Senior Lab Manager at AST SpaceMobile in Lanham, MD

Job description

AST SpaceMobile and our global partners are building the first and only space-based cellular broadband network to be accessible by standard smartphones. Called SpaceMobile, this ultra-powerful network is being designed to provide connectivity at 4G/5G speeds everywhere on the planet – on land, at sea and in flight. Position Overview We are seeking a RAN Deployment Engineer to lead MNO lab coordination, ensuring that schedules, configurations, templates, ATP plans, network integrity checks, and UE probe/device validation all meet commercial‑ready standards across operators and regions. This role orchestrates end‑to‑end lab activities across multiple mobile network operators and geographic markets, ensuring that all validation processes, acceptance criteria, and deployment‑readiness standards are executed consistently and to commercial‑grade specifications. The RAN Deployment Engineer will oversee vendor and operator test plans, govern requests to internal RAN elements and interfaces, manage feature regression testing, enforce integrity checks to reduce rework, and drive timely acceptance sign‑offs across multi‑market deployments. This role ensures persistence targets, KPI expectations, and commercial‑readiness criteria are met while maintaining the highest standards of network validation. Operating at the intersection of satellite technology and global telecommunications infrastructure, this position requires both technical precision and operational excellence in lab management. Success demands balancing rigorous validation standards with aggressive commercial deployment timelines, while managing complex stakeholder relationships across MNOs, vendors, and internal engineering teams. Key Responsibilities Lab Coordination & Governance Lead MNO lab coordination across operators and regions, aligning lab schedules, configurations, and test templates to support commercial‑ready deployments and ensure consistent validation standards. Oversee vendor and operator test plans within the lab environment, ensuring test scenarios, system configurations, and success criteria are clearly defined, traceable to requirements, and aligned with production deployment specifications. Govern lab activities involving validation of internal and external interfaces, ensuring standardized call flows, clear prioritization, and disciplined execution while maintaining structured workflows and change‑control processes. Manage synchronization between lab activities and production activations to minimize operational risk and avoid deployment conflicts. Implement and enforce standardized lab processes, documentation practices, and change‑control mechanisms to ensure repeatability, auditability, and compliance with internal and partner standards across all testing environments. Network Integrity, Validation & Rework Reduction Ensure ATP plans, network integrity checks, and UE validation are designed and executed to meet commercial‑ready criteria across operators and regions, maintaining rigorous quality standards throughout the validation lifecycle. Reduce rework by implementing comprehensive integrity checks and pre‑validation routines prior to activation, including configuration‑consistency verification, regression‑testing protocols, and validation of critical performance indicators. Drive timely acceptance sign‑offs across multimarket deployments, ensuring all test evidence, defect resolutions, and change documentation are complete and approved by relevant stakeholders within the required timelines. Achieve persistence targets through proactive risk management, systematic issue resolution, and continuous process‑improvement initiatives that minimize delays and support sustained deployment success. Establish and maintain robust defect‑tracking and follow‑up processes for lab‑identified issues, coordinating resolution with vendors, internal engineering teams, and MNO technical groups to ensure timely closure. Multimarket Deployment Support Enable deployments by