Nick Keller

Title:

Factory Representative

Education:

US Naval Academy, 2003, BS Astronautical Engineering
Air Force Institute of Technology, 2010, MS Astronautical Engineering
Air Force Institute of Technology, 2012, MS Systems Engineering

How did you get into the job you have now?

Likely a similar story to most… I was retiring from the military and started putting feelers out – our chosen geography in Seattle was a bit of an issue, but one thing lead to another, conversations happened, and it worked out great!

Favorite planet?

Pluto… a little out there, sometimes forgotten, bit of an underdog, and in a weird orbit (it crosses Neptune’s orbit).

Hobbies outside of work?

My daughter and I play a bit of Minecraft. I actually run two servers, one heavily modded and one vanilla – both are a fun way to spend some time together on the rainy Seattle winter days and running the servers is an interesting skill to learn.

 

Why did you choose SSI?

I really loved the small company aspect SSI offers… despite being the company’s sole Washington state employee I don’t ever feel isolated.

Bio:

My Naval career took a pretty unique path (like Pluto’s orbit!). I wound up serving 19.5 years in the Navy (which looks really funny on a DD-214) before completing an active-duty inter-service transfer to the Space Force in 2022. I completed one tour in the Space Force and decided it was time to retire in 2024. My recent significant tours include 5.5 years in the Pentagon at OPNAV N9SP / DoN SAPCO (easily my career defining tour) and then 2.5 years in the Space Force as the deputy of the Space Security and Defense Program Multi-domain Effects Division. Upon my retirement, we moved out of Northern VA back to my wife’s native Seattle.