Principal RF & Optical Systems Engineer — Space Comm I&V

Front Door Defense; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 231,000 - 323,000; 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 to own end-to-end verification from ground to on-orbit operations. You will lead cross-functional campaigns and develop HITL simulations to validate 6 Tbps class links in a multi-orbit network.

The role requires 7+ years in RF/optical system integration, strong hands-on test experience, and leadership across engineering teams. onsite in Seattle or Cupertino with occasional remote work.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical/Computer Engineering or Physics.
• 7+ years in RF and/or optical communications system integration, test, and verification.
• Ownership of end-to-end I&V lifecycles from requirements to on-orbit validation.

Responsibilities

• Own I&V architecture and test automation framework for RF/optical areas (payload, terminals, ground stations).
• Lead cross‑functional integration campaigns across hardware, silicon, RF/antenna, optical, DSP, flight software, SDN, and systems engineering teams.
• Direct lab- and site-level bring-up, including RF line-up, optical bench alignment, and antenna integration.
• Develop verification strategy and requirements traceability through system validation stages.
• Contribute production-quality code and tooling in Python, C/C++, MATLAB/Simulink for test automation.

Skills

RF/optical integration

End-to-end verification

HITL emulation

Python

C/C++

MATLAB/Simulink

Technical leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering

Physics background

Tools

VNA

Signal generators

Oscilloscopes

Channel emulators

GNSS simulators

Anechoic chamber

Job description

Blue Origin is seeking a Principal Engineer for RF and Optical System Integration & Verification to own end-to-end verification from ground to on-orbit operations. You will lead cross-functional campaigns and develop HITL simulations to validate 6 Tbps class links in a multi-orbit network.

The role requires 7+ years in RF/optical system integration, strong hands-on test experience, and leadership across engineering teams. onsite in Seattle or Cupertino with occasional remote work.