Vast is looking for a Senior Ground Segment Engineer, reporting to the Director of Ground Software & IT, to support the development of the systems that will be required for the design and build of artificial-gravity human-rated space stations. This will be an exempt role located in our Hawthorne location until the end of the year and subsequently transition to our Long Beach location.

As a Ground Segment Engineer you will contribute to all phases of ground segment system development, from initial concept to the operation and support of Vast’s on-orbit missions. The Ground Segment team builds ground stations, selects and integrates ground stations from our partner networks, and works on console in mission operations. The ideal candidate will have a proven track record in the design and build of electrical, mechanical, and RF systems, and exceptional troubleshooting and infrastructure integration skills.

Responsibilities:

• Design and build next-generation ground station networks for the Orbiter and Haven vehicle programs
• Conduct trade studies for ground segment assets and review technical proposals for their selection
• Oversee operations of Telemetry Tracking and Command (TT&C) ground stations supporting our on-orbit vehicles
• Lead the build out of our ground station systems through all phases from site acquisition, frequency license approval (in collaboration w/ legal and RF teams), installation, hardware integration, testing, calibration to operations
• Oversee the health and status of the ground station network during the launch and early orbit phase of spacecraft operations
• Work closely with the Ground Segment Software team to integrate telemetry and telecommand data to and from ground stations with Vast mission operations software systems
• Design and build ground infrastructure for mission operations voice systems
• Comprehensively trade and select for integration ground station providers/networks into Vast’s ground segment infrastructure
• Rigorously test the communications interface between both our ground station and vehicle test hardware and ground station and ground software systems

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical, aerospace, or software engineering, or other engineering discipline
• 3+ years of industry experience designing, implementing and testing system-level communication architecture
• 2+ years of experience with RF tools and equipment such as Receivers, Front-End Processors, Spectrum Analyzers, VNAs, Power Meters, Cable Analyzers, SDRs, etc.

Preferred Skills & Experience:

• Fundamental skills needed to design and build electrical, mechanical, and RF systems
• Ability to creatively solve problems and bring multiple disciplines together while assessing risk and making design and development decisions with incomplete data sets
• Strong sense of accountability and integrity with excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Comprehensive knowledge and experience with the Linux operating system.
• Familiarity with GNU Radio or similar software
• Proficiency in working with software-defined radios (SDRs)
• Extensive experience in using spectrum and vector network analyzers for RF testing and troubleshooting
• Demonstrated expertise in systems integration and complex systems debugging
• Strong grasp of electronics and RF theory, and hands-on experience with electronics hardware, including both analog and digital
• Experience with programming & scripting: Matlab, Python, C/C++, JS, etc
• Experience with full-lifecycle product development
• Solid understanding of telemetry systems
• Capability to manage complex projects, including experience leading technical teams through all phases from concept to completion.
• Superior communication skills, both verbal and written
• Previous involvement with antenna design, radio frequency (RF) systems, and ground station operations
• Prior work on large scale, high reliability systems
• Knowledge of RF demodulation, decommutation, FEC and CRC decoding, IRIG or CCSDS decoding techniques, Best-Source Selecting, for use in RF receiving front-end systems
• Understanding of signal processing - Nyquist, sampling rates, data decimation

Additional Requirements:

• Must be willing to travel as required to domestic and international ground station sites (< 25%)
• Must be willing to work extended hours and weekends when necessary to support launch and mission operations efforts