Role: Operation Research Scientist

Employment Type: Full Time

Educational Qualification: M.Tech / MS / Ph.D in Aerospace Engineering, Operations Research, Industrial Engineering, Computer Science or equivalent

Work Experience: 2-5 yrs

Role Description:
As an Operations Research Scientist, you will develop optimization frameworks and mission operations software that enable the efficient tasking and scheduling of our satellites. Your work will directly shape how our constellation operates, helping maximize scientific and business value from space.

Responsibilities & Duties:

• Design, develop and maintain optimization framework (encompassing objective functions and operational constraints) to generate satellite tasking schedules

• Collaborate with business development, image management, and subsystem teams to translate requirements into scalable optimization models that maximize revenue opportunities

• Implement design specifications into robust, modular math models and production-ready code

• Maintain and enhance existing models and scheduling frameworks to improve efficiency and adaptability

• Work with the ground segment software team to deploy the models for day-to-day mission operations of the entire satellite constellation

• Take end-to-end ownership of the software development from design through implementation, testing and deployment

Required Qualification:

• M.Tech / MS / Ph.D in Aerospace Engineering, Operations Research, Industrial Engineering, Computer Science or equivalent

• Experience: 2+ years of relevant work experience building mathematical models (optimization, statistics or any related mathematical domain) around scheduling

• Strong grounding in numerical optimization techniques, with expertise in at least one of: convex optimization, integer programming, dynamic programming, or heuristic/metaheuristic methods.

• Proficiency and practical experience in one or multiple optimization libraries/software such as PuLP, JuMP (Julia), Gurobi, CPLEX.

• Strong programming skills in at least one high level programming language (Python/Julia/Java preferred)

• Ability to understand, break down, and solve complex problems independently

• Good communications skills (verbal and written), ability to work collaboratively in a team environment

Desired Skills:

• Mission design and orbit simulation experience using software tools (STK, FreeFlyer, Orekit, GMAT etc.) or custom software is preferred

• Familiarity with Deep Reinforcement Learning applied to scheduling/optimization

• Experience with modern software development practices:

• Version control (Git), project management (Jira)

• Testing, CI/CD, and deployment pipelines

• REST APIs, cloud computing, or HPC environments

Candidate Acumen:
A strong desire to work in an unstructured, high-growth, fast-paced start-up environment

Benefits:

• Health insurance coverage

• Unlimited leaves & flexible working hours

• Role-based remote work and work-from-home benefit

• Relocation assistance

• Professional Mental Wellness services

• Creche facility for primary caregivers (limited to India)

• Employee Stock Options for all hires

About Pixxel

Pixxel is a space data company and spacecraft manufacturer redefining Earth observation with hyperspectral imaging. The company’s first three commercial hyperspectral satellites—Fireflies—deliver imagery at 5-meter resolution and 135+ spectral bands, providing 50x richer detail than traditional Earth observation systems and unlocking insights across agriculture, climate, energy, environment, and more.

Once fully deployed, Pixxel’s constellation of 18-24 satellites will capture imagery across up to 250 bands in VNIR and SWIR ranges, with a 40 km swath and daily global revisit capability. Pixxel’s most unique strength is its full-stack approach, integrating every layer of the value chain from satellite hardware and manufacturing to AI-powered analytics.

Pixxel’s satellite constellation is complemented by Aurora, its in-house Earth Observation Studio that simplifies satellite imagery analysis and democratises remote sensing for all. Designed to make hyperspectral data more accessible, Aurora by Pixxel combines high-frequency imagery with AI-powered tools to generate actionable insights, even for users without technical backgrounds. The third pillar of Pixxel’s ecosystem is its in-house satellite manufacturing capability. Beyond building its own spacecraft, Pixxel also provides satellite systems and subsystems to other organisations. This dual capacity sets it apart in a sector where most companies focus on either payload design or data operations, but not both.

Pixxel’s team is young but deeply mission-aligned, with a culture rooted in curiosity, speed, and long-term thinking. As the company grows its constellation and expands Aurora, the focus remains on making space-based insights practical, scalable, and genuinely helpful so that the health of the planet becomes measurable and action becomes possible.

Pixxel was the only Indian startup selected for the Techstars Starburst Space Accelerator in Los Angeles and has been recognised in TIME’s Best Inventions of 2023, Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, and Via Satellite’s Top Innovators list.

For more information, see our Careers page or follow Pixxel on LinkedIn and X/Twitter.

Culture

Pixxel is an organization where we enable our employees to work on world-changing problems that they are passionate about, and a place where they can be their best selves day in and day out while ensuring they have fun every day.

Central to our employee-first ethos is a commitment to ensuring that every team member feels valued and heard. We nurture a healthy and supportive work environment where we prioritise well-being and growth in all aspects of life

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