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Salary: USD 120,000 - 200,000 / annual
K2 Space is building the largest and highest-power satellites ever flown, unlocking performance levels previously out of reach across multiple orbits from LEO to deep space. Backed by over $1 billion in total funding and with over $1 billion in signed contracts across commercial and US government customers, K2 is mass-producing the highest-power satellite platforms ever built. The company is shifting the industry from an era of mass constraint to one of mass abundance, with multiple launches planned for 2027 and scaling to 100 satellites per year.
In this role, you will be responsible for the design and development of radiofrequency (RF) and microwave electronics hosted on some of the largest, most powerful satellites ever deployed in space. In your first 6 months, you will architect, develop, own, test, and integrate new RF electronics for use in software-defined radio (SDR) systems for satellite communications and beyond. You will work with a multidisciplinary team of antenna, FPGA, digital signal processing, software, mechanical, and electrical engineers to prototype systems and refine designs. Within two years, you will have flown your system in space and developed cutting-edge radiofrequency systems.
Key responsibilities include:
- Design and development of radiofrequency and microwave hardware from UHF 200 MHz through Ka band 30 GHz, including phased array antennas, low noise amplifiers, power amplifiers, filters, RF mixers, up and downconverters, high-speed data converters, and other RF electronics components
- Design printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs) for spacecraft including architecture, schematic capture, component selection, layout, bring-up, and debugging
- Qualify designs through environmental testing including vibration, shock, thermal, and thermal vacuum (TVAC) testing
- Collaborate closely with internal and external stakeholders to integrate designs into the spacecraft system
- Act as technical leader and subject-matter expert, helping to teach, grow, and mentor others on the team
Requirements:
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, or related STEM field
- 5+ years of experience in microwave and RF engineering
- Experience designing multilayer PCBAs and integrating commercial off-the-shelf integrated circuits for RF applications in Altium or similar PCB design tools
- Experience with RF circuit modeling and analysis software tools such as Cadence AWR Microwave Office and Keysight ADS
- Experience with RF test equipment such as vector network analyzers (VNA), spectrum analyzer, etc.
- Ability to work in a fast-paced, high-velocity startup atmosphere
Nice to have:
- Experience with component selection for use in space radiation environments and flying hardware in space
- Experience with antenna and electromagnetic modeling and analysis software tools such as Ansys Electronics Desktop HFSS and Altair FEKO
- Experience with FPGA design, implementation, verification, and validation for RF applications
- Experience with software-defined radio hardware development including high-speed RF data converters, clock trees, and data converter interfaces
- Experience with phased arrays and digital beamforming
- Experience with signal intelligence (SIGINT), electronic warfare (EW), and/or satellite telecommunications
- Knowledge of RF digital communications and digital signal processing (DSP) concepts such as spread spectrum, forward error correction, and modulation types (BPSK, QAM, etc.)
