Staff Electrical Engineer

The role

Join our electrical engineering team to design and develop the electronics that make our vision of space networking a reality - from the high-speed digital systems inside our Ephemeris Network Box to the opto-electronics that run optical inter-satellite links terminals.

You'll contribute to three critical hardware domains: (1) the high-speed digital networking electronics capable of routing data at up to 9.6 Tbps between multiple optical terminals and managing a ~200 TB space-based data cache, (2) the optical terminal electronics including motor control systems, fine steering control electronics, photodiode transimpedance amplifiers, and laser drivers that enable free-space optical communication, and (3) semi-custom optical transceivers that bridge our networking and optical systems.

As part of our electrical engineering team, you'll help establish how we approach electronics design for space networking systems and contribute to building Ephemeris Net's hardware engineering capabilities. Your designs will define the hardware foundation for all Ephemeris Net products.

This role will report to the CTO and co-founder, Nicolas Brown.

Key responsibilities

The following are responsibilities across our electrical engineering team. You will own a subset of these based on your experience and interests, and contribute to others as needed.

High-Speed Digital Design (Network Box)

• Design high-speed digital systems with interfaces up to 9.6 Tbps for space-based routing
• Implement optical interface protocols in space-qualified hardware
• Ensure signal integrity and EMI/EMC compliance for high-speed differential signaling
• Design power delivery systems for high-performance networking processors and FPGAs
• Design storage subsystem electronics for a ~200 TB space-based data cache, including high-speed memory interfaces and storage controller integration

Optical Transceivers

• Design and develop semi-custom optical transceiver modules for space networking applications
• Work with optics and photonics vendors to integrate custom requirements into transceiver form factors
• Characterize and qualify transceiver performance for space environments

Optical Terminal Electronics

• Design motor control systems for precision pointing and tracking of optical terminals

• Develop photodiode transimpedance amplifiers for closed loop terminal pointing control

• Design laser driver circuits for closed loop terminal pointing control

• Implement closed-loop control systems for beam steering and acquisition

• Optimizeanalog front-end performance for low noise and high bandwidth

Space Hardware Development

• Select commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components appropriate for space environments

• Collaborate with mechanical team on thermal management solutions for high-power digital electronics in vacuum

• Support qualification test team in developing test procedures and qualification campaigns

• Work with fabrication partners to manufacture and assemble flight hardware

• Support hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) testing and integration activities

System Integration

• Define electrical interfaces between network box, optical terminals, and spacecraft bus

• Design electrical harnessing and cable routing for dynamic motion environments

• Collaborate with firmware team to ensure hardware-software integration

• Support mission engineer in spacecraft-level integration and testing

• Debug and troubleshoot hardware issues during build, integration, and test phases

What we're looking for

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent experience
• 3+ years of electronics design experience either with mixed focus on high-speed digital or analog circuits or deep focus in one area
• Experience with PCB design tools (Altium, Cadence, or similar)
• Track record delivering hardware
• Understanding of signal integrity principles for high-speed digital design
• Experience with laboratory test equipment (oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, network analyzers)
• Ability to obtain and maintain a US security clearance

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience designing space-qualified or radiation-tolerant electronics
• Familiarity with Xilinx Versal FPGA line
• Verilog or VHDL experience for FPGA development
• Background in optical communication systems or laser electronics
• Experience with fiber optics and optical interconnects
• Experience with electrical harnessing and cable design for dynamic motion environments
• Experience with high-speed serial interfaces (100G+ Ethernet, PCIe Gen4/5)
• Knowledge of motor control systems and closed-loop feedback
• Understanding of photodiode circuits and transimpedance amplifier design
• Thermal analysis and simulation experience (ANSYS, Thermal Desktop)
• Familiarity with radiation effects on electronics (SEU, TID)
• Experience with space qualification standards (MIL-STD-883)

What we offer

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary dependent on experience (please note that all posting for this role route through the same review process; applying to multiple levels will result in duplicate applications)
• • Engineer II: $150,000 - $190,000
  • Senior Engineer: $170,000 - $210,000
  • Staff Engineer: $180,000 - $230,000

• Generous equity package (early hire equity)

• Comprehensive health care coverage

• Unlimited PTO (we expect you to take at least 4 weeks per year, and leadership does the same)

Work Environment

• Hybrid work model: 3 days per week in our office/lab based on project needs