Communications Systems EngineerLocation: Dayton, Ohio
Type: Full-time
Clearance: Optional - e.g., U.S. Citizen/Eligible for Clearance
Communications Systems Engineer - Free-Space Optical (FSO) / Laser Communications
Levels considered: Experienced through Senior/Principal.
Position OverviewWe are looking for a strong communications systems engineer to help design, build, and test next-generation free-space optical (FSO) communication terminals for terrestrial, airborne, and space-based platforms.
You do not need a background in laser communications to apply. Much of what makes an FSO link work is the same engineering practiced across the communications field: link budgets and margin allocation, modulation and coding, acquisition and synchronization, fade and outage statistics, closed-loop pointing and tracking, and end-to-end system validation against SWaP-C constraints. If you have done this work in RF, microwave, SATCOM, fiber-optic transport, wireless, radar, or EO/IR sensing, you have most of what we can build on to teach you the optical layer.
Prior experience in optical communications, free space optical comm, directed energy, and laser systems is a plus.
What You'll Do- Contribute to (and, with experience, lead) the architecture and design of laser communication components and their subsystems - transceiver, modem, interfaces, data conditioning.
- Build and defend link budgets, model end-to-end communication performance, and trade the design against size, weight, power, and cost constraints.
- Analyze link impairments - atmospheric turbulence, scintillation, fading, pointing jitter, platform dynamics - and shape acquisition, tracking, and mitigation strategies around them.
- Drive component selection, integration, and system-level validation across lasers, modulators, detectors, beam expanders, and fiber-optic assemblies.
- Work alongside optical, mechanical, and software specialists to integrate optical communication systems into airborne and space-qualified platforms.
- Support alignment, calibration, and test campaigns - including pointing, acquisition, and tracking - in the lab and in the field.
- Participate in customer briefings, requirements definition, and roadmap planning.
- Author technical documentation, system specifications, and support proposal and IP development.
What We're Looking For- B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Optical Engineering, or a related technical field.
- 5+ years designing, analyzing, or testing communication systems in any medium - RF/microwave, satellite, fiber-optic, wireless, or optical. (Senior/Principal consideration typically starts around 8+ years.)
- Demonstrated ownership of link budgets and system performance analysis: margin allocation, SNR/BER modeling, availability and outage estimation.
- Working fluency in MATLAB and/or Python for modeling, simulation, and data reduction.
- Hands-on laboratory experience bringing up and characterizing hardware - test equipment, instrumentation, measurement campaigns, and debugging a system that isn't behaving as modeled.
- Comfort operating across disciplines and with the ambiguity of early-stage development work.
- Clear technical communication, in writing and in front of customers.
Helpful, But Not RequiredWe expect strong candidates to bring some of these, not all. Depth in one adjacent area matters more to us than shallow exposure to many.
- Free-space optical or laser communication systems; directed energy systems.
- Laser sources, optical alignment, and fiber-coupled optical systems.
- Optical design and simulation tools (Zemax, Code V, FRED) or comparable RF/system modeling tools (STK, Ansys HFSS, GNU Radio, Simulink).
- Closed-loop pointing, acquisition, and tracking - from any domain, including antenna pointing, gimbal control, radar tracking, or EO/IR sensor stabilization.
- Communication protocols, waveform design, DSP, forward error correction, or coherent detection.
- Standards such as CCSDS or optical inter-satellite link (OISL) protocols.
- Turbulence and propagation modeling in any medium.
- Space-qualified systems or flight hardware; environmental and qualification testing.
- SWIR/MWIR optics, MEMS beam steering, or Risley prisms.
- Secure communications and encryption.
- Ability to obtain a security clearance.
What We Offer: - Competitive compensation and equity packages
- Technical leadership in a rapidly advancing application space
- A collaborative, multidisciplinary team working on next-gen optical communications
- Opportunities for technical growth, system-level ownership, and leadership
- Flexible work environment with strong emphasis on innovation and impact
