Full-Time
Space Systems Engineer
Array Labs
51-200 employees
Provides subscription-based global 3D geospatial imagery
Compensation Overview
$150k - $250k/yr
No H1B Sponsorship
San Carlos, CA, USA
In Person
On-site role located in Redwood City, California.
US Citizenship Required
Bachelor's, Master's, PhD
 Aerospace Engineering (2) |
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- Bachelor's degree or higher in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Physics, or a related technical field
- 3+ years of experience in spacecraft or complex aerospace systems engineering
- Experience working with and delivering space flight hardware
- Demonstrated experience owning system-level requirements and interface definitions
- Strong understanding of spacecraft and payload subsystems
- Familiarity with radar or RF payload systems
- Experience supporting hardware integration and test campaigns
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to engage both internal teams and external technical stakeholders
- Ability to work in a fast-paced, resource-constrained startup environment with significant ownership and autonomy
- ITAR Requirements: U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the United States, protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State
- Shape and own interfaces across mechanical, electrical, RF, and data domains
- Lead system design reviews and support program-level technical reviews across the product lifecycle
- Work with domain experts to create functional and environmental test strategies to validate spacecraft and subsystem performance early in the design lifecycle
- Own, model, and monitor system budgets including power, thermal, data, pointing, momentum
- Document and communicate component-level specifications to clarify performance thresholds and ensure system performance
- Manage technical relationships with hardware suppliers and customers, ensuring clear interface ownership throughout
- Drive trade studies and future architectures including component selection, parameter sweeps, and performance modeling
- Guide radar payload customer conversations from concept studies through delivery
- Provide technical support for regulatory filings (NOAA, FCC, and EAR/ITAR)
- Develop and maintain risk mitigation strategies; support non-conformance and issue tracking for spacecraft hardware
- Experience on console operating spacecraft in LEO
- Experience with serial manufacturing and/or operation of spacecraft (at LEO constellation or fleet management scale)
- Familiarity with spacecraft system-level fault and reliability analysis (fishbones, FDIR, fault tolerance, root cause)
- Familiarity with software development or extensive scripting in python
- Experience with SAR instruments, or earth imaging sensors
- Expertise in the development of at least one spacecraft subsystem (e.g., Power, Comms, GN&C, Mechanical, Electrical)
- Prior vendor management or customer-facing technical interface experience in an aerospace or defense context
- Working knowledge of link budgets and radar range equations
- Experience with orbital analysis and mission modeling tools (e.g., STK, FreeFlyer, or equivalent)
- Background in EO/SAR mission planning or ground segment operations
- Familiarity with U.S. commercial remote sensing regulations (NOAA), FCC spectrum licensing processes, and export control frameworks (EAR/ITAR)
Array Labs produces high-resolution 3D imagery of the Earth using a cluster of small radar satellites that capture data from multiple angles simultaneously. This distributed satellite architecture allows the company to map any location within hours and provide images with ten times more detail than existing alternatives at a lower cost. Unlike competitors that rely on optical photogrammetry or expensive airborne lidar, Array Labs uses radar to maintain visibility through various environmental conditions and terrain challenges. The company's goal is to provide government and commercial clients with a subscription-based platform for precise, real-time 3D data used in urban planning, disaster response, and infrastructure mapping.
Company Size
51-200
Company Stage
Late Stage VC
Total Funding
$26.7M
Headquarters
Thousand Oaks, California
Founded
2019
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- January 2026 Series A and July 2026 $21M round finance manufacturing and launches.
- Array reports contracts with DARPA, Navy, Air Force, Army, and SOCOM.
- July 2026 Mitsubishi partnership opens Asia-Pacific security sales and accelerates go-to-market.
What critics are saying
- First production cluster slips to 2027-2028, leaving Array pre-revenue from constellation data.
- Commercialization depends on defense buyers and Mitsubishi Electric; one lost champion stalls growth.
- If flight demos fail, Array’s clustered-radar thesis collapses before orbit deployment.
What makes Array Labs unique
- Formation-flying radar cubesats target continuous AMTI, unlike static optical imagery competitors.
- Mitsubishi Electric partnership in July 2026 gives Array defense manufacturing credibility.
- DARPA extended Array’s distributed radar contract in April 2026, validating technical differentiation.
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Benefits
Stock Options
Company Equity
Flexible Work Hours
Professional Development Budget
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
↓ -9%1 year growth
↓ -9%2 year growth
↓ -7%Array Labs secures additional $21M for radar satellites. TL;DR / Executive summary. * Seraphim portfolio company Array Labs has raised an additional $21 million in an oversubscribed funding round, led by Mitsubishi Electric. * The funding will support the development of Array Labs' radar satellite constellation, designed to provide continuous monitoring of aircraft, ships and other activity from orbit. * Array Labs has already secured research and development contracts with DARPA, the US Navy and the US Air Force. * The raise highlights growing investor interest in next-generation space-based intelligence and surveillance technologies. Array Labs has raised $21 million in an oversubscribed strategic investment round, anchored by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, one of Japan's largest defense and aerospace companies, with continued participation from Catapult Ventures, Kompas VC, and Y Combinator. As part of the financing, Array Labs and Mitsubishi Electric have entered into a partnership to develop and bring to market satellite-based airborne tracking services for mainly defense and security customers in the Asia Pacific Region. "Defense and intelligence customers have been asking for this capability for years, and this round lets us move faster to deliver it. An oversubscribed round anchored by a partner of Mitsubishi Electric's caliber is a strong signal that the market sees the same opportunity we do," said Isaac Robledo, COO and cofounder of Array Labs. This investment follows Array's Series A fundraise, announced in January 2026. Unlocking continuous understanding of Earth. Traditional satellites are designed to image the ground. They periodically capture static, two-dimensional scenes: terrain, objects, infrastructure. They aren't built to capture the motion, change, and activity happening around the world in real-time. Real-time monitoring of aircraft and ships has long been recognized as a critical capability gap. While a static image might tell you about a location at some point in the past, a continuous feed provides insight into how things are changing, where, and how fast. Traditional satellites cannot detect movement. Ground-based radar systems are constrained by the horizon line. Airborne ISR platforms have greater range, but are limited by cost, survivability, and operational constraints. Governments managing complex airspace, monitoring contested borders, and tracking activity across wide areas require a persistent orbital solution capable of continuously monitoring airborne and maritime activity anywhere on Earth. Array Labs is the difference between reacting to yesterday's picture of the world and understanding today's dynamic environment in real time. That shift changes what's operationally possible: persistent awareness instead of periodic captures, patterns of life instead of isolated data points, and high-fidelity visualizations that show activity unfolding, rather than reconstructing it after the fact. The new playbook. Array Labs takes a fundamentally different approach to building radar satellites. Instead of relying on a single large, expensive satellite, Array builds mass-manufacturable radar satellites that fly in a cluster, operating together as one distributed sensor in orbit. By combining advanced signal processing algorithms, formation-flying satellites, and manufacturing techniques from modern telecommunications, semiconductors, and consumer electronics, Array can deliver higher power, wider coverage, and higher resolution systems at a cost and scale traditional space systems were never designed to achieve. The result is a continuously updated picture of the Earth that captures not just terrain and infrastructure but everything moving across or above it, including 3D and 2D imaging, naval and airborne monitoring, and space-situational awareness. No other commercial satellite operator offers this breadth of capability within a single integrated platform. Array has validated its core formation flying and multistatic technology, and earned competitive research and development contracts with DARPA, the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Air Force. Array Labs and Mitsubishi Electric partnership. Mitsubishi Electric is one of Japan's largest defense and aerospace contractors, supplying advanced electronics, radar, and satellite systems to the Japanese Ministry of Defense for over half a century. In February 2026, it was awarded a contract to develop and manufacture Japan's next-generation defense satellite system. This partnership brings together Array's transformative approach with Mitsubishi Electric's satellite system development capabilities, manufacturing infrastructure, and established relationships with defense, government, and other customers across the Asia-Pacific region. Together, Array and Mitsubishi Electric will bring moving object detection and tracking services to defense, security, and related customers. "We are very pleased to collaborate with Array Labs, which aims to demonstrate its game-changing AMTI technology. By combining the technological capabilities and maximizing the synergies of our two companies, we expect to strengthen our ability to respond comprehensively to customer needs in the security field," said Masahiko Arai, Executive Office, Company President, Defense and Space Systems, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. "Mitsubishi Electric Corporation's deep mission insights and defense relationships across Asia-Pacific make them an ideal partner. We're excited to work together to turn space-based AMTI into an operational reality, helping humanity better understand the physical world," said Andrew Peterson, CEO and cofounder of Array Labs.
Array Labs raises additional $21M in funding. July 28, 2026 Array Labs, a Redwood City, CA-based developer of a coordinated fleet of radar satellites, raised $21m in funding. The round was anchored by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, with participation from Catapult Ventures, Kompas VC, and Y Combinator. Array Labs and Mitsubishi Electric have also entered into a partnership to develop and bring to market satellite-based maritime and aircraft tracking services for defense and security customers in the Asia Pacific Region. Led by Andrew Peterson, CEO and cofounder, Array Labs is preparing to launch a coordinated fleet of radar satellites to deliver high-resolution, continuously updated intelligence about the Earth's terrain, infrastructure, and activity, operating day or night, through clouds, anywhere on the planet. Array Labs has validated its core formation flying and multistatic technology, and earned competitive research and development contracts with DARPA, the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Air Force. Don't just read the news. Own the data. Stop manually tracking deals. Access this round and over 100 others this week - in our structured Master Database (XML) + Weekly Intelligence PDF. [Access FinSMEs Intelligence Hub] 28/07/2026
Array Labs has raised $21 million in strategic funding led by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. The space-based radar company will partner with Mitsubishi in the Asia Pacific region. The round follows Array's $20 million Series A in January. The company will use the funds to scale its team from 50 to 70 employees by year-end and expand operations in the Indo-Pacific. Founded in 2022 through Y Combinator, Array builds suitcase-sized radar satellites that work in clusters to create 3D maps of Earth. The satellites cost in the single-digit millions and generate four kilowatts of power. Array has secured contracts with the Air Force, Space Force, Navy, Army, SOCOM, and DARPA, totalling eight figures in value. The company plans satellite launches in April and October next year.
Mitsubishi Electric invests in U.S. Startup Array Labs, developer of satellites and satellite-borne radar systems. Will collaborate on using AMTI technology for satellite-based services TOKYO, July 28, 2026 - Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) announced today that it invested 10 million U.S. dollars on July 24 in Array Labs, Inc., a U.S.-based developer of satellites and satellite-mounted radar systems, to collaborate on commercializing satellite-based information services, primarily for security-related applications. The aerospace and defense sectors are increasingly using observational data from low-Earth-orbit satellite constellations,[1] complementing conventional ground and airborne radar-surveillance methods. The current mainstream approach uses images acquired by satellite-mounted optical sensors and synthetic aperture radar (SAR[2]). However, a new satellite technology, called airborne moving target indication (AMTI), has been attracting attention for its ability to detect and track airborne moving objects continuously from orbiting satellites. AMTI technology enables detection and tracking over a wide airspace, independent of radar installation locations, terrain, or detection-range limitations and is now being used in national security and civil air traffic management (ATM[3]) applications. Array Labs was founded in 2019. Its proprietary modular radar[4] design and multistatic radar operations[5] have led to research and development contracts related to space-based radar and AMTI technology with numerous US government agencies. Following their successful airborne flight tests, the company plans to launch multiple radar satellites in stages between 2027 and 2028 to demonstrate its constellation. In these demonstrations, Array Labs will validate space-based AMTI applications and commercialize a service that provides 3D terrain data based on SAR imaging technology. Through this investment, Mitsubishi Electric plans to integrate its satellite system development and manufacturing technologies with Array Labs' unique AMTI technology and 3D terrain imaging data. The goal is to commercialize information services, including to identify the locations of airborne moving targets, while expanding the use of space in the field of national security. Going forward, Mitsubishi Electric is committed to contributing to a safer and more secure global society by enhancing deterrence through advanced technology. Andrew Peterson, Array Labs's CEO and Cofounder, said: "Mitsubishi Electric's deep mission insights and defense relationships across Asia-Pacific make them an ideal partner. We're excited to work together to turn space-based AMTI into an operational reality, helping humanity better understand the physical world." Masahiko Arai, Mitsubishi Electric's Executive Officer, Group President, Defense & Space Systems, said: "We are very pleased to collaborate with Array Labs, which aims to demonstrate its game-changing AMTI technology. By combining the technological capabilities and maximizing the synergies of our two companies, we expect to strengthen our ability to respond comprehensively to customer needs in the security field." * [1] A system that creates a formation of multiple satellites and enables them to operate in a coordinated manner. * [2] A radar that observes the Earth's surface by transmitting electromagnetic waves toward the ground and analyzing the reflected waves. * [3] Management of aircraft operations such as takeoff, flight and landing. * [4] A system for adjusting radar size, weight and output by reconfiguring main components according to the intended use. * [5] A radar system that improves detection performance by deploying multiple transmitters and receivers at separate locations and coordinating their operation. Inquiry.
Array Labs raises 20 million US dollars for scalable radar technology. While Europe is off to a rather leisurely start to the year, things are already taking off again in the Valley. 20 million Series A for Array Labs. The US space and radar technology startup Array Labs has closed a Series A financing round of 20 million US dollars. The round is led by Catapult Ventures, with other investors including Washington Harbour Partners, Kompas VC and existing and new backers such as Y Combinator, Maiora Capital, Animal Capital, Aera VC, Cultivation Capital and Clearance Ventures. The current financing brings Array Labs' total capital raised to 35 million US dollars. The company had previously closed a seed round of USD 5 million (2022) and a further financing round of USD 10 million in 2024 following the round at Y Combinator. Radar architecture modeled on consumer electronics. Array Labs claims to be developing a new type of radar architecture that is designed for mass production for the first time. Instead of using individually manufactured, cost-intensive systems, the company is relying on manufacturing methods from consumer electronics and telecommunications. The aim is to drastically reduce the cost structure of traditional radar systems while significantly increasing performance. CEO and co-founder Andrew Peterson compares today's radar satellite market with the space industry before SpaceX: characterized by established defense companies that produce complex one-off products. Array Labs, on the other hand, is pursuing the approach of producing high-performance radar hardware at commercial prices and on an industrial scale. From data provider to radar platform. Originally, Array Labs planned to operate its own constellations of small satellites to cooperatively generate real-time 3D images of the Earth. However, as the technology developed further, it became apparent that the radar instruments themselves in particular were attracting great customer interest. As a result, the business model changed from a vertically integrated Earth observation provider to a radar-centric platform. Today, Array Labs operates three business units: * Radar Payloads for Satellite Manufacturers and Defense Primes * Sovereign satellite systems for customers who want to operate their own radar assets * Data products in the form of 3D image data and analyses from the company's own satellite constellation All business areas are based on a family of radar systems which, according to the company, are up to 100 times more powerful than existing solutions at around one percent of the cost. Strong demand from defense and industry. Over the past two years, Array Labs has been selected for several competitive funding and development programs with the U.S. Armed Forces, including projects with the Air Force, Space Force, Navy, Army, SOCOM and DARPA. The work includes high-performance antennas, broadband communication systems and 3D reconstruction algorithms. The company is also experiencing growing demand on the commercial side. Array Labs has signed multi-year capacity contracts for its first radar satellite constellation with companies in the mining, infrastructure and AI-based automation sectors. Customers will use the 3D data to monitor critical industrial assets, protect infrastructure and improve autonomous systems. Preparing for production and first satellite launch. Array Labs will use the fresh capital to expand its engineering, product and go-to-market teams, ramp up production of the radar panels and complete flight qualification. The long-term goal is to launch the world's first formation-flying radar satellite constellation.