Network Operations Engineer

About Spaceflux
Spaceflux keeps watch over space. We operate a growing global network of optical sensors that track satellites and debris in orbit, giving governments, defence and commercial customers the space-domain-awareness data they need to operate safely. Our telescopes run every clear night, from Chile to Australia to Europe, and we’re scaling fast – toward 25+ sites and new sensor types – as we grow through our next funding stage.

We’re a small, hands-on, fast-moving team where what you do is visible the next morning in the data.

Role Overview
We’re looking for a Network Operations Engineer to help run our worldwide sensor network and keep it healthy around the clock. You’ll be the second operator alongside our Network Operations Manager – watching the network, catching and fixing faults, and making sure every telescope is doing what it should be when it should be.

This is the operational heartbeat of the company: if a roof doesn’t close, a telescope stops observing, or data stops flowing, you’re one of the people who spots it and sorts it. It’s a role for someone who genuinely enjoys operating real, physical, always-on systems – and who takes pride in a network that simply works.

You’ll join when there’s a lot to build: the procedures, the monitoring, the Rota and the tooling that let a global network run reliably without depending on any one person. There’s a clear path to grow from running operations into helping design how they’re run.

What you’ll do

• Monitor the sensor network throughout the daily operational cycle and take part in a fair shared out-of-hours/weekend rota, ensuring telescopes and sensors are operating correctly and data continues to flow.
• Make sensible open/close calls in marginal weather to protect the hardware while maximising observing time.
• Diagnose and fix faults first-line – remote restarts, roof/dome recovery, connectivity and control-system issues – and pull in the right specialist when a problem needs hardware, software or logistics help.
• Coordinate with on-site teams and technical specialists around the world when remote recovery is not possible, providing clear diagnostics, instructions and follow-up until the sensor is operational again.
• Run incident response in our monitoring platform: spot it, log it, drive it to resolution or elevate it cleanly, and keep a clear record.
• Step up to cover the daily operations rhythm – the morning check-in and the network status report – so the network is dependably supported.
• Help turn how we operate into written procedures and better tooling, so the whole team gets sharper over time.

What we’re looking for

• Hands-on experience operating an always-on, remotely-run technical system – ideally a telescope or optical-sensor network, but equally a satellite ground segment / mission-operations role, a network operations centre, or similar.
• Comfortable troubleshooting PCs, remote-access systems, basic networking/connectivity issues, logs and monitoring tools.
• A practical, adaptable problem-solver who is comfortable investigating unfamiliar issues independently, knows when to keep troubleshooting and when to elevate, and can remain effective when priorities change quickly.
• Comfort with flexible, observing-driven hours across time zones, within a sensible, sustainable rota.

Nice to have

• Practical experience with amateur or professional telescopes, observatory automation, astronomical cameras or remote observatory operation.
• Experience of on-call / shift / rota cover for an operational service.
• The confidence to deputise – to run a daily stand-up, take decisions and communicate clearly.
• Working Italian (our network-operations team is Italy-based; English is the working requirement, Italian is a plus).

The working pattern

Our network runs at…