Director – Payload Electronics - Space Communications Systems

Salary Range: 200000 to 290000 (Currency: USD) (Pay period: per-year-salary)

What you will own:

Signal-chain architecture. Own the payload electronics architecture. Make and document the technology choices at every level and own their consequences for performance, power, cost and schedule. The architecture is done when the noise, linearity, timing and power budgets close with margin and every block has an owner.
Beamforming and signal processing. Own the beam steering, beamforming and calibration approach and the digital signal processing that implements it, including linearization, and the tradeoffs between algorithm performance and implementation complexity. Done means the algorithms that work in simulation work on flight hardware.
RF front end, converters and clocking. Own the RF front end, data converters and clock distribution, the power and thermal trades behind them, and the signal quality, noise, gain, timing, synchronization, bandwidth and data rates they deliver across the full operating envelope. Own the strategy for long-lead parts, including beamformer integrated circuits, and remove supply risk before it hits the schedule.
Flight hardware. Own the board and component development cycle in full, from part selection and derating through layout, bring-up and qualification. Drive the responsible engineers to deliver hardware that performs in vacuum, vibration and radiation environments, with test evidence for each.
Interfaces and integrated array performance. Own the interfaces with the antenna, spacecraft bus and communications software teams, including beam scheduling, timing, telemetry and control. The antenna team owns the element and aperture design; you own everything that forms, steers and calibrates the beams, and you lead the range campaigns that prove the array meets its goals on the integrated spacecraft.
Delivery and gap closure. Own the schedule from prototype on the bench to the array operating in space. Break it into milestones with owners, dates and acceptance criteria. Find the gaps in the design plan before they become failures, and close them.
Building the team. Hire, develop and hold accountable a team of RF, mixed-signal, digital, FPGA, software and algorithm engineers. Set clear expectations, give direct feedback and address missed commitments promptly.
Production at volume. Design for manufacture and test from the start, then ramp the array electronics into volume production with automated calibration and production test. Production is on track when arrays come off the line calibrated, verified and at target yield.
Deployment and operation in space. Own commissioning, in-service calibration and performance of the array once it is operating in space. Track how it performs for users, find what limits it, and ship the fixes and upgrades that make it better.

How you lead:

Bias for action. You know which architecture choices can be tested and revised and which ones lock in the program, and you spend your time accordingly. You act with urgency while keeping safety and quality.

Extreme ownership. You own the whole payload electronics chain, including what other teams deliver into it. When a processor slips, a calibration does not converge, yield drops or a supplier misses a date, you engage the people needed to fix it and drive the recovery.

One cohesive plan. You write the interface plan, take it to every team that depends on it, and hold to it until they all build to the same view. When the plan changes, every team knows the same day.

Hands-on technical depth. You can sketch the full chain on a whiteboard, challenge an assumption at any layer and spot what the plan has missed, then go deep on it yourself until you and the team are excellent at it. You lead from the lab at first power-on, the test range, the production line and operations, carrying the same load you ask of your team and protecting their time off.

What you bring:

A record of leading digital beamforming phased array electronics from architecture through deployment, with the hardware fielded at production scale.
Deep, hands-on command of digital beamforming signal chains, including the trade between analog, hybrid and digital beamforming. You have personally architected and brought up one: RF or IF sampling data converters, JESD204B/C, clock distribution and deterministic latency, and the DC power and thermal design of dense mixed-signal boards.
Digital signal processing expertise for beamforming, including adaptive beamforming, calibration algorithms, linearization and FFT-based processing.
Experience leading development for beamforming systems. Experience developing ASICs or beamformer integrated circuits, and managing the supply risk of those parts, is a strong plus.
Experience ramping phased array electronics into volume production, including automated calibration, production test and yield improvement, and owning a fielded array in operation: commissioning, in-service calibration and upgrades driven by what you measure.
Experience building and leading engineering teams, including hiring, development and performance management, and a record of delivering complex hardware on aggressive schedules.
Experience delivering electronics for space flight (radiation, thermal vacuum, vibration, parts derating) and experience with 5G NR and Non-Terrestrial Networks are both strongly preferred.
A degree in electrical engineering, physics or a related field, or equivalent practical experience. An advanced degree or equivalent research experience is a plus but not required.

What success looks like:

The program has confidence that the payload electronics are under control. Your team knows the architecture, who owns each block and what must be verified by when, and every team that connects to the array builds to the same interface plan. The first boards and arrays come up close to prediction, and when they do not, the cause is found and fixed fast. Arrays come off the production line calibrated and at target yield.

The array is operating in space on schedule, carrying live traffic for thousands of users, and your team keeps improving its performance in service. You have built a team that takes ownership, moves fast and finishes difficult work.

Additional Requirements:

This is a fast-paced, high-impact environment - flexibility to occasionally work extended hours or weekends during critical periods is expected.