Earth Stations Engineer

Intro

• Astranis builds advanced satellites for high orbits, expanding humanity’s reach into the solar system. Today, Astranis satellites provide dedicated, secure networks to highly-sophisticated customers across the globe— large enterprises, sovereign governments, and the US military. With five satellites on orbit and many more set to launch soon, the company is servicing a backlog of more than $1 billion of commercial contracts.Astranis is the preferred satellite communications partner for buyers with stringent requirements for uptime, data security, network visibility, and customization. Astranis has raised over $750 million from some of the world’s best investors, from Andreessen Horowitz to Blackrock and Fidelity, and employs a team of 450 engineers and entrepreneurs. Astranis designs, builds, and operates its satellites out of its 153,000 sq. ft. headquarters in Northern California, USA.
• Responsible for supporting the design, integration, test, and troubleshooting of earth stations in the lab and in the field. Earth stations include not only the RF/Antenna, but the indoor digital equipment as well (modems, SDRs).
• Design and build ground station communication systems through all stages of deployment (site survey, system design review, hardware selection, hardware integration, end-to-end testing and activation)
• Support site selection, deployment planning and co-ordination and own build, test, train and handoff to customers
• Interface with multiple disciplines including mission operations, avionics, RF, logistics, suppliers, external partners, and manufacturing
• Oversee procurement, testing, quality control, and shipment logistics of ground station support hardware
• Maintain system wide and project wide documentation and communication plans
• Provide necessary technical support and oversight to ensure proper operation of earth stations
• Coordinates with vendors to complete engineering projects, repairs, and/or Operations & Maintenance (O&M) items
• Iterate system design to improve efficiency, speed, and scalability
• Debugging equipment in the lab and in the field to reproduce issues and ability to track them to closure.
• 3-5 years of experience with earth station hardware and wireless communications (preferably satcom).
• Experience RF electronics and communication systems including: RF front-end equipment, back-end equipment, communication hardware, and link budgets
• Experience with antenna system calibration, diagnostics, and monitoring
• Experience using RF test equipment (spectrum analyzer and signal generator) and debugging RF components
• Strong project management skills, detail oriented, organized, and able to demonstrate a high sense of urgency
• Willing to travel 20% of the time
• Wiling and able to obtain a security clearance
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Enjoy a fast-paced environment and wearing many hats
• Lifting, standing, climbing, bending, grasping, sitting, pulling, pushing, stooping, stretching, and carrying are generally required to perform the functions of this position
• Bachelor’s degree in an applicable field in engineering
• Familiarity with antenna design and operation
• Familiarity with antenna control units and tracking systems
• Experience in an operations environment with an on-call schedule
• Familiar with networking (Ethernet, IP, TCP)
• Comfortable scripting, preferably in Python
• Familiarity with procurement and shipping/logistics operations