Senior SATCOM Systems Engineer: Modem & SoC Architect

KBR Careers; Newport (RI); On-site; USD 140,000 - 155,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401K with company match

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Life insurance

Disability coverage

Flexible spending account

Paid time off

Flexible work schedule

Job summary

KBR is seeking a Senior SATCOM Systems Engineer to guide architecture, analysis, integration, and oversight of advanced satellite communications systems. You will work across RF, IF, baseband, and networking layers to optimize modem designs and ensure mission success.

Ideal candidates have deep RF and digital communications knowledge, hands-on modem work, and are authorized for DoD SECRET clearance. This role emphasizes mentoring, formal reviews, and collaboration with customers and vendors.

Qualifications

• BS in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Applied Mathematics, or related field.
• 8+ years of progressively responsible experience in communications system development.
• Hands-on experience supporting modem, waveform, or RF subsystem design or integration.
• Experience supporting integration and system-level testing.
• Experience working in DoD or defense communications programs.
• Strong RF engineering foundations including non-linear effects, phase noise, filtering, frequency planning, and interference analysis.
• Digital communications theory including modulation, coding, synchronization, and detection.
• Experience evaluating or implementing ModCod strategies and adaptive coding/modulation.
• Experience with multiple access schemes.
• Experience performing link budget analysis and system performance modeling.
• Experience with FPGA or SoC-based modem architectures.
• Experience with MATLAB or equivalent modeling tools.
• Ability to translate waveform and RF performance analysis into actionable system requirements.
• Active DoD SECRET clearance.

Responsibilities

• Analyze and define modem and RF subsystem architectures for SATCOM systems.
• Evaluate modulation and coding schemes under operational link conditions.
• Assess and support implementation of multiple access techniques.
• Develop and review link budgets, spectral efficiency analyses, and interference mitigation strategies.
• Support System-on-Chip (SoC) or FPGA-based modem implementations and hardware/software partitioning decisions.
• Define system and interface requirements across RF, IF, baseband, and Layer 2 interfaces.
• Support integration and test of modem and terminal subsystems in laboratory and field environments.
• Identify technical risks and performance trades across waveform, RF, and network layers.
• Serve as SME for SATCOM systems and technologies.
• Mentor junior engineers and support technical development of project teams.
• Lead technical reviews including SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, and customer readiness reviews.
• Interface directly with customers, government stakeholders, vendors, and subcontractors.

Skills

RF engineering

Modem development

DoD programs

Link budget

SoC/FPGA

MATLAB

SATCOM

Clearance

Education

BS in Electrical Engineering

MS in Electrical Engineering (preferred)

Tools

MATLAB

HDL

C/C++

Job description

KBR is seeking a Senior SATCOM Systems Engineer to guide architecture, analysis, integration, and oversight of advanced satellite communications systems. You will work across RF, IF, baseband, and networking layers to optimize modem designs and ensure mission success.

Ideal candidates have deep RF and digital communications knowledge, hands-on modem work, and are authorized for DoD SECRET clearance. This role emphasizes mentoring, formal reviews, and collaboration with customers and vendors.