Senior Communication System Integration and Verification Engineer I

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’re looking for builders, problem-solvers, and system thinkers. We are seeking a Senior Communication System Integration and Verification Engineer I to support the end-to-end integration of communication functions for our communication payload products. This highly technical role combines deep domain expertise in communication systems with hands-on integration and test execution.

You will play a critical role in the architecture definition, execution, and delivery of our communication payload products—contributing to requirement definitions, algorithm development, Special Test Equipment (STE) design, verification, and final sell-off. This position is ideal for an engineer passionate about solving complex integration challenges and advancing the standard of excellence in payload delivery.

JOB DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
• Responsible for lab and equipment management and guiding key equipment purchase decisions.
• Core day-to-day responsibilities include collaborating with design and test engineering teams to develop test requirements, mapping requirements to reusable test architectures and procedures, architecting RF and digital test systems, implementing test plans and procedures, executing verification/validation tests, and logging and presenting results to key stakeholders.
• Work closely with design teams to verify and evaluate expected system level performance
• Ability to draw insightful conclusions from test results and troubleshoot system level anomalies for the purpose of providing feedback to design and verification teams
• Ability to adapt test plans based on capabilities of HW/SW delivered by the design teams, compatibility with third-party systems, customer-furnished equipment (CFE), subsystem vendors and availability of the testing equipment.
• Support the definition and development of Special Test Equipment (STE) required to verify communications payloads, and coordinate with Test Product teams for execution.
• Represent the payload integration effort in program reviews, technical interchange meetings (TIMs), and formal sell-off events as a technical contributor.
• Working in a startup environment and are passionate about developing critical test systems for leading-edge satellite communication systems.

JOB REQUIREMENTS AND MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:
• Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Electrical Engineering, Communications Engineering, or related technical field
• 4+ years of experience in communications systems engineering, payload integration, or systems development in aerospace, defense, or space environments.
• Hands-on experience with lab instruments such as digital oscilloscopes, multimeters, source measurement units, RF signal generators, spectrum analyzers, vector network analyzers, bit-error rate (BER) testers and vector signal analyzers.
• Hands-on experience in developing hardware and measurement abstraction layers, and test automation setups using basic scripting and SW development with common programming/scripting languages (Python, MATLAB, C/C++, etc.).
• Understanding of RF and mixed-signal hardware (e.g. amplifiers, filters, ADCs/DACs, antennas) and its effect on test design.
• Proficient in performing RF measurements and data analysis including S-parameters, AM/PM, compression, noise figure, harmonics/spurious emission, phase noise, switching speed, bit error rate, adjacent channel power, linearity, EVM and group delay.
• Proven expertise in troubleshooting, fault isolation, and test execution skills at the unit, subsystem, and system level.
• Hands-on experience with designing test setups in anechoic chambers for antenna systems evaluation.

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE:
• Master of Science (MS) or higher degree in Electrical Engineering, Communications Engineering, or related technical field
• Knowledge of satellite and wireless communication systems and protocols
• Familiarity with phased array antenna architectures and array calibration
• Strong debugging skills in Communication system engineering involve a mix of systematic techniques (reproduce, isolate, hypothesize, test), deep system understanding, proficiency with tools (debuggers, logs, profilers, static analysis), and crucial soft skills like patience, communication and analytical thinking to efficiently find and fix root causes in complex systems.

CesiumAstro considers several factors when extending an offer, including but not limited to, the role and associated responsibilities, a candidate’s work experience, education/training, and key skills. Full-time employment offers include company stock options and a generous benefits package including health, dental, vision, HSA, FSA, life, disability and retirement plans.

CesiumAstro is an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected Veteran Status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

Please note: CesiumAstro does not accept unsolicited resumes from contract agencies or search firms. Any unsolicited resumes submitted to our website or to CesiumAstro team members will be considered property of CesiumAstro, and we will not be obligated to pay any referral fees.