Director of Hardware Engineering – Spaceborne Radar Systems

About the role

Kapta Space is seeking a Director of Hardware Engineering to lead the design, development, qualification, and deployment of our scalable, electronically-steered radar for advanced spaceborne ISR missions. The successful candidate will lead the full product lifecycle from concept through flight, ensuring technical excellence, schedule, and budget accountability.

Responsibilities

• Lead the definition of hardware system architecture for electronically-steered radar subsystems including electronically steered antennas, RF front-ends, power electronics, high-speed digital and mixed-signal electronics, and embedded processing hardware
• Direct full product lifecycle execution: requirements, architecture, detailed design, prototype build, environmental/radiation/EMI-EMC qualification, manufacturing introduction, and spacecraft integration
• Recruit, hire, manage, and mentor cross-disciplinary engineering teams, guiding execution, staffing, team growth, and culture of ownership and innovation
• Partner closely with system engineering, software/firmware, GNC, payload/instrument, and operations to ensure coherent hardware-software interaction, robust performance, and smooth delivery
• Own hardware V&V and TRL-advancement strategy: signal/power integrity analysis, reliability modeling, and environmental testing (thermal, vibration, shock, vacuum, EMI/EMC, radiation)
• In conjunction with Program Management Office, drive manufacturability, cost efficiency, and quality through DFX (Design for Excellence) principles and NPI hand-off to production partners
• Support engagement with customers, suppliers, and subcontractors throughout the product development life cycle

Requirements

• BS/MS, or PhD in Physics, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or equivalent discipline
• Significant experience developing mission-critical hardware for space and/or defense environments
• Significant experience as a principal-level individual contributor working with multi-disciplinary engineering teams delivering complex spaceborne hardware
• Significant experience (10+ years) in leadership/management of engineering teams across hardware disciplines
• Technical depth in RF/Microwave, Antenna systems, Radar, high-speed digital and mixed-signal electronics and power electronics
• Experience with PCB design, EMI/EMC practices, and mechanical/thermal packaging for high-reliability hardware
• Experience with qualification of hardware for environmental and radiation conditions and supporting spacecraft/field deployments
• Demonstrated understanding of program planning, budget control, schedule execution, risk management, and cross-functional resource management
• Excellent communication skills, with ability to present to senior leadership and collaborate with customers and suppliers

Qualifications

• Must be eligible to obtain and hold a US DoD security clearance (TS with SCI)

Bonus

• Experience with electronically-steered or phased-array radar systems, including beam-steering, calibration approaches and general space reliability
• Familiarity with space-qualified component engineering, radiation-tolerant design trade-offs and COTS-to-space conversion strategies
• Familiarity with modeling and simulation tools for RF/antenna, signal/power integrity, thermal/structural analyses
• Experience with acceptance and qualification test of space rated hardware and related standards such as SMC-S-016, GSFC-STD-7000, MIL-STD-461
• Experience in defense contracting environments or ISR/target-tracking radar missions
• Exposure to hardware manufacturing scaling, DFM for high-volume production, or lean development practices
• Experience collaborating across global supply chains and managing subcontractors

Benefits

We offer competitive equity grants that reward innovation, impact, and long-term growth. Our total compensation philosophy is designed to recognize excellence while fostering a culture of collaboration, curiosity, and shared success.

Pay

The estimated salary range for this role reflects base pay only and is influenced by a variety of factors. Actual offers may vary based on—though not limited to—a candidate’s experience, education or training, specialized expertise, and the needs of the business.

Schedule

Full-time position.