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.
Earth Station Engineer
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). Ownership includes:
Role- 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
Top Skills
What We Do
Astranis is building small, low-cost telecommunications satellites. Our mission is to help get online the 4 billion people who are without internet access.
