Electrical Engineer – Optical Communications

About the role

Cowboy Space Corp. is developing satellite‑based infrastructure for power and data in low‑Earth orbit. We are seeking an Electrical Engineer specialized in optical communications to design, integrate, and validate high‑throughput RF and laser‑based links for space‑borne platforms.

Key responsibilities

• Design and integrate communication PCBAs, modulators, and hybrid RF/optical subsystems for airborne or space platforms.
• Develop software‑defined radio (SDR) pipelines, including modulation, coding, synchronization, and signal processing.
• Create and validate high‑speed free‑space optical links, performing link budgeting, pointing, tracking, and redundancy planning.
• Conduct system‑level trade studies and performance analysis under motion, atmospheric turbulence, Doppler shift, and power constraints.
• Collaborate with avionics, firmware, and compute teams to embed communication systems into flight hardware.
• Build test infrastructure for laboratory and field validation, including over‑the‑air and optical link test setups.

Required profile

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a related discipline.
• Minimum 3 years of experience in RF systems or communications engineering.
• Strong foundation in communication theory (modulation, coding, synchronization, propagation).
• Hands‑on experience designing PCBAs for communication hardware.
• Proven ability to work across hardware and software boundaries.

Required skills

• RF engineering
• High‑speed optical communications
• Software‑defined radio (SDR) platforms
• PCB design for communication systems
• Link budgeting and system‑level performance analysis
• Use of RF lab equipment (spectrum analyzer, signal generator, VNA, oscilloscope)