Senior Communications Engineer

Senior Communications Engineer

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in a relevant engineering discipline.
• A minimum of five years of technical experience, preferably in a space operations environment.
• Understanding of EE fundamentals/RF communications systems from a first principles perspective, including systems architecture, antennas, signal processing, and/or RF propagation.
• Familiarity with existing communications technology in aerospace and space industries.
• Experience developing and validating RF link budget system models.
• Knowledge of key parameters for Noise and Linearity for RF Systems and their impact on system performance.
• Familiarity with using RF and Electrical Test Equipment (e.g. oscilloscope, power meter, spectrum analyzer, signal generator, VNA, noise sources, etc.)
• Ability to develop of design documentation.
• Possess strong team and inter-team cooperation and organization skills, including team leadership experience.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with a strong understanding of audience.
• Ability to multi-task within a startup, fast paced environment.
• Proven experience as a self-starter, that can work independently to manage complex projects from conception to completion.
• Must be a US Citizen.

Responsibilities

• As a member of the satellite communications system, you will be involved with performing communications system design and analysis, testing, debug, data analysis, and supporting flight hardware design.
• Perform functional analyses (link, power, throughput, etc.), detailed trade studies, and interface definition efforts to translate initial requirements into concepts and eventually detailed and qualified designs.
• Identify the necessary space-segment and ground-segment hardware necessary to accomplish payload and telemetry transmission over a wide range of mission CONOPS and orbital parameters.
• Create dedicated test setups, procedures for antenna checkout, radio peripheral checkout, cable/phasing network checkout, ground station compatibility tests, channel simulation tests, regulatory tests, and end to end full RF systems tests.
• Work hands-on with digital and analog RF equipment including radios, antennas, ADCs, and ground support equipment.
• Support production testers in the development and execution of test plans that ensure adequate testing of units and the complete system.
• Interface with supplier/vendors as needed to support subsystem procurement, design, development, and production.
• Collaborate among a multi-disciplinary engineering and production team to design and test satellite systems, subsystems, and components.
• Support analyses and troubleshooting of in-orbit communication challenges and advise on operational Con Ops and performance.
• Manage competing priorities and manage individual tasks towards larger company and team objectives.
• Other relevant duties assigned.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with avionics and antenna installation, testing and maintenance.
• Understanding of radiation effects on electronics.
• Experience with requirements and verification database management tools (We use Jama, DOORS and others are also good experience to have).
• Knowledge of CCSDS communications standard and AES/GCM encryption.
• Experience with DVB-S2/S2X.
• Experience with test automation and efficient data processing (LabVIEW, Python, MATLAB).
• Experience writing software for data analysis and test conduct (python, MATLAB, bash, etc.) and developing test scripts to interface with hardware.
• Knowledge of RF licensing procedures or other RF regulatory experience.
• Ability to balance system level thinking with detailed problem solving.