Lunar User Terminal Engineer

Viasat; City Of London; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading communications firm in the UK is seeking a Senior/Principal User Terminal Engineer to lead the design and delivery of user terminals for lunar missions. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in satellite communications engineering, enabling innovative solutions to support lunar exploration. This role encompasses defining user terminal requirements, leading procurement efforts, and collaborating with cross-functional project teams to ensure the successful implementation of communication strategies.

Benefits

Equal opportunity employer

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in satellite communications engineering with a satellite operator or equipment manufacturer.
• Experience with space hardware development, qualification and acceptance testing.
• Technical product, procurement or program management expertise.

Responsibilities

• Define user terminal design, technical requirements and specifications.
• Lead user terminal procurement activities.
• Coordinate with internal teams to ensure compliance and alignment.
• Oversee test plans for qualification and performance evaluation.

Skills

Satellite communications engineering

Expertise in satcom terminal HW/SW design

Excellent written and verbal communications skills

Education

Degree in electronics or satellite communications

Job description

About us

One team. Global challenges. Infinite opportunities. At Viasat, we’re on a mission to deliver connections with the capacity to change the world. For more than 35 years, Viasat has helped shape how consumers, businesses, governments and militaries around the globe communicate. We’re looking for people who think big, act fearlessly, and create an inclusive environment that drives positive impact to join our team.

What you\'ll do

Space agencies around the world are investing heavily into lunar exploration with the aim of establishing the Moon as a platform for humanity to become a multi-planetary species. Lunar exploration missions are furthering key scientific objectives around surviving and prospering in space as well as providing information on the origins of life as a whole. The lunar roadmap foresees in-situ resource utilisation on the Moon to establish a permanent human presence during the 2030s, as well as using the Moon as a “refuelling station” for further space exploration to Mars and beyond.

As part of the investment into lunar exploration, European Space Agency (ESA) created the Moonlight programme – a private-public partnership. Moonlight will develop new communications and navigation capabilities and services that will be provided to missions on and around the Moon through the launch of dedicated infrastructure.

Viasat is the design authority for the communications service and responsible for the design and procurement of space segment, ground segment and user infrastructure to enable lunar communications services by the end of the decade.

We are looking for a Senior/Principal User Terminal Engineer to drive the design and delivery of user terminal(s) that would enable lunar customers mission across landers, rovers, orbiters, habitats to communicate with their mission operations centres on Earth via relay satellites.

The Senior/Principal User Terminal Engineer will lead the work to define and specify the lunar user terminal requirements, establish the user terminal technology strategy and procure the user terminal in line with performance, cost and timeline targets. The work will also focus on establishing the strategy and delivering the tools for user terminal type-approval to ensure the user terminal meets the network requirements and delivers the required performance to the customer.

The work encompasses design development and delivery of initial user terminal for communications service validation as well as development of streamlined terminals for customers.

The Senior/Principal User Terminal Engineer will work as part of a cross functional project team alongside systems, space segment and ground segment teams. They will also work together with Viasat partners and vendors responsible for delivering the user terminal and any required type approval tools.

The day-to-day

• Analyse the trade-space and define user terminal design, technical requirements and specifications to deliver a user terminal that meets performance, cost and timeline targets across various lunar communication user terminal classes.
• Lead user terminal procurement activities, including vendor selection, evaluation and technical negotiations.
• Lead design reviews with vendors and ensure the design, architectures, interfaces, engineering processes and plans for the user terminal are appropriately defined and described in deliverables.
• Coordinate with internal teams to ensure compliance and alignment with end-to-end communications system architecture, waveform, customer and service requirements.
• Develop and implement strategy for lunar communication user terminal certification / type approval to ensure customer terminals are in line with regulatory and operator requirements.
• Establish a strategy for developing a user terminal for Moonlight communications service qualification.
• Oversee and support the development of test plans for qualification and performance evaluation of lunar communications user terminals with industry partners and conduct test results reviews.
• Collaborate with partner organisations and institutions to explore the development of joint communications and navigation lunar user terminals.
• Support user terminal system integration and testing activities.

What you\'ll need

• Degree qualification in electronics, satellite communications or commensurate experience
• 8+ years of experience in satellite communications engineering with a satellite operator or equipment manufacturer
• Expertise in satcom terminal HW/SW design across antennas (mechanical or phased arrays), software defined radio modules, RF subsystems, interfaces and protocols
• Experience with satcom or 4G/5G waveforms and protocols
• Experience with space hardware development, qualification and acceptance testing, including designing systems that require spacecraft-level interfaces across data, power, mechanical as well as thermal control techniques
• Technical product, procurement or program management expertise
• Excellent written and verbal communications skills with extensive experience in system engineering methodologies

What will help you on the job

• Expertise in design, development and qualification of communications terminals used for space exploration or spaceborne communications modules (payloads, TT&C devices, intersatellite link modules)
• Experience in European Space Agency projects, methodologies, and product assurance processes.
• Previous experience working on space mission communications projects using CCSDS protocol standards
• Previous project experience working in Ka band and S band receive and transmit radio frequency chains
• Familiarity with spacecraft electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), thermal vacuum, mechanical and radiation environmental testing

EEO Statement

Viasat is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, seeking to create a welcoming and diverse environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, genetics, age, or veteran status or any other applicable legally protected status or characteristic. If you would like to request an accommodation on the basis of disability for completing this on-line application, please click here.