Sr. C2 Terminal RF & Antenna System Engineer at The Aerospace Corporation in Los Angeles, CA

Job description

The Aerospace Corporation is the trusted partner to the nation’s space programs, solving the hardest problems and providing unmatched technical expertise. As the operator of a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC), we are broadly engaged across all aspects of space— delivering innovative solutions that span satellite, launch, ground, and cyber systems for defense, civil and commercial customers. When you join our team, you’ll be part of a special collection of problem solvers, thought leaders, and innovators. Join us and take your place in space. The Defense Systems Group (DSG) provides analysis-based decision support to senior leaders on space architectures, policy and strategy, technology development, warfighter capability enablers, systems integration, defense industrial base, and threat reduction to help shape existing and future space missions across the national security space (NSS) enterprise. DSG is unique at Aerospace as it not only directly supports major customers, including the U.S. Space Force, U.S. Space Command, Air Force Material Command, and senior leadership at the Pentagon, but also provides a broad range of technical support across the national space enterprise, maintaining vertical responsibilities with customers’ portfolios as well as horizontal, matrixed responsibilities across the corporation. Additionally, DSG provides deep technical expertise to the Space Force Space Systems Command (SSC) in the conception, design, acquisition, launch and operations of satellite, launch vehicle, ground control, and range systems. Aerospace is the trusted technical and programmatic advisor to the Evolved Strategic SATCOM (ESS) Program Office, responsible for system development, integration, and transition to operations on an aggressive national timeline. ESS is the recapitalization of the strategic satellite communications architecture that underwrites nuclear command, control, and communications, the system that has to work on its worst day. The Command & Control (C2) Terminal is where that system meets the operator. It is the link that has to close under jamming, under stress, and under conditions no commercial terminal is ever asked to survive. If the terminal doesn't work, nothing else in the architecture matters. This is an RF Engineer's job at the center of a national mission. The Sr. C2 Terminal RF & Antenna System Engineer will evaluate competing terminal architectures, assess real prototypes from multiple vendors, and lead the integration and test work that determines which design the government buys. You will be hands-on with antennas, phased arrays, software-defined radios, and signal processing and your technical findings will directly shape a multi-billion-dollar acquisition. Few RF Engineers get to do deep technical work and have it drive a procurement decision. That is this role. Aerospace exists to give the government the technical answer, which means your assessment of a vendor's link budget or array performance is not filtered through anyone's business development interests. For engineers who have spent years defending a product line, this is the difference that matters. One important note before you read further: this position requires an active Secret clearance with eligibility to obtain TS/SCI — not TS/SCI in hand. If you hold a current Secret and assumed strategic mission work was closed to you, it is not. Apply. The selected candidate will be required to work full-time, on-site at our facility at Los Angeles Air Force Base, CA. What You'll Be Doing Serving as the program's subject matter expert in C2 RF system, antennas, phased arrays, and software-defined radio (SDR) communication subsystems Solving hard MILSATCOM problems end to end: link performance, signal processing, waveform behavior, interference, and anti-jam performance under realistic operational conditions Evaluating competing C2 terminal architectures and prototypes, and leading the integration and test activity tha