Senior Space Laser Communications Engineer

SpaceX; Redmond; On-site; AUD 200,000 - 336,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Long-term incentives

Employee stock purchase plan

Medical, vision, and dental coverage

401(k) retirement plan

Disability insurance

Life insurance

Paid parental leave

Vacation and holidays

SpaceX shuttle program

Job summary

SpaceX in Redmond is seeking a Sr. Space Lasers Engineer for Satellites (Starlink) to design, validate and operate free-space optical communication systems.

You will contribute to laser communications terminals and imaging products for Starlink, blending theory with hands-on implementation in real-time, resource-constrained environments. You will lead optical architecture, verification testing, field experiments, and collaboration with manufacturing, software, and reliability teams to ensure

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in physics, CS, electrical engineering, or other STEM discipline.
• 2+ years of hands-on laboratory or work experience in optics, photonics, laser technology, or precision mechanical design or testing.
• 1+ years of experience in a computer programming language (e.g. C++, MATLAB, and/or Python).

Responsibilities

• Apply optics and photonics knowledge to optical system development, including design, analysis, and validation.
• Represent the optical system in program-level, cross-disciplinary trades and issue resolution.
• Define requirements for high-performant optical systems in challenging environmental conditions.
• Lead optical architecture definition through internal trade studies, concept of operations definition, and risk reduction testing.
• Participate in verification testing, including environmental qualification, performance characterization, reliability testing, and fault injection testing.
• Define and lead field testing of optical experiments and laser communication systems.
• Review test data and lead anomaly investigation and resolution.
• Maintain link budgets, design specifications, and system capabilities data.
• Interface with manufacturing and supply chain teams to ensure final designs can be manufactured in accordance with overall project goals.
• Collaborate with software and automation teams to develop tools and protocols for automated optical testing.
• Represent laser communications systems for reliability and risk discussions with internal reliability teams, management, customers, and vendors.

Skills

Optics

Photonics

C++

Python

MATLAB

Education

Bachelor’s degree in physics or engineering

Tools

Zemax

Power meters

Job description

SpaceX in Redmond is seeking a Sr. Space Lasers Engineer for Satellites (Starlink) to design, validate and operate free-space optical communication systems.

You will contribute to laser communications terminals and imaging products for Starlink, blending theory with hands-on implementation in real-time, resource-constrained environments. You will lead optical architecture, verification testing, field experiments, and collaboration with manufacturing, software, and reliability teams to ensure