Senior Electrical Engineer

Department: Engineering

Location: Chantilly, VA

Employment Type: FullTime

About Lynk

Lynk is the inventor of satellite direct to device or D2D technology, and has the world’s only commercial license from the FCC to operate a commercial D2D system. Today, Lynk allows mobile network operators' subscribers to send and receive text messages to and from space via standard unmodified, mobile devices. Lynk’s service has been tested and proven on all seven continents, has regulatory approvals in more than 30 countries and is currently being deployed commercially based on more than 40 MNO commercial service contracts covering approximately 50 countries.

Our technology will enable all 8 billion people on the planet to stay connected with the existing standard phone in their pocket. Everywhere. No matter what.

By joining Lynk, you will have the opportunity to directly touch the lives of billions. Your mission will be to bring mobile broadband to billions, pull hundreds of millions out of poverty, and save countless lives.

Job Summary

As a Senior Electrical Engineer at Lynk, you will function in many roles to use and expand your knowledge of electronics and RF hardware and software. Previous satellite design experience is required in order to be considered for this role. You will perform analyses, design, implementation, optimization and enhancement of subsystems utilized in our nanosatellite bus and its communications payload. Working with other Electrical Engineers, you will design and assemble circuit boards and participate in the iterative design, integration, and test of our nanosatellite bus and payload electronics hardware and software. As part of the design cycle you will need fluency with simulation and design tools, test equipment for validation of brassboards, and be comfortable in our lab environments.  In particular, since our payloads operate at frequencies from UHF to Ka Band your work with involve use of spectrum analyzers and other RF equipment.  You will also be involved as part of the design team in component and vendor selections.

If you enjoy the challenge of a broad role and have a track record of creative thinking to solve unconventional problems, then we look forward to meeting you!

Core Responsibilities

Because Lynk is a small company, the Senior Electrical Engineer will straddle engineering work in the domains of electrical, RF, and software engineering and will design primarily at the schematic and layout level.

• Design of spacecraft bus and payload hardware, including single-board computers, FPGAs, SoCs, processors, sensors, SDRs, LNAs, filters, amplifiers, etc., and software.

• Design circuit board schematics, select circuit components, utilize development boards and/or breadboards to prove out circuit designs, develop circuit board layout, assemble circuit boards, test circuit boards to prove they work as desired, and debug as required.

• Develop firmware and test software for your circuit boards.

• Generate production-level tests for circuit boards designed.

• Create and maintain technical documentation for spacecraft bus and payload design and development.

• Participate in design reviews at all levels.

• Perform and document failure analyses on problem areas and results of testing.

• Assist mechanical engineers in the mechanical integration of designed components into spacecraft bus and payload including thermal requirements of your designs.

• Support spacecraft payload integration, testing, and delivery to launch and/or spacecraft bus partners/vendors.

Qualifications

• A Bachelor’s degree or higher in Electrical Engineering.

• Previous satellite bus design experience

• 8+ years of experience in circuit board design and development of discrete logic, signal conditioning, power circuits and RF PCBs. Schematic capture and PCB layout using Altium.  Circuit simulation using LTSpice or similar.  RF circuits will commonly involve separate ground, power and 50 ohm signal planes, and shielding as required.

• Hands-on experience with single-board computers, microcontrollers, FPGAs, GPUs, CPUs, SoCs, software-defined radios, RF components, and antennas.

• Ability to read and understand datasheets for integrated circuits and other complex components.

• Working knowledge of electronic test equipment including logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, and spectrum analyzers.

• Experience using Linux based systems.

• Recent participation in projects developing space payload hardware and software (preferably communications systems).

• Programming proficiency in one or more programming languages is highly desired,, such as, C++, C, Python, MATLAB, etc.

• Hands-on experience programming microcontrollers and with integrating hardware and software systems is desired.

• Familiarity with FPGA programming, VHDL or Verilog, and Altera or Xilinx FPGAs is desired.

• Must be good with computers. Fluent in Linux, Windows, and Mac OSX, very capable with Microsoft Office... Excel, Project, PowerPoint, Word.

• Must have good communication skills and be able to work independently as well as in a team environment.

ITAR Requirements:

To comply with U.S. Government export control regulations (ITAR), applicants must be one of the following: (i) a U.S. citizen or national, (ii) a lawful permanent resident (green card holder), (iii) a refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) an asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158. Individuals who do not meet these criteria must be eligible to obtain the necessary authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. For more information, please refer to the ITAR guidelines.

Learn about ITAR here.

Job Location: Chantilly, VA