Payload Engineering · Payload Engineering
Payload Pointing, Acquisition & Beam-Steering Engineer
Develop precision pointing, acquisition, tracking and beam-steering controls for optical and electronically steered payloads.
Role mandate
Build the capability for the era ahead.
This team member will combine subject-matter depth, sound judgment and disciplined execution to move the mission from architecture to measurable results.
Responsibilities
- Own the Payload Engineering workstream for Payload Pointing, Acquisition & Beam-Steering Engineer and deliver measurable technical or operating outcomes.
- Own requirements, interfaces, performance budgets and verification for flight and ground systems.
- Coordinate hardware, software, payload, bus, network and mission-operation dependencies.
- Drive design reviews, risk retirement, integration and readiness through the mission lifecycle.
Required qualifications
- Engineering experience with spacecraft, payloads, RF systems, avionics, antennas or ground systems.
- Working knowledge of requirements management, interface control and verification.
- Ability to perform disciplined analysis and communicate technical risk.
Preferred experience
- Experience taking flight hardware or mission systems through qualification and operations.
- Familiarity with constellation, optical-link or quantum-communications programs.
Scientific and technical requirements
Physics, mathematics and engineering foundations
- Geometric and Fourier optics, Gaussian-beam propagation, diffraction, polarization, coherence and radiometry.
- Semiconductor laser physics, electro-optic modulation, photodetection, shot noise, thermal noise and atmospheric turbulence.
- Control theory and estimation for pointing, acquisition and tracking under jitter, vibration, Doppler and platform motion.
Mathematics and working equations
- Diffraction-limited divergence θ ≈ 1.22λ/D; Gaussian beam radius w(z) = w0√(1 + (z/zR)²), with zR = πw0²/λ.
- Photon energy E = hc/λ and photon rate Ṅ = Pr/E; connect received optical power to detector sensitivity and BER.
- Free-space optical budget Pr = PtηsysGtGr(λ/4πR)²LpointLatm, with every loss and margin stated in dB.
- Pointing loss for a Gaussian beam depends exponentially on angular error relative to beam divergence; close coarse- and fine-pointing error budgets.
Hardware, flight and infrastructure components
- Space-qualified laser transmitter, seed laser, optical amplifier, modulator, telescope, beam expander and wavelength-control hardware.
- Fast-steering mirror, gimbal/coarse-pointing assembly, beacon camera, quadrant detector or focal-plane array, fine-guidance sensor and inertial isolation.
- APD/PIN or coherent receiver, optical filters, fiber couplers, isolators, circulators, polarization optics, thermal straps and contamination-controlled housings.
Software, laboratory and analysis tools
- Zemax OpticStudio or CODE V; MATLAB/Simulink or Python; FRED/physical-optics modeling; CAD and finite-element jitter/thermal interfaces.
- Optical spectrum analyzer, power meter, beam profiler, interferometer, autocollimator, high-speed oscilloscope and BER tester.
Verification and mission skills
- Measure wavefront error, boresight, divergence, jitter transfer, acquisition probability, tracking error, receiver sensitivity and end-to-end BER.
- Qualify optical alignment across thermal-vacuum, vibration and launch-load environments; control cleanliness and molecular/particulate contamination.
Authoritative technical references
The hiring sequence will follow operating milestones and project requirements. The position may begin through advisory, consulting or project-based work before moving into a full-time role.
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