Senior Electrical Engineer (Space Laser Systems)

About the Role

Join our electrical engineering team to design and develop the electronics that make our vision of space networking a reality. You'll work on high-speed digital systems, opto-electronics for optical inter-satellite links, and semi-custom optical transceivers. Your designs will define the hardware foundation for all our products, and you'll contribute to building our hardware engineering capabilities. This role reports to the CTO and co-founder.

Responsibilities

You will own a subset of the following responsibilities based on your experience and interests, and contribute to others as needed:

• High-Speed Digital Design (Network Box):
  • Design high-speed digital systems with interfaces up to 9.6 Tbps for space-based routing
  • Implement optical interface protocols in space-qualified hardware
  • Ensure signal integrity and EMI/EMC compliance for high-speed differential signaling
  • Design power delivery systems for high-performance networking processors and FPGAs
  • Design storage subsystem electronics for a ~200 TB space-based data cache
• Optical Transceivers:
  • Design and develop semi-custom optical transceiver modules for space networking applications
  • Work with optics and photonics vendors to integrate custom requirements into transceiver form factors
  • Characterize and qualify transceiver performance for space environments
• Optical Terminal Electronics:
  • Design motor control systems for precision pointing and tracking of optical terminals
  • Develop photodiode transimpedance amplifiers for closed-loop terminal pointing control
  • Design laser driver circuits for closed-loop terminal pointing control
  • Implement closed-loop control systems for beam steering and acquisition
  • Optimize analog front-end performance for low noise and high bandwidth
• Space Hardware Development:
  • Select commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components appropriate for space environments
  • Collaborate with the mechanical team on thermal management solutions
  • Support qualification test team in developing test procedures and campaigns
  • Work with fabrication partners to manufacture and assemble flight hardware
  • Support hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) testing and integration activities
• System Integration:
  • Define electrical interfaces between network box, optical terminals, and spacecraft bus
  • Design electrical harnessing and cable routing for dynamic motion environments
  • Collaborate with the firmware team to ensure hardware-software integration
  • Support mission engineer in spacecraft-level integration and testing
  • Debug and troubleshoot hardware issues during build, integration, and test phases

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent experience
• 3+ years of electronics design experience with a focus on high-speed digital or analog circuits
• Experience with PCB design tools (Altium, Cadence, or similar)
• Track record of delivering hardware
• Understanding of signal integrity principles for high-speed digital design
• Experience with laboratory test equipment (oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, network analyzers)
• Ability to obtain and maintain a US security clearance

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience designing space-qualified or radiation-tolerant electronics
• Familiarity with Xilinx Versal FPGA line
• Verilog or VHDL experience for FPGA development
• Background in optical communication systems or laser electronics
• Experience with fiber optics and optical interconnects
• Experience with electrical harnessing and cable design for dynamic motion environments
• Experience with high-speed serial interfaces (100G+ Ethernet, PCIe Gen4/5)
• Knowledge of motor control systems and closed-loop feedback
• Understanding of photodiode circuits and transimpedance amplifier design
• Thermal analysis and simulation experience (ANSYS, Thermal Desktop)
• Familiarity with radiation effects on electronics (SEU, TID)
• Experience with space qualification standards (MIL-STD-883)

Pay

• Engineer II: $150,000 - $190,000
• Senior Engineer: $170,000 - $210,000
• Staff Engineer: $180,000 - $230,000

Salary dependent on experience. Generous equity package included.

Benefits

• Comprehensive health care coverage
• Unlimited PTO (expected minimum of 4 weeks per year)

Schedule

• Hybrid work model: 3 days per week in the office/lab based on project needs
• During critical phases (integration, test, or launch prep), expect more frequent office presence
• Expected travel: ~10% (customer meetings, supplier visits, launch campaigns, etc.)

The Opportunity

• Join an early-stage hardware team and shape the hardware design philosophy, component selection strategy, and engineering culture
• Work across multiple challenging domains: high-speed digital systems and precision analog/opto-electronics
• Real impact: Your electronics will fly in space and route real traffic
• Build the space internet: Create hardware foundational to space networks at all OSI layers
• Influence the hardware roadmap and define space networking hardware standards

Locations: El Segundo, CA | Oakland, CA