AESA Ka-Band Unit Lead — Space Payload Architect

CesiumAstro; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Comprehensive benefits: health, dental

Job summary

CesiumAstro seeks a highly skilled Principal Electrical Engineer to lead design, development, integration, test, and flight qualification of advanced spaceborne payloads. This role centers on the AESA unit lead for Ka-band AESAs.

The Unit Lead will guide a multidisciplinary team, own technical definitions, and ensure on-time delivery from prototyping to production, interfacing with customers and program managers.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Electrical Engineering or a related field.
• 8 years of engineering experience in electronics hardware development.
• Hands-on experience with active phased array antennas.
• Expertise in antennas and board-level RF electronics.
• Strong familiarity with power/digital support circuitry and design for manufacturability.
• Experience testing active antennas, including measuring EIRP and G/T.
• Leadership experience, including mentoring or leading multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Strong knowledge of systems engineering practices, requirements flowdown, verification/validation, and configuration management.
• Excellent communication skills with ability to present complex technical information to diverse audiences.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the AESA Unit Lead and primary technical point of contact for the box throughout the product development lifecycle.
• Lead the end-to-end engineering effort for the box, including architecture, design, prototyping, integration, test, environmental qualification, and flight readiness.
• Coordinate and direct a team of RF, digital, power, mechanical, thermal, software, and systems engineers to ensure consistent and timely technical execution.
• Hold schedule accountability for the box development.
• Develop and review payload control schemes, internal data interfaces, command & telemetry architecture, and firmware/software integration as needed.
• Manage all flight qualification activities, including environmental test planning (thermal vacuum, vibration, shock, EMC), margin assessment, and final acceptance testing.
• Own the transition to volume production, including manufacturability, testability, and customer-facing documentation.
• Generate and maintain box-level documentation: requirements, ICDs, block diagrams, test plans, verification matrices, risk registers, and design reviews.
• Interface with spacecraft systems engineering, mission assurance, manufacturing, vendors, and test facilities.
• Drive root cause analysis, anomaly resolution, and technical risk mitigation throughout development and test campaigns.
• Communicate status, technical trades, risks, and design decisions to internal leadership and external customers.

Skills

Electrical Engineering

AESAs

Leadership

Systems Engineering

RF Electronics

Project Management

Active Antennas

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or related field

Tools

RF test equipment

Env. test equipment

Job description

CesiumAstro seeks a highly skilled Principal Electrical Engineer to lead design, development, integration, test, and flight qualification of advanced spaceborne payloads. This role centers on the AESA unit lead for Ka-band AESAs.

The Unit Lead will guide a multidisciplinary team, own technical definitions, and ensure on-time delivery from prototyping to production, interfacing with customers and program managers.