His dad served in the United States Air Force at the end of the Vietnam War.

[2][3] Schiess entered the Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) at University of California at Los Angeles as a way to pay for college.

From January to April 2023, he underwent undergraduate missile training at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

He was assigned at the Personnel Force Management Directorate of the Office of the Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel and the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Programs).

[4] After his Pentagon tour, Schiess was reassigned to Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado.

From 2005 to 2007, he was assigned at the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force's Legislative Liaison as chief of space and missile programs at the Weapons Systems Division.

After that, he served as commander of the 4th Space Operations Squadron from 2009 to 2011, in charge of military communication satellites.

For a year after that, he studied at the National War College in Washington, D.C.[4] Schiess was then assigned to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, to serve as commander of the 45th Operations Group from 2012 to 2014.

From 2015 to 2017, he had another commander tour at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, with the 21st Space Wing.

[4] From 2017 to 2018, Schiess served as senior military assistant to the under secretary of the Air Force at the Pentagon, Matthew Donovan.

[4] In July 2021, Schiess was nominated for transfer to the United States Space Force and promotion to major general.

[4] In August 2022, Schiess moved back to Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, to take command of the Combined Force Space Component Command (CFSCC) from Major General DeAnna Burt.