Lead Systems Operations Engineer Jobs
Lead Systems Operations Engineer jobs are open across technology, defense, financial services, and telecommunications, at every level from senior engineer to principal, with specializations in cloud infrastructure, site reliability engineering, and distributed systems monitoring. Scan the live roles below and apply to whichever ones fit.
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Seeking a Space Operations Systems Engineer for satellite Operations and Maintenance (O&M) positions. The selected candidate will join a skilled O&M team working in a 24/7 operations environment. These positions require the availability to work overtime and non-scheduled call-in support, working a combination of day staff and shift schedules with assignments based on the dynamic needs of the team.
The Engineering, Science and Analysis (ESA) Strategic Capabilities Unit comprises the technical talent and organizational leadership that enables the successful delivery of high-impact discriminating technologies for our customers’ missions. Our collaborative, cross-functional teams are committed to innovation, integrity, continual learning and strong execution.
What You’ll Do:
- Conduct mission specific real time spacecraft/satellite flight operations during readiness, execution, and evaluation phases.
- Develop detailed plans and procedures to provide maximum mission support in areas such as orbit dynamics, satellite performance analysis, command and control of on-orbit satellites.
- Provide technical direction for on orbit mission support, plans for critical vehicle malfunctions and recommends alternate operating techniques and process improvements.
- Provide satellite failure analysis and performance analysis using telemetry data.
- Analyze and monitor software performance.
- Require successful completion of a company-sponsored certification program (6–12 weeks) following initial onboarding as a condition of continued employment.
- 24/7 operational position requiring the selected candidate to work rotating shifts. Note – depending on the current staffing posture and program needs, the candidate may either be placed in shift rotation or a day staff position.
- Maintain a regular and predictable work schedule.
- Establish and maintain effective working relationships within the department, the Strategic Business Units, Strategic Capabilities Units and the Company. Interact appropriately with others in order to maintain a positive and productive work environment.
- Perform other duties as necessary.
On-Site Work Environment: This position requires regular in-person engagement by working on-site five days each normally scheduled week in the primary work location. Travel and local commute between company campuses and other possible non-company locations may be required.
Working Conditions:
- Work is performed in an office environment, laboratory, cleanroom, or production floor.
Required Education, Experience, & Skills
- BS/BA in related field.
- Each higher-level degree, i.e., Master’s Degree or Ph.D., may substitute for two years of experience. Related technical experience may be considered in lieu of education. Degree must be from a university, college, or school which is accredited by an agency recognized by the US Secretary of Education, US Department of Education.
- A current, active TS/SCI Polygraph security clearance is required.
- Polygraph has to have been administered within the last 7 years.
- Experience in problem solving in time-critical situations.
- Experience implementing technical instructions or procedures documents.
- Good communication skills.
Preferred Education, Experience, & Skills
- Providing/receiving training to/from a wide range of learning/teaching styles.
- Experience with satellite operations, engineering, or sustainment.
- Experience with Windows and UNIX platforms.
- Experience with Perl, Python, VBA, and/or other scripting languages.
Pay Information
Full-Time Salary Range: $53122 - $90306
Please note: This range is based on our market pay structures. However, individual salaries are determined by a variety of factors including, but not limited to: business considerations, local market conditions, and internal equity, as well as candidate qualifications, such as skills, education, and experience.
Employee Benefits: At BAE Systems, we support our employees in all aspects of their life, including their health and financial well-being. Regular employees scheduled to work 20+ hours per week are offered: health, dental, and vision insurance; health savings accounts; a 401(k) savings plan; disability coverage; and life and accident insurance. We also have an employee assistance program, a legal plan, and other perks including discounts on things like home, auto, and pet insurance. Our leave programs include paid time off, paid holidays, as well as other types of leave, including paid parental, military, bereavement, and any applicable federal and state sick leave. Employees may participate in the company recognition program to receive monetary or non-monetary recognition awards. Other incentives may be available based on position level and/or job specifics.
About BAE Systems, Inc.
BAE Systems, Inc. is the U.S. subsidiary of BAE Systems plc, an international defense, aerospace and security company which delivers a full range of products and services for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, security, information technology solutions and customer support services. Improving the future and protecting lives is an ambitious mission, but it’s what we do at BAE Systems. Working here means using your passion and ingenuity where it counts – defending national security with breakthrough technology, superior products, and intelligence solutions. As you develop the latest technology and defend national security, you will continually hone your skills on a team—making a big impact on a global scale. At BAE Systems, you’ll find a rewarding career that truly makes a difference.
Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, Space & Mission Systems is a leading provider of national defense and civil space applications, advanced remote sensing, scientific and tactical systems for government and commercial customers. We continually pioneer ways to innovate spacecraft, mission payloads, optical systems, and other defense and civil capabilities. Powered by endlessly curious people with an unwavering mission focus, we continually discover ways to enable our customers to perform beyond expectation and protect what matters most.
This position will be posted for at least 5 calendar days. The posting will remain active until the position is filled, or a qualified pool of candidates is identified.
Multiple positions may be available on this opening.
Seeking a Space Operations Systems Engineer for satellite Operations and Maintenance (O&M) positions. The selected candidate will join a skilled O&M team working in a 24/7 operations environment. These positions require the availability to work overtime and non-scheduled call-in support, working a combination of day staff and shift schedules with assignments based on the dynamic needs of the team.
The Engineering, Science and Analysis (ESA) Strategic Capabilities Unit comprises the technical talent and organizational leadership that enables the successful delivery of high-impact discriminating technologies for our customers’ missions. Our collaborative, cross-functional teams are committed to innovation, integrity, continual learning and strong execution.
What You’ll Do:
- Conduct mission specific real time spacecraft/satellite flight operations during readiness, execution, and evaluation phases.
- Develop detailed plans and procedures to provide maximum mission support in areas such as orbit dynamics, satellite performance analysis, command and control of on-orbit satellites.
- Provide technical direction for on orbit mission support, plans for critical vehicle malfunctions and recommends alternate operating techniques and process improvements.
- Provide satellite failure analysis and performance analysis using telemetry data.
- Analyze and monitor software performance.
- Require successful completion of a company-sponsored certification program (6–12 weeks) following initial onboarding as a condition of continued employment.
- 24/7 operational position requiring the selected candidate to work rotating shifts. Note – depending on the current staffing posture and program needs, the candidate may either be placed in shift rotation or a day staff position.
- Maintain a regular and predictable work schedule.
- Establish and maintain effective working relationships within the department, the Strategic Business Units, Strategic Capabilities Units and the Company. Interact appropriately with others in order to maintain a positive and productive work environment.
- Perform other duties as necessary.
On-Site Work Environment: This position requires regular in-person engagement by working on-site five days each normally scheduled week in the primary work location. Travel and local commute between company campuses and other possible non-company locations may be required.
Working Conditions:
- Work is performed in an office environment, laboratory, cleanroom, or production floor.
Required Education, Experience, & Skills
- BS/BA in related field.
- Each higher-level degree, i.e., Master’s Degree or Ph.D., may substitute for two years of experience. Related technical experience may be considered in lieu of education. Degree must be from a university, college, or school which is accredited by an agency recognized by the US Secretary of Education, US Department of Education.
- A current, active TS/SCI Polygraph security clearance is required.
- Polygraph has to have been administered within the last 7 years.
- Experience in problem solving in time-critical situations.
- Experience implementing technical instructions or procedures documents.
- Good communication skills.
Preferred Education, Experience, & Skills
- Providing/receiving training to/from a wide range of learning/teaching styles.
- Experience with satellite operations, engineering, or sustainment.
- Experience with Windows and UNIX platforms.
- Experience with Perl, Python, VBA, and/or other scripting languages.
Pay Information
Full-Time Salary Range: $53122 - $90306
Please note: This range is based on our market pay structures. However, individual salaries are determined by a variety of factors including, but not limited to: business considerations, local market conditions, and internal equity, as well as candidate qualifications, such as skills, education, and experience.
Employee Benefits: At BAE Systems, we support our employees in all aspects of their life, including their health and financial well-being. Regular employees scheduled to work 20+ hours per week are offered: health, dental, and vision insurance; health savings accounts; a 401(k) savings plan; disability coverage; and life and accident insurance. We also have an employee assistance program, a legal plan, and other perks including discounts on things like home, auto, and pet insurance. Our leave programs include paid time off, paid holidays, as well as other types of leave, including paid parental, military, bereavement, and any applicable federal and state sick leave. Employees may participate in the company recognition program to receive monetary or non-monetary recognition awards. Other incentives may be available based on position level and/or job specifics.
About BAE Systems, Inc.
BAE Systems, Inc. is the U.S. subsidiary of BAE Systems plc, an international defense, aerospace and security company which delivers a full range of products and services for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, security, information technology solutions and customer support services. Improving the future and protecting lives is an ambitious mission, but it’s what we do at BAE Systems. Working here means using your passion and ingenuity where it counts – defending national security with breakthrough technology, superior products, and intelligence solutions. As you develop the latest technology and defend national security, you will continually hone your skills on a team—making a big impact on a global scale. At BAE Systems, you’ll find a rewarding career that truly makes a difference.
Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, Space & Mission Systems is a leading provider of national defense and civil space applications, advanced remote sensing, scientific and tactical systems for government and commercial customers. We continually pioneer ways to innovate spacecraft, mission payloads, optical systems, and other defense and civil capabilities. Powered by endlessly curious people with an unwavering mission focus, we continually discover ways to enable our customers to perform beyond expectation and protect what matters most.
This position will be posted for at least 5 calendar days. The posting will remain active until the position is filled, or a qualified pool of candidates is identified.
Multiple positions may be available on this opening.
Lead Systems Operations Engineer Jobs by Experience Level
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Find JobsLead Systems Operations Engineer Job Market
Who's Hiring
Top Industries Hiring
- Retail
- E-Commerce & Online Marketplaces
What Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in lead systems operations engineer jobs.
- Five or more years of hands-on systems operations or site reliability engineering experience
- Proficiency with container orchestration platforms such as Kubernetes and Docker
- Experience designing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure-as-code tooling
- Strong background in cloud platforms including AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure
- Demonstrated ability to lead incident response and conduct blameless post-mortems
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, or a related engineering field
Tips for Your Lead Systems Operations Engineer Job Search
Tailor your resume to incident metrics
Hiring managers for lead systems operations roles scan for measurable reliability outcomes, not just tool lists. Quantify mean time to recovery, uptime improvements, or incident reduction rates you owned directly. Generic operations experience without operational metrics gets filtered out fast.
Highlight cross-functional coordination experience
Lead-level postings almost always require demonstrated experience coordinating between development, security, and product teams during outages or deployments. Spell out the scope of teams you aligned and the operational decisions you drove, not just the technical fixes you implemented.
Apply early to roles that fit
Migrate Mate lists lead systems operations engineer openings from across the United States in one place, so you can find roles that match and apply directly to each listing.
Target postings that name your tech stack
Lead systems operations roles vary sharply by infrastructure philosophy. A Kubernetes-heavy cloud-native environment and an on-premises data center operation call for different backgrounds. Filter openings by the specific orchestration tools, observability platforms, and cloud providers named in the job description before applying.
Prepare a system design narrative for interviews
Expect at least one architecture discussion in which you walk through how you would design or refactor a critical operational system. Practice explaining your reasoning around fault tolerance, failover strategy, and capacity planning out loud, not just on paper.
Negotiate total compensation, not base salary alone
Lead systems operations engineers at senior levels routinely receive on-call pay, incident response premiums, and equity alongside base compensation. Know which components matter most to you before an offer arrives so you can negotiate across the full package, not just the number on the first line.
Lead Systems Operations Engineer Jobs: Frequently Asked Questions
Which companies are hiring the most lead systems operations engineers?
The most active employers for lead systems operations engineers right now are Uber, L3Harris, and MITRE, and the most openings are in Florida, Illinois, and California, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. Technology, defense contracting, and financial services firms consistently post the highest volumes of lead-level systems operations roles.
How many lead systems operations engineer jobs are remote?
About 63% of lead systems operations engineer openings are fully remote or hybrid as of November 2026, reflecting strong employer flexibility for experienced engineers who can manage distributed infrastructure without being on-site. Cloud-focused and site reliability sub-specializations tend to have the highest share of remote-eligible postings, while roles tied to on-premises or government infrastructure are more likely to require an in-person presence.
How do you become a lead systems operations engineer?
Start by building deep hands-on experience with Linux systems administration, networking fundamentals, and at least one major cloud platform. Progress through individual contributor operations or reliability roles, taking on incident command responsibilities and infrastructure design work as early as possible. Pursue certifications in cloud architecture or DevOps practices to signal readiness for a lead role, and demonstrate leadership by mentoring junior engineers and driving process improvements across your team.
Can I get hired as a lead systems operations engineer with limited experience?
Moving directly into a lead role with little experience is difficult because employers expect candidates to already have owned large-scale reliability incidents and guided architectural decisions. If you're earlier in your career, target senior individual contributor roles at companies with clear promotion paths, build a portfolio of infrastructure projects with measurable outcomes, and seek out on-call and incident command opportunities that mirror lead-level accountability before applying to lead postings.
What does the lead systems operations engineer interview process look like?
Most processes begin with a recruiter screen focused on your operational background and tool experience, followed by a technical phone or video round covering systems design, troubleshooting scenarios, and reliability principles. Later rounds typically include a live incident simulation or architecture walkthrough, plus a behavioral interview assessing how you lead cross-functional teams under pressure. Some employers also include a take-home infrastructure design exercise before the final hiring manager conversation.
Where can I find and apply to lead systems operations engineer jobs?
You can find and apply to lead systems operations engineer jobs on Migrate Mate, which lists current openings from across the United States. Search for roles that match your infrastructure background, cloud platform experience, and preferred work location, then apply directly to each listing that fits your profile.
See All 18 Lead Systems Operations Engineer Jobs
Find roles that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
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