Lead Electrical Engineer, Spaceborne Ka-Band AESA

CesiumAstro; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

CesiumAstro in Austin, TX seeks a Principal Electrical Engineer to lead design, development, integration, test and flight qualification of advanced spaceborne payloads in Ka-band AESA products.

You will guide architecture, prototyping, environmental tests, and transition to volume production while coordinating RF, digital, power, mechanical, thermal, software, and systems teams. The role demands leadership, deep RF knowledge, and strong communication with customers and leadership.

Qualifications

• 9+ years in electronics hardware development.
• Hands-on experience with phased array antennas.
• Expertise in antennas and board-level RF electronics.
• Strong power/digital support circuitry knowledge and DFM.
• Experience testing active antennas (EIRP, G/T).
• Proven leadership of multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Knowledge of requirements flowdown, verification/validation, config mgmt.
• Excellent communication for diverse audiences.

Responsibilities

• Serve as AESA Unit Lead and primary technical contact across product lifecycle.
• Lead end-to-end engineering: architecture, design, prototyping, integration, test, flight readiness.
• Coordinate multidisciplinary team: RF, digital, power, mechanical, thermal, software, systems.
• Hold schedule accountability for box development.
• Develop payload control schemes, internal data interfaces, CMD/telemetry, firmware/software integration.
• Manage flight qualification activities: environmental testing planning, margins, final acceptance testing.
• Own transition to volume production: manufacturability, testability, customer-facing docs.
• Generate and maintain requirements, ICDs, block diagrams, test plans, verification matrices, risk regs, design reviews.
• Interface with spacecraft systems eng, mission assurance, manufacturing, vendors, test facilities.
• Drive root cause analysis, anomaly resolution, and risk mitigation.
• Communicate status and design decisions to leadership and external customers.

Skills

AESA

RF electronics

Leadership

Systems engineering

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Phased array antennas

Environmental testing

EMC testing

Job description

CesiumAstro in Austin, TX seeks a Principal Electrical Engineer to lead design, development, integration, test and flight qualification of advanced spaceborne payloads in Ka-band AESA products.

You will guide architecture, prototyping, environmental tests, and transition to volume production while coordinating RF, digital, power, mechanical, thermal, software, and systems teams. The role demands leadership, deep RF knowledge, and strong communication with customers and leadership.