Senior Electrical Engineer - Lasercom & Space Optics

Wheel the World; Los Angeles (CA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive Compensation

Equity Opportunities

Flexible Work Environment (LA Office)

Unlimited PTO

Health & Wellness

Cutting-Edge Tools

Mission-Driven Culture

Inclusive Team

Job summary

Observable Space is seeking an experienced Electrical Engineer to lead the design of electrical systems powering advanced laser communications technology. The role intersects photonics, RF, and DSP, supporting high-performance optical links for aerospace applications.

Reporting to the Director of Electrical Engineering, you will collaborate with optical engineers to optimize system budgets, performance, and reliability across prototype to flight-qualified hardware.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Photonics, Optical Engineering, or related discipline.
• 5+ years designing optical communication or high-speed communication systems.
• Strong understanding of fiber electronics, optics, lasers, and signal processing.
• Experience designing electronics supporting high-speed optical or communication systems.
• Familiarity with digital communication theory, modulation schemes, coding, synchronization, and digital signal processing.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop electronics that interface with laser communication systems (lasers, PICs, optical amplifiers, modulators, detectors).
• Design high-speed analog and mixed-signal circuitry for coherent/FSO optical links.
• Develop signal conditioning, timing, clocking, and data conversion circuitry for ultra-high-bandwidth links.
• Model, simulate, prototype, and characterize optical communication hardware in lab.
• Support DSP pipelines for modulation, demodulation, synchronization, equalization, and optical signal recovery.
• Collaborate with optical engineers to optimize laser performance and system budgets.
• Perform electrical characterization using oscilloscopes, VNAs, spectrum analyzers, BERTs, etc.
• Engage in architecture trade studies and component selection for full optical system.
• Support transition from prototype to flight-qualified hardware balancing performance and manufacturability.

Skills

Analytical thinking

Problem solving

Cross-disciplinary collaboration

Adaptability

Education

Bachelor’s degree in EE/Physics/Photonic/Optical Engineering

MS or PhD in optical communications/photonic fields

Tools

ADS

HFSS

CST

COMSOL

Lumerical

MATLAB/Simulink

FPGA development

Job description

Observable Space is seeking an experienced Electrical Engineer to lead the design of electrical systems powering advanced laser communications technology. The role intersects photonics, RF, and DSP, supporting high-performance optical links for aerospace applications.

Reporting to the Director of Electrical Engineering, you will collaborate with optical engineers to optimize system budgets, performance, and reliability across prototype to flight-qualified hardware.