MILSATCOM Mission Planner

Purpose and Impact:
Amentum is seeking a MILSATCOM Mission Planner to support critical Department of War strategic communications capabilities in the National Capital Region.
This position directly supports the planning, integration, and employment of Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite communications capabilities used by Combatant Commands, Joint Forces, and National-level decision makers. The selected candidate will be part of a highly skilled team responsible for ensuring secure, resilient communications supporting global military operations and strategic deterrence missions.
The ideal candidate brings operational experience from military communications, SATCOM, NC3, signal, communities and understands how strategic communications capabilities enable commanders to maintain assured communications in contested and degraded environments.
Your expertise will help ensure America's most critical communications systems remain available, protected, and ready to support the warfighter whenever and wherever needed.
Work Schedule:
Monday through Friday, standard business hours
Full-time, on-site position in Northern Virginia
Participation in an on-call rotation is required
On-call support may require response outside of normal business hours to support operational requirements.
Essential Responsibilities:
Mission Planning and System Operations
Build, modify and maintain AEHF communications plans using the Mission Planning Subsystem (MPSS/MPE). Responsible for resource allocation, beam assignments, terminal access, and network configurations.
Develop and maintain operational mission scenarios and communications plans and distribute them to operational crews to ensure accurate and timely implementation.
Plan and deconflict Extended Data Rate (XDR) services across all modulations and modes to meet user priorities and throughput requirements.
Manage spot beam allocations to support shifting operational priorities and theater demands.
Responsible for crosslink planning and multi-satellite network configurations to ensure global connectivity without reliance on ground relays.
Provide support to real-time requests for service, contingency operations, and anomaly resolution, rapidly re-planning resources when conditions change.
Ground Terminal Planning and Integration
Build and maintain accurate terminal profiles and network membership data within the MPSS and MPE, ensuring each terminal's supported waveforms, data rates (LDR/MDR/XDR), and configuration parameters match what is fielded.
Assess terminal RF characteristics, including antenna size and gain, EIRP, G/T, and pointing and tracking performance, and incorporate them into link budgets so plans reflect real-world terminal capability rather than nominal system values.
Provide organizational support to operational personnel including but not limited to advanced troubleshooting, field and unit level removal and replacement, and terminal maintenance.
Track terminal software and hardware baselines.
Support terminal integration testing, operational readiness checks, and exercise activation, serving as the link between terminal program offices, unit operators, and satellite operations planners.
Incorporate terminal fielding schedules, availability, and maintenance status into long-range planning and CONOPS, identifying where terminal limitations, rather than space segment capacity, constrain operational capability.
Technical Analysis
Understand link budget analyses accounting for EIRP, G/T, free-space path loss, atmospheric and rain attenuation (particularly significant at EHF/SHF frequencies), pointing losses, and implementation margins.
Assess link margins to determine whether proposed services will close under nominal, degraded, and contested conditions, and recommend mitigations when they will not.
Evaluate the effects of modulation and waveform choices, including frequency hopping spread spectrum, FSK and PSK variants, coding, and interleaving, on data rate, robustness, anti-jam performance, and LPI/LPD characteristics.
Analyze terminal capabilities and limitations (e.g., FAB-T, SMART-T, NMT, and other AEHF-compatible terminals) to ensure plans match fielded equipment.
Characterize threats to the link, including jamming, interference, and environmental effects, and quantify their impact on service availability.
Documentation as required:
Support Requirements Translation and CONOPS Development. Translate technical specifications and performance parameters into operationally meaningful requirements, capability statements, and planning factors.
Draft and update CONOPS, tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), and planning guidance for protected SATCOM employment.
Brief technical findings to non-technical and senior audiences, explaining how system parameters such as link margin or data rate limits drive operational risk and decision space.
Support requirements development and gap analyses for current and future protected SATCOM architectures, including transition planning toward Evolved Strategic SATCOM (ESS)
Work Environment, Physical Demands, and Mental Demands:
Primarily performed in a secure office environment.
Ability to sit and work at a computer workstation for extended periods.
Occasional lifting of equipment up to 25 pounds.
Travel up to ~15% to operational or testing locations.
Ability to work in a fast-paced, mission-critical environment supporting operational communications requirements.
Ability to obtain and maintain access to secure facilities and systems.
Minimum Requirements (Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities):
10+ years of experience in MILSATCOM planning or operations, with at least 5 years directly supporting AEHF and/or MILSTAR systems.
5+ years’ experience planning, configuring, or troubleshooting terminal access to AEHF or MILSTAR satellites.
Proficient with the AEHF Mission Planning Subsystem (MPSS/MPE).
Solid working knowledge of satellite communications principles, including link budget construction, link margin analysis, Eb/N0 and C/N0 relationships, modulation and coding, frequency hopping, and propagation effects at EHF and SHF bands.
Understanding of protected SATCOM features such as anti-jam, anti-scintillation, LPI/LPD, onboard processing, and nulling.
Strong written and oral communication skills, including briefing experience with senior military and civilian leaders.
Working knowledge of AEHF ground terminal architectures and operation, including how terminal RF performance, waveform support, and configuration affect link closure and service planning.
Security Clearance Required:
Active TS/SCI security clearance and eligible for access to Special Access Programs.
Minimum Education:
Bachelor's degree in:
Electrical Engineering
Telecommunications Engineering
Systems Engineering
Computer Science
Information Technology
Minimum Years of Experience:
10 Years
Preferred Qualifications:
The strongest candidates will possess experience in one or more of the following:
Operational experience with military SATCOM systems and terminals, including one or more of the following:
SMART-T
FAB-T
FET
G-ASNT
VPS
SCAMP
Army Signal Corps, Air Force Communications, Space Force Space Operations, Joint Communications, or Combatant Command J6 organizations.
Brigade, Division, Corps, Theater Army, Service Component Command, Joint Task Force, or Combatant Command communications operations.
Prior military service in space operations or communications career fields such as:
Army FA40, 25S, 255N; ASI’s 1C, or 3Y
Air Force/Space Force SATCOM and Cyber Operations specialties (USSF 13S, USAF 1C6/17D)
Navy Warrant Officer 782x
USMC 06XX
Joint Communications or J6 staff experience
Relevant industry certifications such as:
CISSP
Security+
PMP
INCOSE ASEP/CSEP
Military Transition Language
Veterans Encouraged to Apply
Amentum values the operational experience that veterans bring to our mission. Candidates with experience in Army Signal, Air Force or Space Force Communications, Joint Communications, SATCOM operations, NC3, Network Operations, Cyber Operations, or Combatant Command communications planning are strongly encouraged to apply.
Military experience may be substituted for portions of the educati