Senior RF & DSP Engineer Long Beach, California, United States

Vast is looking for a Senior RF & DSP Engineer , reporting to the Director, RF Engineering , to execute the development of the RF Systems for artificial gravity space stations. This will be a full-time, exempt position located in our Long Beach location.

As a Senior RF & DSP Engineer at Vast, you will work in the area where hardware and DSP meet, developing software defined and FPGA based modems and test systems. Vast employs DSP for space station communication systems, ground stations, as well as component and system level test solutions. You will work directly on the communication systems used to fly humans in space.

Responsibilities:

• System and modem level design for crewed spacecraft communication, ground systems, and test.
• Work collaboratively with RF hardware engineers, flight software, ground software, and other teams to create and verify performance of communication systems
• Create communication system specifications and requirements
• Model communication systems and estimate performance in orbital scenarios including artificial gravity generation
• Generate excellent documentation and effectively communicating technical information to team members and vendors with diverse backgrounds
• Contribute to a culture of extreme ownership by looking beyond the immediate performance of your RF subsystems and understanding its broad impact on other systems, teams, and all aspects of Vast

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelors degree in ECE, EE, Physics, or related STEM discipline
• 4+ years of experience in an RF engineering role
• Experience with RF test equipment such as Spectrum Analyzers, VNAs, Power Meters, Cable Analyzers, etc.
• Experience in software development: Matlab, Python, C/C++, or other programming languages
• Familiarity with RF communication system design & analysis

Preferred Skills & Experience:

• Ms or PhD in ECE, EE, Physics, or related stem discipline
• Mission oriented mindset with a strong desire for team success
• Comfortable communicating deeply technical topics to a wide variety of audiences
• Experience with software development in: Matlab, Python, C/C++, etc.
• Proficient with software defined radio development in GNU Radio
• Experience with embedded programming for MCUs and/or FPGAs
• Understanding of RF modulation and media access control schemes such as BPSK, SOQPSK, GMSK, APSK, TDMA, FDMA, etc
• Understanding of communication system coding and error correction schemes such as Reed Solomon, LDPC, BCH, etc
• Familiar with common space communications interoperability standards such as CCSDS and DVB-S2
• Experience with RF test equipment such as Spectrum Analyzers, Vector Network Analyzers, Signal Generators, Communications Test Systems, Power Meters, etc
• Experience with Ethernet and IP networking, VPNs, TCP, UDP, L2/L3 switches, VLANs, etc
• Experience with serial communication protocols such as CAN, SPI, and I2C, RS-422/485
• Strong sense of accountability and integrity with excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to thrive at an early-stage startup where you will have the opportunity to help define the way engineering is carried out while doing your own development work