Senior RF Communication Systems Engineer II

Please Note: To conform with the United States Government Space Technology Export Regulations, the applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., conditional resident, asylee or refugee (protected individuals as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.
At CesiumAstro, we are developers and pioneers of out-of-the-box communication systems for satellites, UAVs, launch vehicles, and other space and airborne platforms. We take pride in our dynamic and cross-functional work environment, which allows us to learn, develop, and engage across our organization. If you are looking for hands-on, interactive, and autonomous work, CesiumAstro is the place for you. We are actively seeking passionate, collaborative, energetic, and forward-thinking individuals to join our team.
We are looking to add a Senior RF Communication Systems Engineer II to our team. If you are great at what you do, enjoy working in a startup environment, and are passionate about developing leading-edge phased arrays for satellites, spacecraft, and aerospace systems, we would like to hear from you. In this position, you will work closely with our Director of Conceptual Design to develop complex, state-of-the-art payload systems for space and airborne applications. You will work in close collaboration with the business development team as well as the RF/Antenna/systems engineering team on architecture concepts and enabling technologies for communications, SAR, and SIGINT systems. You will lead the development of space architecture concepts, sub-system design, payload design, requirements development, analysis and decomposition, high-level software and hardware system architecture design, concept of operations (CONOPS) development, and risk assessment.
The successful candidate will communicate effectively with team members and internal stakeholders, as well as participate in authoring content. 

JOB DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Evaluating customer/operational needs to define system performance requirements, integrating technical parameters, and assuring compatibility of all physical, functional, and program interfaces.
• Supporting reviews of requests for proposals to support solution development and response.
• Leading architecture-level trade studies.
• Defining and validating space system requirements and interfaces.
• Developing and directing technical concept development in support of proposals.
• Leading the development of space architecture concepts, sub-system design, payload design, requirements development, analysis and decomposition, hardware system design, Link budget studies, gain line up, cascade analysis, array simulation studies, concept of operations (CONOPS) development, and risk reduction.
• Leading analyses to optimize total system of systems and/or system architecture.
• Leading analyses for affordability, safety, reliability, maintainability, testability, human systems integration, survivability, vulnerability, susceptibility, system security, regulatory, certification, product assurance, and other specialties quality factors into a preferred configuration to ensure mission success.
• Developing designs and conduct research that results in new requirements management methodologies or results in unique approaches that mitigate assessment/review findings. 
• Leading efforts in developing system engineering processes for requirements management, flowdown, and traceability.
• Developing our company methodology and definition of the baseline set of technical documents for our programs and products.

JOB REQUIREMENTS AND MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• A Master’s or Doctorate degree in Electrical Engineering.
• 6+ years of experience in space communications.
• A very strong background in digital signal processing, statistics, linear algebra, communication theory, machine learning, and L1/L2 algorithms.
• A deep understanding of RF concept, impairments, and the resulting impact on baseband processing.
• Background and practical experience with FPGA & modern vector processing engines.
• Experience with and understanding of satellite-communications standards (NR NTN, DVB-S2x, CCSDS).  
• Experience with at least one scripting and one programming language (ideally Python & C++).
• Experience working with product/component developers and vendors who provide critical functionality to the overall system.
• Experience with optical communications systems.
• Ability to hold a security clearance.
• Excellent written and verbal technical communication skills.
• Ability to define work direction, track milestones, and demonstrate progress on large open-ended projects.
• A sense of urgency, with the ability to work well under pressure.
• The ability to work w