SlipstreamJobs tracks this role from the company's public career site. Apply directly on the employer's site.
Salary: USD 180,000 - 220,000 / annual
Apolink is building the first backward-compatible data relay constellation in low Earth orbit, enabling efficient data aggregation and relay through hybrid RF-optical inter-satellite link (ISL) architecture for commercial, federal, and defense applications.
The Chief Engineer (Optical) is the company's technical lead for optical communications across the LEO data relay constellation. This is a hands-on, sole-contributor leadership role where you own the optical architecture, requirements, link design, and verification. You will lead technical decisions with the optical terminal vendor, who handles manufacturing while you remain deeply involved in analysis, integration, and testing.
Key Responsibilities:
- Own optical ISL and feeder-link architecture, including wavelength planning, modulation and coding, aperture and divergence sizing, and data rate vs. range tradeoffs.
- Develop and maintain end-to-end optical link budgets covering coherent receiver sensitivity, PAT margin, platform jitter, point-ahead, Doppler, stray light, fade statistics, and BER against realistic FEC.
- Author optical requirements and ICDs (Interface Control Documents), managing flowdown to the vendor and internal bus, flight software, and ground teams.
- Direct vendor technical performance: down-select, diligence, SOW and NRE scoping, design review participation, and accountability for performance and schedule.
- Adjudicate R&D direction with the vendor—determining what warrants NRE investment, what is technically unviable, and what to buy versus co-develop.
- Potentially lead a ZR-800G-class coherent transceiver NRE with the optical terminal.
- Maintain compliance with applicable standards, including CCSDS O3K and SDA OCT for federal programs.
Requirements:
- Direct, hands-on experience with LEO-LEO optical inter-satellite links: designing, building, or verifying crosslink terminals between spacecraft in low Earth orbit.
- 6+ years in free-space optical communications, coherent optical transport, or spaceborne photonics.
- MS or PhD in optics, electrical engineering, or physics, or equivalent demonstrated depth.
- Demonstrated experience directing vendor technical performance and NRE programs.
- Capacity to exercise independent technical judgment as the sole optical authority and be accountable for it.
Preferred:
- Direct experience with 400ZR, 800ZR, OpenZR+, or OIF coherent pluggables.
- Flight heritage on an optical comms payload.
