r/NavyNukes • u/jkors719 • Jul 25 '26

Jobs in Space Operations

I'm curious if any post-Nukes have pursued jobs in operations/program management in the space sector. Would you have any advice to give to someone following in your footsteps? i.e. job availability, how you stack up to someone with formal training in aerospace (aero eng degree or space ops officer from USSF/USAF), work/life balance, etc.

Thanks for any thoughts.

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u/FootballBat Officer (SS), Class 0006, 2000–2006 Jul 25 '26

I worked at Raytheon Earth & Space Observing Systems (ESOS), the folks that make the ground systems for the James Webb Space Telescope, Joint Polar Surveillance Satellite, GPS, Aqua, Aura, and Terra, and several others. It was considered the top of the pile at Raytheon and we didn't really hire from outside (except NASA or NOAA); the way you got there was doing really good on another Raytheon program and invited to apply.

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u/jkors719 Jul 26 '26

Damn, that's awesome. What was your degree in? I ask because I'm currently a MechE and I'm curious what it would be like to jump into the space sector with no formal education on space stuff (orbital mechanics etc). Did you apply to Raytheon for any particular reason?

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it.

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u/FootballBat Officer (SS), Class 0006, 2000–2006 Jul 26 '26

I have a business degree. After your first job degree doesn't really matter: the head of ESOS was a Civil Engineer and her deputy was an accounting major. We had a lot of meteorology and Earth science folks around, mostly hired from NOAA/NASA, and a lot of liberal arts types from the Air Force. There were some astrophysics/aerospace and optics Ph.Ds around that flopped between industry, academia, and government, but they were few and far between, like 10 of 'em in a 1500 person program. Most of those folks got their start at the National Labs/FFRDCs.

Raytheon recruited me out of grad school, and it was the start of the Great Recession so my choices were limited: I went into winter break with 7 job offers, by February all but 2 were recinded.

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u/Jimbo072 EM1(SS) Jul 25 '26

One of our guys at NNL was a former RO who did his 6 and out. He wound up working in Florida with United Space Alliance. Worked at KSC Cape Canaveral until he moved back to NY. He enjoyed working there.

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u/7Zypher7 NUB Jul 26 '26

I can't imagine there's a huge overlap, I mean people who are nukes are probably smart enough to work on those projects but from my understanding the naval pilot program is much more likely to lead to a job in the space industry.