Senior Communications Systems Engineer

Chaos, Inc.; El Segundo (CA); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 176,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Free daily lunch

Unlimited PTO

Relocation assistance

Job summary

CHAOS Industries is seeking a Systems Engineer to own the connectivity backbone of fielded systems, including 5G/cellular, SATCOM (Starlink), P2P wireless, and mesh radios. You will ensure verifiable requirements, defined architectures, and traceability from factory test to field deployment.

You will scan for new tech and drive promising solutions to the product baseline. This is a full-time onsite role in Hawthorne, CA.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical, Aerospace, Systems or related engineering field.
• 7+ years of systems engineering experience in SATCOM, wireless, or tactical networking.
• Experience developing, managing, and verifying interface requirements across product lifecycles.
• Working knowledge of SATCOM/RF systems, antennaes and modem chains.
• Knowledge of LTE/5G bands and Starlink terminals.
• Strong IP networking fundamentals: routing, switching, VPNs, protocols.
• Experience with RF link budgets and antenna placement analysis.
• Experience with requirements mgmt and traceability across multi-level sets.

Responsibilities

• Translate mission and customer needs into verifiable system requirements for connectivity.
• Develop and maintain connectivity architectures, interfaces, and ICDs across multiple networks.
• Perform design analysis and verification including RF metrics, handover behavior, and regulatory compliance.
• Lead trade studies balancing performance, size/weight/power, cost, and compliance.

Skills

Systems engineering

SATCOM

RF analysis

IP networking

Traceability

Regulatory compliance

Vendor collaboration

Root cause analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

Tools

Cameo MBSE

ALM tools

Python scripting

Job description

CHAOS Industries is redefining modern defense with a multi-product portfolio that gives the ultimate advantage—domain dominance. The company's products are powered by Coherent Distributed Networks (CDN™), empowering warfighters, commercial air operators, and border protection teams to act faster, adapt rapidly, and stay ahead of evolving threats.

CHAOS Industries was founded in 2022 and has raised a total of $1 billion in funding from leading investors, including 8VC, Accel, and Valor Equity Partners. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, and London. For more information, please visit www.chaosinc.com .

Role Overview

AsaCommunications Systems Engineer, you will own the connectivity backbone of CHAOS's fielded systems — 5G/cellular, SATCOM (e.g.Starlink), point-to-point wireless, and tactical mesh radios. You will bring rigorous systems engineering practice to the comms domain: verifiable requirements with traceability, defined architectures and interfaces, disciplined trade studies, and verification from factory test through field deployment. Your mission is to ensure everycommunicationssolutionis selected, qualified, validated, and ready forfield deployment.

You will also keep CHAOS ahead of the pace of commercial and tactical comms innovation, continuously scanning the landscape for emerging technologies — new radios, waveforms, multi-orbit SATCOM constellations, and software-defined networking approaches — and driving the most promising into the product baseline. This role is full-time onsite at our office in Hawthorne, CA.

Responsibilities

• Translate mission, customer, and business needs into verifiable, traceable system and subsystem requirements for connectivity
• Develop andmaintainconnectivity architectures, interfaces, design descriptions, and ICDs across cellular/5G, SATCOM (LEO/MEO/GEO), point-to-point wireless, and tactical mesh networks
• Perform design analysis and verification — RF link budgets, key performance parameters (EIRP, G/T, C/N₀, Eb/N₀, throughput), antenna placement and pointing, handover behavior, and regulatory compliance
• Lead trade studies weighing performance, size/weight/power, cost, availability, and compliance — including forward-looking needs such as non-line-of-sight links, elevated relays, and GPS-denied synchronization

Hardware Selection & Qualification

• Evaluate, select, and qualify comms hardware (cell modems, SATCOM terminals, P2P dishes, mesh radios) for field robustness and regional compatibility — verifying RF bands, regulatory suitability, and export/AT compliance before purchase or baseline, and managing regional variants in the product BOM
• Collaborate with suppliers, satellite operators, and service providers to develop and integrate connectivity solutions

Integration & Test

• Integrate comms equipment into factory test plans with clear pass/fail criteria, andestablishpre-ship verification on representative system hardware with in-country SIMs and bands
• Support system integration, troubleshooting, and root-cause analysis from lab through field deployment — driving corrective actions into the baseline;participatein technical reviews and embed with product scrums to verify baseline compatibility

Deployment & Field Support

• Own the tested connectivity matrix across deployment countries (cellular bands, SATCOM legality and plans, spectrum constraints, validated fallbacks) along with configuration baselines and runbooks for all comms peripherals, in partnership with FDE, Mission, and IT
• Provide reach-back support to deployed teams during international demos and operations, with occasional travel to deployment sites

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related technical discipline
• 7+ years of experience in systems engineering supporting SATCOM, wireless communications, tactical networking, or connectivity products
• Experience developing, managing, and verifying system, subsystem, and interface requirements throughout the product lifecycle
• Working knowledge of SATCOM and RF communications systems, including satellite link analysis, antenna systems, and modem/RF chain fundamentals
• Working knowledge of cellular technologies and international band plans (LTE/5G NR), and practical experience with satellite internet terminals (e.g., Starlink)
• Strong understanding of IP networking concepts, including routing, switching, network protocols, VPNs, failover, and connectivity architectures
• ExperienceperformingRF linkbudget analysis, antenna placementoptimization, and line-of-sight/NLOS analysis in complex terrain
• Experience developing hardware test procedures and pass/fail criteria for production or integration environments
• Experience collaborating with customers, suppliers, and cross-functional engineering teams on complex technical programs
• Excellent problem-solving skills and a bias toward root cause over workaround

Preferred Requirements

• Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related technical discipline
• Experience with tactical mesh radios (e.g., MPU5/Wave Relay) and 60 GHz / 5 GHz P2P systems
• Familiarity with multi-orbit constellations (LEO/MEO/GEO), beam/satellite handover, and ground network integration
• Experience designing or integrating secure communications architectures, including authentication, encryption, VPNs, certificate management, and secure remote connectivity
• Experience analyzing communications performance in contested, degraded, or denied environments, including multi-path, interference, jamming, and dynamic network topology
• Experience with requirements management, Application Lifecycle Management (ALM), and/or Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) tools such as Cameo, including multi-level requirements sets and traceability
• Familiarity with export control and supply-chain compliance considerations for communications hardware (e.g., country-of-origin restrictions)
• Scripting for test automation and network validation (Python, Bash)
• INCOSE certification ordemonstratedapplication of systems engineering best practices
• Experience in a rapid-iteration hardware production environment
• Experience supporting international deployments of communications equipment, including regional regulatory and spectrum considerations
• Active or eligible U.S. security clearance

Why CHAOS?

• Health Benefits: Medical, dental, and vision benefits 100% paid for by the company
• Additional benefits: 401k (+ 50% company match up to 6% of pay), FSA, HSA, life insurance, and more
• Our Perks: Free daily lunch, ‘No meeting Fridays’, unlimited PTO, casual dress code
• Compensation Components: Competitive base salaries, generous pre-IPO stock option grants, relocation assistance, and (coming soon!) annual bonuses
• Team Growth: 350 employees and counting across 5 global offices

$140k-176k

The stated compensation range reflects only the targeted base compensation range and excludes additional earnings such as bonus, equity, and benefits. If your compensation requirements fall outside of the range, we still encourage you to apply. The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary offer may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations.

#LI-onsite

Export Controls

This position may require access to information and technology that is subject to U.S. export controls. Your responses to the questions below will be used solely to determine your eligibility under U.S. law to receive information and materials subject to U.S. export controls.

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiringprocess or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in aconfidential file.

As set forth in CHAOS Industries’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

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