RF Avionics Engineer - Launch Vehicle Systems

Firefly Aerospace; Cedar Park (TX); On-site; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental and vision plans

Parental leave

Educational reimbursement

Short term disability

Pet Insurance

Flexible PTO

Job summary

Firefly Aerospace Inc. is an American end-to-end space transportation company focused on delivering economical access to space for small payloads through launch and spacecraft vehicles.

Cedar Park, TX, serves as a hub for innovation across avionics and RF systems. The RF Focus Electrical Engineering role leads design, development, and testing of flight RF systems and ground stations, coordinating with approval agencies and multi-disciplinary teams to meet schedules.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering.
• 3+ years designing electronics systems with RF emphasis.
• Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering with focus on communications, microwave or satellite.
• Experience with flight vehicle RF transmission systems design and analysis.
• Experience with RF ground station design and operation.
• Experience with project management and small team leadership.
• Hands-on integration of electronics in airborne vehicles.
• Understanding of launch-vehicle subsystems and avionics interfacing with RF systems.
• Experience with environmental testing (thermal, vacuum, shock, vibration, humidity, salt fog).
• Experience with link margin analysis for end-to-end systems.
• Experience with test equipment like network analyzers, SDRs, signal analyzers, generators, meters, GPS simulators.
• Experience with Python, GNURadio, or LabVIEW.
• Experience with BER, SNR, EVM, OSI layers.
• Knowledge of communication systems including FEC and modulation types like BPSK, QPSK, QAM, PCM/FM.
• Atlassian tool usage for communication and documentation.
• Ability to collaborate with other engineering disciplines and regulatory authorities.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop the flight RF systems and the associated ground receiving stations.
• Manage the acquisition of components for this system, including subcontractor coordination and management.
• Coordinate in-house design, development, and test tasks to meet delivery schedules.
• Coordinate with government approval agencies to obtain approvals for operation.
• Manage and coordinate the team’s efforts to complete project tasks.
• Support vehicle testing and launch day activities as the expert on this system.
• Support Launch operations and communication systems as required.
• Support hardware simulation environments to fully test the RF Communication end-to-end.

Skills

RF systems design

Ground station design

Project management

Python

GNURadio

LabVIEW

Network analyzers

Software defined radio

Satellite communications

Education

Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering

Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering with focus on communications/microwave/satellite

Tools

Python

GNURadio

LabVIEW

Network analyzers

Job description

Firefly Aerospace Inc. is an American end-to-end space transportation company focused on delivering economical access to space for small payloads through launch and spacecraft vehicles.

Cedar Park, TX, serves as a hub for innovation across avionics and RF systems. The RF Focus Electrical Engineering role leads design, development, and testing of flight RF systems and ground stations, coordinating with approval agencies and multi-disciplinary teams to meet schedules.