Kapta Space

Spaceborne radar systems using metasurface antennas

Director of Hardware Engineering - Spaceborne Radar Systems

Engineering LeadershipConfirmed live in the last 24 hours

Full-timeRedmond, WA, USA$198k - $242k /yrIn-person

About the Job

Requirements

A BS, MS, or PhD in Physics, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or an equivalent discipline.
Significant experience developing mission-critical hardware for space and/or defense environments.
Significant experience as a principal-level individual contributor working with multidisciplinary engineering teams delivering complex spaceborne hardware.
Approximately 10 or more years of leadership or management experience with 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.
Proven success qualifying hardware for environmental and radiation conditions and supporting spacecraft or field deployments.
Demonstrated understanding of program planning, budget control, schedule execution, risk management, and cross-functional resource management.
Must be eligible to obtain and hold a U.S. Department of Defense security clearance at the TS with SCI level.
Must meet U.S. export-control eligibility requirements: U.S. citizenship, lawful permanent residency, refugee or asylee status, or eligibility to obtain required authorizations.

Responsibilities

Lead 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 the full product lifecycle, including requirements, architecture, detailed design, prototype build, environmental, radiation, and EMI/EMC qualification, manufacturing introduction, and spacecraft integration.
Recruit, hire, manage, and mentor cross-disciplinary engineering teams, guiding execution, staffing, team growth, and a culture of ownership and innovation.
Partner with systems engineering, software/firmware, guidance, navigation and control, payload/instrument, and operations teams to ensure coherent hardware-software interaction, robust performance, and smooth delivery.
Own hardware verification and validation and technology readiness level advancement strategy, including signal/power integrity analysis, reliability modeling, and environmental testing for thermal, vibration, shock, vacuum, EMI/EMC, and radiation conditions.
Collaborate with the Program Management Office to manage schedules, budgets, risk mitigation, and resource plans to meet mission performance and reliability targets.
Drive manufacturability, cost efficiency, and quality through Design for Excellence principles and new product introduction handoff to production partners, in conjunction with the Program Management Office.
Support engagement with customers, suppliers, and subcontractors throughout the product development lifecycle.

Desired Qualifications

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 commercial-off-the-shelf-to-space conversion strategies.
Familiarity with modeling and simulation tools for RF/antenna, signal/power integrity, and thermal/structural analyses.
Experience with acceptance and qualification testing of space-rated hardware and related standards such as SMC-S-016, GSFC-STD-7000, and MIL-STD-461.
Experience in defense contracting environments or intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance/target-tracking radar missions.
Exposure to hardware manufacturing scaling, design for manufacturability for high-volume production, or lean development practices.
Experience collaborating across global supply chains and managing subcontractors.

Salary Range: 198000 to 242000 (Currency: USD) (Pay period: per-year-salary)

Kapta Space, a VC-funded early-stage startup in Seattle, WA, is breaking new ground in Geospatial Intelligence. Our technology centers around a proven, scalable electronically-steered radar for sophisticated spaceborne applications such as earth observation using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) techniques, as well as enabling advanced defense missions such as target tracking on the ground and in the air.

As the Director of Hardware Engineering, you will lead the design, development, qualification, and deployment of our scalable, electronically-steered radar for advanced spaceborne ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) missions. You will lead development of mission-critical hardware across RF/antenna systems, high-speed digital, mixed-signal electronics, power electronics, and mechanical/thermal packaging, taking products from concept through flight. You will guide multi-disciplinary teams to deliver high-performance compliant hardware in harsh LEO (Low-earth orbit) environments, ensuring technical excellence, schedule and budget accountability, and seamless integration with spacecraft bus partners.

You shall exhibit deep technical depth and apply advanced technical principles, theories, and concepts. The ideal candidate must have the drive and experience to complete projects independently and on aggressive timelines.

Role

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).

Proactively collaborate with Program Management Office to manage schedules, budgets, risk mitigation, and resource plans to meet mission performance and reliability targets.

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.

Required Qualifications

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.

Proven success qualifying 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.

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

Bonus if candidates have experience and skills in the following areas:

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.

Concerned you do not meet all the requirements? Not a problem - please apply even if you do not meet all these criteria.

U.S. Citizenship, Lawful Permanent Residency, or Refugee/Asylee Status Required

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), Kapta Employees must be U.S. citizens, lawful U.S. permanent residents (i.e., current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State or Commerce as applicable.

Kapta Space is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. We believe that diversity drives innovation, strengthens our team, and broadens our capabilities. We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or other legally protected status. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and encourage individuals from underrepresented groups to apply.

Kapta Space does not engage with external recruiters or agencies without prior written agreement. If you are a recruiter (individual or agency) and wish to engage with Kapta Space for talent acquisition, please email [email protected].

About the Company

Kapta Space

Spaceborne radar systems using metasurface antennas

Kapta Space develops spaceborne radar systems for Low Earth Orbit satellites using metasurface antennas to create electronically steerable arrays, enabling high-resolution Earth observation for defense and commercial customers. The sensors mounted on satellites steer beams electronically via the metasurface antenna, providing SAR, InSAR, and GMTI imaging with on-orbit operation that works in all weather and daylight while aiming for lower cost and power than traditional AESAs. It differentiates itself by focusing on metasurface ESAs to reduce cost, complexity, and power, led by veterans from Echodyne, with early DoD funding and a seed round to accelerate on-orbit demonstrations. The company aims to deploy a persistent spaceborne radar constellation that delivers weather-unrestricted geospatial imagery for defense uses and commercial monitoring of infrastructure and land displacement.

Company size: 11-50
Company stage: Series A
Total funding: $29M
Headquarters: Seattle, WA
Founded: 2022

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