑term fleet operability from the outset. Your Role in Our Space Mission Define and evolve recovery Concept of Operations (CONOPS), covering primary recovery scenarios as well as fallback scenarios, from landing through return‑to‑flight Evaluate and down‑select launch sites, landing zones, and ranges with respect to recovery feasibility, safety, and operations Specify and assess recovery ground support equipment (GSE), including cranes, transport frames, barges, and port infrastructure Define refurbishment and recycle processes, including inspection flows, repair scope, turnaround timelines, and reuse limits Drive maintainability and operability requirements into vehicle and system design Support integration and payload processing concepts where recovery impacts launch‑site operations Contribute to fleet and lifecycle management strategies, including inspection intervals and retirement criteria Develop and maintain operational cost models, including recovery, refurbishment, infrastructure, and reuse cost functions, and support cost estimation and trade studies to inform architectural and program‑level decisions Qualification Checklist Education & Technical Background Engineering education in aerospace, mechanical, civil, naval, industrial, or a closely related field, or equivalent senior industry experience Technical background in launcher ground operations plus recovery and refurbishment concepts for reusable launch vehicle hardware Proven knowledge of transport, handling, lifting, storage, inspection, and repair of large aerospace hardware and associated ground support equipment Proven knowledge of large‑scale logistics and ground infrastructure as primary drivers of operability, cost, and turnaround time in a reusable launch vehicle fleet Experience 5–10+ years in launch vehicle programs, recovery programs, or large‑scale aerospace hardware projects Direct involvement in designing and evaluating end‑to‑end CONOPS, covering recovery logistics, ground support equipment, refurbishment, maintainability, and return‑to‑flight Practical work with large ground support equipment and infrastructure, including recovery assets, lifting systems, transport solutions, hazardous substances supply systems and launch-site or port environments Hands-on exposure to launch vehicle or aircraft refurbishment and post‑operation processing, including inspection strategies, repair scope definition, structural and systems assessments, and reuse or return‑to‑service considerations. Demonstrated ability to assess how recovery and ground operations concepts drive launcher architecture, interfaces, access requirements, and design margins Proven involvement in operational trade studies, addressing feasibility, cost drivers, turnaround time, and risk across alternative recovery and refurbishment approaches Skills & Competencies Ability to architect recovery and refurbishment CONOPS that are technically executable and scale with fleet growth Strong judgement balancing launcher design, ground support equipment capability, logistics constraints, safety, cost, and schedule Deep practical knowledge of ground support equipment-driven constraints and their impact on recovery methods and launcher interfaces Clear command of maintainability and refurbishment drivers, including access, wear mechanisms, handling damage, and inspection effort Capability to challenge launcher and ground design decisions based on operational realism rather than theoretical optimization Structured decision ‑ making under uncertainty, grounded in experience with real hardware, infrastructure, and field operations Fluent in English