Principal Engineer - TeraWave RF and Optical Systems

Blue Origin; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Travel up to 25%

Job summary

Blue Origin is seeking a Principal Engineer for RF and Optical System Integration & Verification in the Emerging Systems unit. You will own the end-to-end integration, bring-up, and verification strategy for TeraWave's RF and optical payloads, user terminals, and ground segment.

You will serve as the technical authority for ensuring the constellation links work from lab to on-orbit. This principal IC role combines technical leadership with hands-on system integration, verification, and test

Qualifications

• Deep experience with RF/optical system integration and verification.
• Strong skills in test automation and verification planning.
• Experience leading cross-functional engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Own the integration and verification architecture and test framework for RF/optical systems.
• Lead cross-functional campaigns across hardware, RF/antenna, optical, and software teams.
• Direct lab- and site-level bring-up, testing, and commissioning activities.
• Develop advanced verification methods and validation through HITL and on-orbit testing.

Skills

RF/Optical system integration

I&V architecture

Test automation

HITL emulation

Cross-functional leadership

Job description

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We're working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight!

Blue Origin is pioneering the future of space-based communications with TeraWave, a revolutionary satellite communications network designed to deliver symmetrical data speeds of up to 6 Tbps anywhere on Earth. This multi-orbit constellation will consist of optically interconnected satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) and medium Earth orbit (MEO), providing enterprise-grade connectivity for critical operations worldwide.

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We're working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our diverse team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight!

This role is part of the Emerging Systems business unit, which is focused on developing cutting-edge space technologies including TeraWave, Blue Origin's revolutionary space-based networking system. TeraWave is designed to deliver symmetrical data speeds of up to 6 Tbps, providing connectivity to locations unreachable by traditional methods and adding a space-based layer to existing network infrastructure.

As a Principal Engineer for RF and Optical System Integration & Verification, you will own the end-to-end integration, bring-up, and verification strategy for TeraWave's RF and optical communications payloads, user/gateway terminals, and ground segment. You will be the technical authority who proves that the constellation's links work - from first light in an anechoic chamber and Compact Antenna Test Range (CATR), through hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) emulation of orbital dynamics, to on-orbit commissioning and steady-state flight operations.

This is a Principal-level individual contributor and technical leadership role. You will oversee systems and projects across a broad domain, directing system owners across multiple teams on the design, delivery, and planning of integration and verification capability with no day-to-day oversight. You will set the technical direction for how Blue Origin verifies space-based RF and optical links, drive operational excellence across organizational boundaries, and serve as an advisor to leadership and customers on advanced technical studies. Success in this role means not only closing verification against complex requirements, but proactively identifying problems no one has yet identified and proposing novel, cutting-edge solutions where the path forward is not clear.

Special Mentions

This role will be onsite in one of these locations - Greater Seattle Area, WA, Cupertino CA. It is approved for temporary remote work exception while our local site is developed

Relocation assistance available

Travel may be required up to 25% of the time (test ranges, ground station sites, vendor facilities, mission operations centers, and standards bodies).

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Technical Ownership & Architecture
  • Own the integration and verification (I&V) architecture and test automation framework for the TeraWave RF and optical system areas (payload, terminals, ground stations, links).
  • Conduct trade studies, build prototypes, and provide early feasibility analysis to identify I&V architectural options across low-, medium-, and high-performance/high-cost test approaches, and propose the best path forward.
  • Define and own the verification strategy and requirements traceability from ConOps and link budgets through subsystem test, system-level HITL emulation, environmental/chamber campaigns, and on-orbit validation.
  • Develop, apply, and teach advanced technical principles across the full development cycle - requirements, design, analysis, build, verification, and test.
  • Develop and deploy Agentic-AI systems for on-ground automated system validation, data acquisition, analysis, troubleshooting, identifying optimizations and executing test campaigns.
• Integration, Bring-Up & Test Execution
  • Lead cross-functional integration campaigns with hardware, silicon, RF/antenna, optical, modem/DSP, flight software, SDN, networking, and systems engineering teams to bring up system features, troubleshoot problems, and deliver solutions.
  • Direct lab- and site-level satellite and terminal bring-up, including RF line-up, optical bench alignment, clock/timing distribution, power, thermal, and networking test infrastructure, and rooftop/ground antenna integration.
  • Own RF payload line-up and link budget verification: EVM, ACLR, PAPR, Tx power and spectral flatness, Rx sensitivity, adjacent channel selectivity, linear