Senior / Principal Lunar Ground Systems Engineer
KSAT Inc
7600 E Eastman Ave
Ste 415
Denver, CO 80231
Introduction
With headquarters in Tromsø, Norway, Kongsberg Satellite Services AS (KSAT) supplies ground station services for satellite communications. KSAT is the world’s largest supplier of telemetry, tracking and command (TT&C) and data acquisition services for non-geostationary satellites.
Founded in 1968, KSAT has grown to over 500 employees with an annual revenue of approximately $200M. About 50% of KSAT’s annual revenue comes from the US. The wholly owned subsidiary KSAT Inc. (aka. KSAT USA) is located in Denver, Colorado and is rapidly growing in response to strong US Government and industry demand for commercial ground segment services. As a result of KSAT’s continued growth in the US, more critical talent is needed.
Summary of Position
KSAT USA is seeking an experienced mid-career engineer to perform real-time customer support and engineering services for our lunar projects and operations. This engineer will act as a technical resource for key lunar mission customers in the USA, working closely with KSAT’s broader global engineering and program teams. Critical functions include performing radio frequency compatibility testing, customer onboarding, launch and early operations support, critical mission support, and providing anomaly resolution.
In the near term, the Lunar Ground Systems Engineer will be part of the US Lunar Engineering team, in coordination with the global KSAT Lunar team, to ensure service level agreements are met. The Lunar Ground Systems Engineer will work closely with KSAT USA’s suppliers, industry partners, and the end users to ensure successful operation of our global lunar network.
The role will be local to the Denver region with a hybrid in-office/remote schedule. Relocation assistance is available for the right candidate.
Joining the KSAT Team means:
- Opportunity to work across the commercial, civil, and defense space industry
- Experience in an international company with a global footprint and opportunities to work across cultures
- Engaging team: inspire small, dedicated, “A-class” teammates.
- Being part of a nimble and passionate “start-up” team, with the financial security and product technology readiness level of an established company – the best of both worlds
Compensation
The on-target base salary range is between $120,000 - $150,000
Benefits Package Highlights:
- Four weeks of PTO annually
- $0 individual medical insurance with generous coverages
- Flexible working environment
- Fitness expense reimbursement program
- Tuition reimbursement program
- International travel opportunities
Details of the Role
Essential Job Duties and Responsibilities:
- Provide real-time or near real-time support for anomaly events across the lunar network and interact with customer engineering teams to troubleshoot and resolve those issues. This is particularly important during critical mission phases and may require occasional odd-hour support.
- Execute face-to-face customer testing of baseband RF communications and network interfaces
- Onboard customers to the KSAT lunar network, deploying their configurations from a centralized repository and ensuring performance through end-to-end testing
- Coordinate with the KSAT global technical and program teams to design, develop, and implement long-term solutions for challenging space-ground communications
- Support the overall lunar engineering team in the build-up and deployment of lunar products and systems.
Requirements
US Citizenship or Premanent Resident
Must be eligible to maintain a US DoD SECRET Clearance
Qualifications and Skills
- Minimum
- 7-years of demonstrated SATCOM experience developing, deploying, and/or testing space to ground RF systems to include narrowband TT&C and wideband mission data
- In depth 5echnical competency and experience designing RF communication systems including modulation/demodulation of SATCOM signals, front end processing of data (framing, encoding, and synchronization), and ground segment monitoring and control systems
- Experience with operations support, to include real-time troubleshooting of customer issues in highly complex systems
- Hands-on experience testing RF systems to include the build-out and integration of digitizers, down/upconverters, software modems with customer supplied radios, signal generators, and/or spectrum analysers
- Preferred
- Previous experience with RF systems using space data standards such as CCSDS and DVB-S2
- Experience with spread-spectrum, ranging, and Doppler measurements.
- Experience deploying networked systems to transport digital IF over IP
- Hands-on experience configuring Linux systems utilizing command line interfaces and shell scripting
- Familiarity with public and private cloud architectures for digital signal processing
- Familiarity with RESTful API development and integration with external customer or supplier systems
Travel
- Travel is estimated at 15%
- Travel will be necessary to Tromsø, Norway
- Travel will be necessary to customer sites in the United States
- Travel to other CONUS and OCONUS locations may be required on a case-by-case basis
Education
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering (BS EE, CS, or Aerospace) or other technical discipline (BSEE/ME preferred)
- Master's degree in technical field preferred