Director Radar Payloads
About the job
- A bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Physics, or a related STEM discipline.
- At least 10 years of experience developing complex RF, radar, communications, or space payload hardware, including flight or mission-critical systems.
- Experience as a senior or principal technical leader owning the architecture and delivery of complex multidisciplinary payload or RF systems through major lifecycle milestones.
- At least 6 years of engineering leadership or management experience leading multidisciplinary teams, including staffing, mentoring, performance management, and execution accountability.
- Deep technical expertise in radar system architecture and performance, RF/microwave systems, electronically steered or phased-array antennas, RF front ends, high-speed digital or FPGA processing, mixed-signal electronics, timing and synchronization, and power electronics.
- Strong system-level understanding of embedded firmware and software, PCB design, signal and power integrity, EMI/EMC, mechanical and thermal design, and spacecraft electrical and mechanical interfaces.
- Proven success taking complex flight hardware from architecture and design through integration, environmental qualification, acceptance testing, manufacturing handoff, and spacecraft or field deployment.
- Demonstrated ownership of technical performance, cost, schedule, risk, resource planning, supplier execution, and cross-functional delivery for complex engineering programs.
- Eligibility to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Top Secret/SCI security clearance.
- U.S. citizenship, lawful U.S. permanent residency, refugee or asylee status, or eligibility to obtain applicable U.S. Department of State or Commerce authorizations is required for U.S. Government space technology export regulations.
- Own radar payload architecture and the technical baseline across the electronically steered aperture, RF front ends, digital or FPGA processing, timing, power, thermal and mechanical systems, and control electronics.
- Lead full payload lifecycle execution from requirements and architecture through design reviews, prototype builds, qualification and acceptance, AI&T, spacecraft integration, and on-orbit checkout.
- Recruit, lead, and mentor a multidisciplinary payload team; set priorities, staffing, technical ownership, expectations, and a culture of accountability and innovation.
- Partner with Systems Engineering, radar algorithms, software and firmware, GNC, spacecraft, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, and operations to achieve mission-level performance.
- Own payload verification and validation, calibration, and flight-readiness strategy, including RF and beam performance, timing, reliability, environmental qualification, and end-to-end radar testing.
- With the Program Management Office, own integrated plans, budgets, schedules, technical milestones, risks and opportunities, and recovery actions to meet cost, schedule, and performance commitments.
- Drive manufacturability, testability, reliability, cost, and production readiness; lead the transition from prototype builds to repeatable manufacturing and acceptance testing.
- Serve as the payload technical focal point for customers, suppliers, subcontractors, spacecraft partners, and test facilities; lead reviews, trades, issue resolution, and supplier performance.
- Experience with electronically steered or phased-array radar systems, including beam steering, calibration approaches, and general space reliability.
- Familiarity with space-qualified component selection, radiation-tolerant design, commercial off-the-shelf-to-space qualification, reliability engineering, and fault-tolerant payload architectures.
- Familiarity with radar system modeling and simulation, RF and antenna tools, radar or link budgets, signal-processing performance analysis, and thermal or structural analyses.
- Experience planning and executing qualification and acceptance programs for space hardware and familiarity with standards such as SMC-S-016, GSFC-STD-7000, and MIL-STD-461.
- Experience in defense contracting environments or intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance or target-tracking radar missions.
- Prior work in small, fast-iteration aerospace teams.
About the company
Kapta Space develops spaceborne radar systems for LEO satellites using metasurface antennas to create electronically steerable arrays, enabling high-resolution Earth observation for defense and commercial customers. Its on-orbit sensors perform SAR, InSAR, and GMTI, delivering imagery regardless of weather or daylight. It differentiates by using metasurface ESAs to reduce cost, complexity, and power versus traditional AESAs, led by Echodyne veterans with early DoD funding and seed rounds to accelerate demonstrations. The goal is to build a persistent space-based radar constellation that provides geospatial data for defense and civilian monitoring of infrastructure and land displacement.
Company Size
11-50
Company Stage
Series A
Total Funding
$29M
Headquarters
Seattle, Washington
Founded
2022
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- DARPA awarded Kapta up to $1.75 million in December 2025 for spaceborne radar.
- Kapta’s website updated August 6, 2026, signaling active commercial positioning and product progress.
- The February 2025 seed round added MetaVC, Entrada, and Blue Collective behind on-orbit demonstrations.
What critics are saying
- Kapta still lacks a public orbital demonstration in September 2026, prolonging technical risk.
- DARPA funding concentration leaves Kapta exposed if the 2025 prototype slips or fails.
- ICEYE, Umbra, and Capella already sell operational SAR; Kapta risks becoming irrelevant before launch.
What makes Kapta Space unique
- Kapta Space’s metasurface antennas promise radar satellites cheaper and lower-power than AESA systems.
- Its Ku-band spaceborne radar targets SAR, InSAR, and GMTI from LEO satellites.
- Founders Milton Perque and Adam Bily bring Echodyne metasurface expertise and satellite engineering experience.
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Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
16%1 year growth
16%2 year growth
40%Kapta Space raises $24 million Series A to scale space-based radar payload production. The Seattle-based company will expand manufacturing, advance flight qualification and prepare for its first orbital demonstration while supporting classified defense contracts. Prefer on Google Seattle-based Kapta Space has raised $24 million in Series A funding to expand production of its spaceborne radar payloads and support multiple classified defense contracts. The round brings the company's total funding to $30 million. Washington Harbour Partners led the financing, with Bison Ventures co-leading the round. Other participants included MetaVC Partners, MYDA Capital, Entrada Ventures, Aurelia Foundry and Fitz Gate Ventures. Kapta plans to use the capital to increase manufacturing capacity, qualify its radar payload for flight and prepare for its first orbital demonstration. The funding follows the company's securing of multiple classified moving target indication (MTI) contracts earlier in 2026. Funding supports classified defense programs. The newly raised capital will support manufacturing expansion for Kapta's classified MTI contracts. Moving target indication technology is designed to detect and track objects in motion, with potential applications across air, maritime and land surveillance. Web3 blockchain services Space-based radar can provide monitoring capabilities across large geographic areas, but maintaining persistent coverage requires sufficient satellite capacity and coordination. Scaling these systems also involves challenges related to payload cost, power consumption, manufacturing complexity and deployment. Kapta's current priorities include moving its radar technology closer to operational deployment through flight qualification and an initial in-orbit demonstration. The company did not disclose the identities of the customers associated with its classified contracts or provide a timeline for the demonstration. Modular radar architecture targets satellite constellations. Kapta is developing radar payloads intended to support persistent detection and tracking of moving objects from space. Its technology is designed for deployment across satellite constellations serving surveillance and other moving-target tracking missions. The company's core technology is its Metamaterial Electronically Scanned Array (MESA), a modular, software-defined radar architecture. Kapta aims to reduce the cost, power requirements and manufacturing complexity associated with conventional active electronically scanned array (AESA) systems. Radar payloads based on electronically scanned arrays can direct radar beams without mechanically moving an antenna. Kapta's approach is intended to make such capabilities more practical to manufacture and deploy at constellation scale. Discover more Track Investments Open Biz Account Learn Engineering Large satellite networks can provide repeated observations of areas of interest, but achieving persistent monitoring depends on factors including the number and positioning of satellites, payload performance and mission requirements. Lowering the cost and complexity of individual radar payloads could help operators deploy larger networks, although the operational performance of Kapta's system will need to be demonstrated through testing and deployment. Defense applications drive development. Kapta's radar technology is being developed for surveillance applications relevant to defense and national security. Spaceborne radar can complement other sensing systems by supporting observations across broad areas and operating under conditions in which some other surveillance technologies may be limited. Founder and chief executive Milton Perque said the requirements of persistent monitoring call for changes in radar architecture. "The mission calls for persistent awareness, and that requires us to rethink how radar has to work at constellation scale," Perque said. Washington Harbour Partners founder and chief executive Mina Faltas said the technology could position Kapta as a supplier to future US and allied space systems. Web3 blockchain services The company did not disclose further details about the potential systems or procurement programs that could use its payloads. From development to flight qualification. Kapta's next phase focuses on preparing its radar payload for deployment in orbit. Flight qualification is an important step in demonstrating that a system can meet the requirements of a space mission, including operating under launch and orbital conditions. The planned orbital demonstration will provide an opportunity to evaluate the technology in a space environment. Its results could inform subsequent product development, manufacturing and customer deployment plans. The Series A financing gives Kapta additional resources to progress from payload development toward flight testing and larger-scale production. The company's ability to meet its classified contract requirements and demonstrate its radar architecture in orbit will be important milestones as it seeks to expand its role in space-based surveillance systems.
Seattle-based Kapta Space has raised $24 million in Series A funding led by Washington Harbour Partners and co-led by Bison Ventures, bringing its total funding to $30 million. The round included participation from MetaVC, MYDA Capital, Entrada Ventures, Aurelia Foundry, and Fitz Gate Ventures. The company develops spaceborne radar payloads using its Metamaterial Electronically Scanned Array (MESA™) architecture. The technology aims to deliver radar performance at lower cost and complexity than traditional systems, enabling deployment across satellite constellations. Kapta has secured multiple classified moving target indication contracts and will use the funding to scale production, qualify its payload for flight, and expand manufacturing capacity. The company plans to conduct its first orbital demonstration as it prepares to supply radar payloads for future missions.
Exclusive: kapta space raises $24M series A to build moving target radar payload. Friday October 9, 2026 Waning Crescent Payload in your inbox. In-depth research, exclusive data, and expert analysis on the business and policy of space. Get ahead of the competition.
Kapta Space Raises $24M Series A, Secures Multiple Classified MTI Contracts TMCnet News [October 09, 2026] | / | Kapta Space Raises $24M Series A, Secures Multiple Classified MTI Contracts SEATTLE, Oct. 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Kapta Space, a developer of next-generation spaceborne radar payloads, today announced a $24 million Series A financing led by Washington Harbour Partners and co-led by Bison Ventures, with participation from MetaVC and a group of new and existing investors including MYDA Capital, Entrada Ventures, Aurelia Foundry, and Fitz Gate Ventures. The round brings Kapta's total funding to $30 million. The funding will help Kapta scale production of its technology to support multiple classified moving target indication (MTI) contracts the company secured earlier this year. Kapta was founded to address a central challenge in space-based radar intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR): delivering the persistent coverage needed to detect and maintain custody of moving threats across air, sea, and land. Conventional radar payloads have historically been too costly and complex to deploy across the large satellite constellations these missions require. Kapta's modular Metamaterial Electronically Scanned Array (MESA(TM) architecture rethinks how electronically steerable radar payloads are built. This software-defined architecture is designed to deliver advanced radar performance with significantly lower cost, power requirements, and manufacturing complexity than traditional AESA approaches, unlocking a path to sensing at scale. The challenge in persistent spaceborne awareness is not simply detecting and tracking a target; it's maintaining custody as that target moves. Kapta's electronically steerable radar architecture combines wide field-of-regard, rapid beam steering, and scalable apertures to enable spacecraft to search, track, revisit, and maintain awareness of dynamic targets at mission scale. "The mission calls for persistent awareness, and that requires us to rethink how radar has to work at constellation scale," said Milton Perque, Founder and CEO of Kapta Space. "Traditional architectures are cost-prohibitive and were never designed for the scale these missions now demand. his investment allows us to advance our technology, expand manufacturing, and work with strategic partners to bring that capability through flight qualification and into contracted orbital missions, opening the door to a new class of persistent tracking and advanced ISR missions from orbit." "For decades, traditional AESA payloads have been too costly and complex to deploy at the scale required for missions like MTI," said Mina Faltas, Founder and CEO of Washington Harbour Partners. "Kapta's MESA architecture changes that equation with a modular, highly manufacturable approach to electronically steerable radar. We believe its combination of performance, cost, and scalability will make Kapta a foundational supplier to the next generation of U.S. and allied space architectures, and we're thrilled to lead the Series A." "Kapta is rethinking a critical system from first principles," said Ben Hemani, Founding Partner at Bison Ventures. "By making space-based radar more scalable, cost-effective, and manufacturable, the team is enabling persistent sensing at a scale traditional architectures simply weren't built to support. That kind of enabling technology, with the potential for massive real-world impact, is exactly what we look for at Bison." Following the Series A, Kapta will focus on qualifying its payload for flight, expanding manufacturing capacity, and preparing for its first orbital demonstration. These sophisticated demo missions will move the company closer to supplying radar payloads at the scale that future MTI missions demand. About Kapta Space Seattle-based Kapta Space develops advanced, electronically steered radar payloads for next-generation spaceborne intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and tracking missions. Its technology is designed to enable moving target indication (MTI), wide-area tracking of dynamic targets, and high-resolution SAR imaging from low Earth orbit. With rapid electronic beam steering, broad field of regard, and persistent revisit capability, Kapta's payloads are intended to support demanding national security missions that require responsive detection, tracking, and characterization of elusive or time-sensitive targets. By significantly reducing the cost and complexity of traditional spaceborne radar architectures, Kapta is enabling a new class of scalable, mission-driven sensing capabilities for defense and intelligence customers. For more information on Kapta Space, go to its website at www.kaptaspace.com. Media Contact [email protected] About Washington Harbour Partners Washington Harbour Partners, based in Washington DC, is a private investment firm that brings a fresh approach to investors and founders, providing flexibility and deep operational expertise at all stages of the investment cycle - from growth equity to control buyouts. The firm has deep domain expertise in the areas of national security, defense technologies, cybersecurity, enterprise technologies, and technology-enabled services. In 2026, Washington Harbour Partners ranked sixth among all defense technology investors, and the highest ranked non-government affiliated firm to also fund private equity investments, in the Silicon Valley Defense Group's NatSec100 report, investing in 16 of the companies named to the list. For more information, please visit https://washingtonharbour.com/ Media Contact [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kapta-space-raises-24m-series-a-secures-multiple-classified-mti-contracts-302903032.html SOURCE Kapta Space [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage] |
Kapta Space has emerged from stealth mode with a $5 million seed funding round led by MetaVC Partners, with participation from Entrada Ventures and Blue Collective.