Senior Wireless MAC Engineer for Spacecraft Networks

Blue Origin; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 248,830 - 348,361; Full time

Job summary

Blue Origin is seeking a Senior Wireless Software Engineer for Spacecraft Systems to lead the design and implementation of a custom MAC layer for the TeraWave initiative. You will shape how satellites communicate with each other and with ground stations, delivering high-performance, low-latency, space-grade wireless protocols.

Collaborating with PHY and network teams, you will optimize MAC architectures, drive decisions on framing, access models, QoS, and handovers across thousands of beams, and

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS, EE, or related field.
• 7+ years of professional software development experience in wireless networking or embedded systems.
• Proficiency in C and C++ on Linux RTOS or high-performance user-space environments.
• Deep understanding of wireless MAC fundamentals, including framing, contention vs scheduled access, QoS prioritization.
• Experience with the full lifecycle of a wireless protocol stack, from architectural design through hardware integration and field testing.

Responsibilities

• Architect and implement MAC protocols for satellite links.
• Develop TDMA and DAMA schedulers with microsecond precision.
• Implement ARQ and AMC error control and fast adaptation.
• Enable make-before-break handovers between satellites and ground stations.
• Optimize MAC-to-data-path interfaces with DPDK/VPP for zero-copy paths.
• Collaborate with PHY and network teams to meet performance targets.
• Lead MAC development from design to testing and deployment.

Skills

C/C++

Linux RTOS

Wireless networking

Embedded systems

MAC layer design

TDMA/DAMA scheduling

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/EE or related field

Tools

DPDK

VPP

eBPF

ns-3

FPGA interfacing

Job description

Blue Origin is seeking a Senior Wireless Software Engineer for Spacecraft Systems to lead the design and implementation of a custom MAC layer for the TeraWave initiative. You will shape how satellites communicate with each other and with ground stations, delivering high-performance, low-latency, space-grade wireless protocols.

Collaborating with PHY and network teams, you will optimize MAC architectures, drive decisions on framing, access models, QoS, and handovers across thousands of beams, and