Senior Space Communications Systems Engineer

CesiumAstro; Denver (CO); On-site; USD 133,000 - 161,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Health insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

HSA

FSA

Life insurance

Disability insurance

Retirement plans

Job summary

CesiumAstro is hiring a Senior Communication Systems Engineer to own the design, configuration, and operation of the satellite space-to-ground communication links. You will define the ground communication in nominal and off-nominal conditions to ensure reliable command, telemetry, and fault recovery.

The ideal candidate has a strong systems engineering background with space-based payloads and ground terminals, and experience coordinating across multidisciplinary teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering or a related field.
• A minimum of 5 years of experience with emphasis on satellite communications, RF system engineering, or related fields
• Experience in design, verification, and operation of satellite communication links
• Strong understanding of link budget analysis, modulation schemes, and ground station interfaces
• Hands-on experience configuring and testing ground station equipment and space-qualified radios and antennas
• Practical understanding of how space links fail, why, and how to fix them before they break
• Ability to define and implement communication system CONOPS for nominal and emergency operations
• Experience with satellite communication link licensing and regulatory compliance (ITU/FCC)

Responsibilities

• Model, analyze and maintain the satellite’s link budget, modulation and coding, ensuring reliable communications from space to ground for all RF links.
• Architect hardware-based crypto solutions for flight hardware, manage pass-throughs and end points for users and operations.
• Strong understanding of ground station and network operations with the ability to troubleshoot issues with commercial providers and on-site terminals.
• Define how the radios are used in different mission phases, including contingency operations and emergency recovery.
• Contribute to the RF link test campaign and work with flight software and ground teams to validate end-to-end communication link performance, from antenna to command center.
• Optimize low-SWaP communications, mitigate interference, and ensure robust, fail-safe links.

Skills

Satellite communications

RF engineering

Ground stations

Link budget

Education

Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering

Tools

Ground radios

Space-qualified antennas

Job description

CesiumAstro is hiring a Senior Communication Systems Engineer to own the design, configuration, and operation of the satellite space-to-ground communication links. You will define the ground communication in nominal and off-nominal conditions to ensure reliable command, telemetry, and fault recovery.

The ideal candidate has a strong systems engineering background with space-based payloads and ground terminals, and experience coordinating across multidisciplinary teams.