Job description

ASCEND Aerospace & Technology, LLC (ASCEND) is an All-Small Mentor-Protégé Program (ASMPP) Joint Venture (JV) between Aerodyne Industries, LLC and Amentum Technology Inc., that leverages our 12+ year collaboration as award-winning NASA contractors. Through our ASCEND partner companies, we have 62+ years of experience working for NASA and currently manage 5,500 employees across nine NASA Centers. With this foundation of expertise, we are dedicated to helping every mission succeed—today and into the future. Job Description The Contract for Organizing Spaceflight Mission Operations and Systems (COSMOS), NASA’s next-generation mission operations contract, has an excellent opportunity for a Mid-Level Systems Engineer to join the Performance Engineering team. System Performance Engineering encompasses the techniques applied during the system development life cycle to ensure the non-functional requirements for ground systems within the Mission Control Center Systems (MCCS), Training Systems (TS), Space Vehicle Mockup Facility (SVMF) are met. Adherence to the non-functional requirements is also validated post-deployment by monitoring the production systems. The applicant will work in a dynamic team environment and will be responsible for working with the NASA customer, other systems engineers, and software engineers to understand system requirements and to determine the operation of the system through measuring and evaluating its system performance characteristics. The applicant will have the unique opportunity to support human spaceflight during the mission operation critical phases of launch, rendezvous, and landing. COSMOS ensures the continuity of critical human spaceflight support by providing mission control services, advanced training systems, and full-scale spacecraft mockups for astronaut preparation and engineering analysis. Description of Duties The Performance Engineer is responsible for working in a dynamic team environment and will be responsible for working with the NASA customer, other systems engineers, users, and software engineers to determine the operation of the system through measuring and evaluating its system performance characteristics. The applicant will ensure that the team is working closely with COSMOS Platform/OS and Software Engineers, System Testers, and Project Managers to ensure system performance and stability across COSMOS facilitate primarily the MCC and Training systems. The expectation is for the potential candidate to participate in mission systems failure and anomaly investigations, support real-time mission activities, and customer daily operations meetings. The candidate will also pursue integration assignments within the Integration Services department to help achieve department, directorate, and contract goals. The candidate should have a good understanding of the full software development life cycle from planning, design, building, testing, deployment and maintenance. Successful candidates will: • Be curious and willing to learn • Collect raw resource utilization data from workstations, servers and networks from the development, integration and production environments • Process resource utilization data; manage, protect and retain the raw resource utilization data • Provide resource metrics for platforms and networking devices • Provide impact assessments and cost associated with critical designs • Investigate system anomalies using current/historical system data and user reports • Maintain technical performance measures • Perform and support system testing and benchmarking • Establish baselines of current system behavior tailored for specific investigations • Estimate changes to system behavior given prospective modifications or additions • Identify trends that may violate resource constraints • Provide specifications for new equipment given current loads and required margins • Provide support during critical phases or specified complex phase for manned spaceflight • Perform cost, risk, supportability analyses for the mission systems • Perform systems analysis, functional analysis, statistical analysis, trade studies and requirements allocation • Opportunity to perform maintenance and recommend enhancements to existing process and procedures • Develop automation scripts for handling big data • Perform script creation and maintenance, as well as process improvement/automation to advance overall system performance capabilities • Possess strong team-building skills across multi-functional areas that establish a collaborative operational structure including active listening, prompt service and follow-up • Exhibit proven track record of working under tight deadlines • Have a high degree of self-motivation and the ability to work independently • Have a keen attention to detail/be detail-oriented • Have excellent communication skills, both written and verbal. • Exhibit professional behavior that promotes teamwork, fosters cooperation, and enhances productivity in the workplace. • Be well organized with the ability to coordinate, prioritize and execute multiple tasks simultaneously in a high-pressure environment. Job Requirements Must have one of the following combinations of education and experience: Bachelor’s/Master’s degree and 2 to 5 years of general experience. • Preferred candidates will hold a bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, Engineering, Information Technology, MIS, Math or a related area and 2 to 5 years of experience • Must have previous experience with scripting and/or automation • Must have previous experience with the software, development life cycle (SDLC) • Be able to work a flexible and dynamic work schedule • When necessary, support real-time mission ops during second or third shift, nights and weekends • Support 24x7 on call • Must be able to obtain a NASA Personal Identity Verification (PIV) Badge for NASA credentials The individual should possess strong initiative, be a team player (teamwork), be flexible to changing program needs, and possess strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills. The job requires close communication and collaboration with other engineers, the software development community and NASA customer to successfully perform analysis and monitor systems. The successful candidate will be a self-learner, curious and familiar with SW engineering; will possess coding skills (Python, C+, Linux, Windows), be detail oriented and have clear concise communication (able to explain technical performance data and metrics/data visualization). To be successful, the candidate shall have the ability to work towards deadlines and deliver quality products. Desired Requirements • Data visualization skills like Power BI, or Python virtualization (venv) • Experience with software containers (Docker, Pod) • Experience with Office 365 Tools; Windows Admin skills • Previous experience with automation, Linux, and Python • Previous experience with data mining and data management • Familiarity with scripting languages and monitoring tools • Familiarity with Requirements verification methodologies • Familiarity with Service Now, SolarWinds, Big Fix, Splunk or similar tools • Leadership skills • Understanding of data structures • Data Science and Statistical learning • Data Programming • Experience with networking (familiarity with Wireshark is a plus) All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status, age, marital status, pregnancy, genetic information, or other legally protected status . Final compensation is determined through a comprehensive evaluation of several key factors, including the candidate’s educational background, specialized technical expertise, and relevant professional experience. We also consider internal equity, prevailing market data, and specific contractual or funding requirements to ensure competitive and equitable offer alignment.

Requirements

Must-haves

Description of Duties
Be curious and willing to learn
Collect raw resource utilization data from workstations, servers and networks from the development, integration and production environments
Process resource utilization data; manage, protect and retain the raw resource utilization data
Provide resource metrics for platforms and networking devices
Provide impact assessments and cost associated with critical designs
Investigate system anomalies using current/historical system data and user reports
Maintain technical performance measures
Perform and support system testing and benchmarking
Establish baselines of current system behavior tailored for specific investigations
Estimate changes to system behavior given prospective modifications or additions
Identify trends that may violate resource constraints
Provide specifications for new equipment given current loads and required margins
Provide support during critical phases or specified complex phase for manned spaceflight
Perform cost, risk, supportability analyses for the mission systems
Perform systems analysis, functional analysis, statistical analysis, trade studies and
requirements allocation
Opportunity to perform maintenance and recommend enhancements to existing process and procedures
Develop automation scripts for handling big data
Perform script creation and maintenance, as well as process improvement/automation to advance overall system performance capabilities
Possess strong team-building skills across multi-functional areas that establish a collaborative operational structure including active listening, prompt service and follow-up
Exhibit proven track record of working under tight deadlines

Nice-to-haves

Preferred candidates will hold a bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, Engineering, Information Technology, MIS, Math or a related area and 2 to 5 years of experience
Experience with networking (familiarity with Wireshark is a plus)

Application prep

Use the role’s language and application details while tailoring your materials.

Keywords to mirror

pythondocker

Platform: adp-workforce-now
Effort: medium