Senior Space Lasers Engineer - Free-Space Optical Comm

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

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

401(k) retirement plan

Health insurance

Paid vacation

Job summary

SpaceX in Redmond, WA seeks a Sr. Space Lasers Engineer to design, validate, and operate free-space optical communication systems for Starlink.

You will lead optical architecture, verification, and testing for environment-robust laser communication systems and tracking capabilities. You will collaborate with software, manufacturing, and reliability teams to deliver mission-critical Starlink laser hardware, while mentoring engineers and driving robust, scalable solutions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in physics, computer science, electrical engineering, or related field.
• 2+ years of hands-on optics, photonics, laser tech, or precision design experience.
• 1+ years programming experience in C++, MATLAB, 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 knowledge

Team leadership

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor’s degree in physics, computer science, electrical engineering

Tools

C++

MATLAB

Python

Job description

SpaceX in Redmond, WA seeks a Sr. Space Lasers Engineer to design, validate, and operate free-space optical communication systems for Starlink.

You will lead optical architecture, verification, and testing for environment-robust laser communication systems and tracking capabilities. You will collaborate with software, manufacturing, and reliability teams to deliver mission-critical Starlink laser hardware, while mentoring engineers and driving robust, scalable solutions.