A deputy chief of space operations is a senior leadership position in the United States Space Force. There are four deputy chiefs of space operations in the Space Force, staffed either by a lieutenant general or a senior executive service personnel. They are the service's equivalent to the Army's and Air Force's deputy chiefs of staff, the Marine Corps' deputy commandants, and the Navy's deputy chiefs of naval operations. They are part of the Office of the Chief of Space Operations and hold office at the Pentagon.
The proposed organizational structure of the Space Force's headquarters was first revealed in a February 2020 congressional report, with directors instead of deputy chiefs of space operations. Intending to be "lean and agile", the service consolidated the normal nine functional areas into three directorates.[1] In a June 2020 draft proposal, the position was renamed deputy chiefs of staff.[2] On July 29, 2020, the first two deputy chiefs of operations were nominated.[3] The Space Force adopted C-suite titles in designing their senior leadership positions.[4]