Senior Quality Engineer II; Software

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 space. The rockets and satellites we build, and launch enable some of the most ambitious and vital space missions globally, supporting scientific exploration, Earth observation and missions to combat climate change, national security, and exciting new technology demonstrations.

Our Electron rocket has become the second most frequently launched U.S. rocket annually and has delivered more than 230 satellites to orbit. Our Space Systems business designs and builds our extensive line of satellites, payloads, and their components, including spacecraft selected to support NASA missions to the Moon and Mars and components used on the James Webb Space Telescope.

At Rocket Lab, we’re not just launching rockets — we're building the future of space. Our Space Systems team builds complete spacecraft, precision payloads, and 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 to national security and defense initiatives. The team has built spacecraft, payloads, and components for missions to the Moon and Mars, working with partners including NASA, the Space Development Agency, and the U.S. Space Force. Whether it’s a single high-performance spacecraft, a 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.

Rocket Lab’s Optical Systems division solves mission-critical space domain and ISR challenges for Department of Defense (DoD) and Intelligence Community (IC) customers. Our vision is to revolutionize the space-based payload market with innovative 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
Quality Engineer II (Software) based at our Optical Systems site in Chantilly, VA, you will provide quality and mission assurance support for mission-critical software used in space payloads, ground systems, and integrated hardware/software products. This role focuses on software quality across the full lifecycle, ensuring requirements are defined, risks are identified, verification is rigorous, and releases are controlled in a regulated, non-recoverable space environment.

Join a driven team of pioneers relentlessly tackling challenging projects, delivering on the impossible, and making an impact on the future of space!

• Serve as the Quality Engineering representative for software development activities supporting space payloads, ground systems, and hardware-integrated products
• Support end-to-end software lifecycle quality across requirements, design, development, integration, verification, release, and sustainment
• Review and assess software requirements for clarity, testability, traceability, and alignment with system and customer requirements
• Participate in and provide quality input to software design reviews, test readiness reviews, and acceptance reviews
• Review and approve software quality artifacts, including design documentation, test plans, test procedures, test results, and release records
• Support software verification and validation activities, ensuring adequate coverage, risk mitigation, and objective evidence
• Support integration, environmental, and system-level test campaigns, including on-site participation as required to support mission assurance and anomaly resolution
• Identify, document, and support resolution of software nonconformances, defects, and escapes, including root cause analysis and corrective actions
• Ensure software-related…