Flight Telecom Systems Engineer II

citjpl; United States; On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, seeks a Flight Telecom Systems Engineer II to join the Flight Communications & Tracking Section. You will contribute across the product lifecycle, from concept to flight model development, testing, and flight operations support.

The role emphasizes complex telecom tasks, collaboration with senior engineers, and delivering reliable spacecraft subsystems.

Responsibilities

• Provide telecom system engineering support on flight telecom subsystems for deep-space interplanetary missions, Earth-orbiting missions, and lunar/Mars relay networks.
• Demonstrate collaborative, team-oriented approach; support teammates and contribute to a safe, positive culture.
• Take ownership of assigned tasks and deliverables, communicating progress, risks, and recommendations clearly to senior engineers and task leads.
• Build strong working relationships across the telecom team and with other subsystem engineers, laying groundwork for future technical leadership roles.
• Participate actively in technical reviews and team discussions, offering sound engineering judgment and contributing to decisions that build trust with senior staff.
• Generate telecom component and subsystem-level requirements, responding to project and flight system needs with appropriate requirements flow down.
• Develop and prepare interface agreements between the telecom subsystem and other spacecraft subsystems.
• Conduct system-level link analyses, using statistically-derived link parameters.
• Partner with other engineers to evaluate current telecom components, algorithms, subsystems, and end-to-end system performance.
• Conduct software simulations and hardware tests, summarizing results to verify telecom system functionality.
• Contribute new ideas and concepts toward the improvement of existing telecom products and technologies.
• Present analyses and technical results at peer-level design and technical reviews.
• Contribute technical content, data, and graphics to proposal and CSR development efforts.
• Serve as SME on concept teams, applying telecom expertise to devise, validate, and benchmark new approaches.
• Support the tracking and documentation of mass, power, and data volume specifications and allocations for assigned telecom components, under the guidance of senior engineers.
• Perform and/or provide independent review of reliability analyses and interface failure mode analysis.
• Draft or update telecom functional description documents, comm behavior manager documents, and other design control documents related to the telecom

Job description

New ideas are all around us, but only a few will change the world. That's our focus at JPL. We ask the biggest questions, then search the universe for answers-literally. We build upon ideas that have guided generations, then share our discoveries to inspire generations to come. Your mission-your opportunity-is to seek out the answers that bring us one step closer. If you're driven to discover, create, and inspire something that lasts a lifetime and beyond, you're ready for JPL.

Located in Pasadena, California, JPL has a campus-like environment situated on 177 acres in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and offers a work environment unlike any other: we inspire passion, foster innovation, build collaboration, and reward excellence.

Responsibilities

The JPL Communications and Instruments Division performs scientific investigations, advanced technology research, engineering developments and system implementations encompassing space telecommunications, tracking and active remote sensing using electromagnetic waves. The Flight Communications & Tracking Section provides cost-effective space communications systems, software defined radios, high power RF amplifiers, and power supplies that support primary telecom subsystems and major radar and radiometer science payloads. The section also provides Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) flight equipment, radiometric science instruments, high stability frequency standards and clocks and seismometers for NASA/JPL missions. In addition to flight hardware expertise, the section specializes in collection of and processing of worldwide, fixed site, GNSS data that is processed into clock, atmospheric, and ionospheric GNSS correction metrics. The section also develops high stability frequency references and clocks for flight and ground applications.

The Flight Communications & Tracking Section at JPL is looking for a highly motivated and experienced Flight Telecom Systems Engineer II to join their Communication System Engineering and Operations Group. As a member of this Group, you will have an opportunity to be involved in all phases of product development from early concept and mission formulation, low technology readiness specification and prototyping to engineering and flight model development and implementation, functional and environmental testing, and flight operations support. In this role, you will perform complex and varied engineering tasks within the telecom discipline, partnering with senior engineers across all phases of the product lifecycle.

Tasks include but are not limited to

• Provide telecom system engineering support on various flight telecom subsystems for deep-space interplanetary missions, Earth-orbiting missions, and lunar/Mars relay networks.
• Demonstrate the collaborative, team-oriented approach expected of a future technical leader by proactively supporting teammates, sharing knowledge, and contributing to a positive, safety-conscious team culture.
• Take ownership of assigned tasks and deliverables, communicating progress, risks, and recommendations clearly to senior engineers and task leads.
• Build strong working relationships across the telecom team and with other subsystem engineers, laying the groundwork for future technical leadership roles.
• Participate actively in technical reviews and team discussions, offering sound engineering judgment and contributing to decisions that build trust with senior staff.
• Generate telecom component and subsystem-level requirements, responding to project and flight system needs with appropriate requirements flow down
• Develop and prepare interface agreements between the telecom subsystem and other spacecraft subsystems.
• Conduct system-level link analyses, using statistically-derived link parameters
• Partner with other engineers to evaluate current telecom components, algorithms, subsystems, and end-to-end system performance.
• Conduct software simulations and hardware tests, summarizing results to verify telecom system functionality.
• Contribute new ideas and concepts toward the improvement of existing telecom products and technologies.
• Present analyses and technical results at peer-level design and technical reviews.
• Contribute technical content, data, and graphics to proposal and Concept Study Report (CSR) development efforts.
• Serve as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) on concept development teams, applying telecom-specific expertise to devise, validate, and benchmark new approaches to technical challenges.
• Support the tracking and documentation of mass, power, and data volume specifications and allocations for assigned telecom components, under the guidance of senior engineers.
• Perform and/or provide independent review of reliability analyses (worst-case, parts stress, radiation, thermal, structural, etc.) and interface failure mode analysis.
• Draft or update telecom functional description documents, comm behavior manager documents, and other design control documents related to the telecom