RF Systems Test Engineer

About Lynk

Lynk is the inventor of satellite direct to standard phone technology aka sat2phone, and has the world’s only commercial license from the FCC to operate a commercial sat2phone system. Today, Lynk allows mobile network operators' subscribers to send and receive text messages to and from space via standard unmodified, mobile devices. Lynk’s service has been tested and proven on all seven continents, has regulatory approvals in more than 30 countries and is currently being deployed commercially based on more than 40 MNO commercial service contracts covering approximately 50 countries.

Our technology will enable all 8 billion people on the planet to stay connected with the existing standard phone in their pocket. Everywhere. No matter what.

By joining Lynk, you will have the opportunity to directly touch the lives of billions. Your mission will be to bring mobile broadband to billions, pull hundreds of millions out of poverty, and save countless lives.

Job Summary

As a RF Systems Test Engineer at Lynk, you will wear many hats in the world of RF hardware/electronics and software/firmware. The immediate role of the RF Systems Test Engineer will be to support testing of the company’s digital phased array antenna payload hardware in the lab environment. While playing with all this hardware on a bench, you will probably need to pick up a soldering gun, assemble circuits on a breadboard, use an oscilloscope, vector network analyzer, and spectrum analyzer.

This role is critical to the success of our mission, as you will be at the center of developing and executing the automated testing and verification for every aspect of the digital phased array payload that makes our service possible. As an RF Systems Test Engineer you will be expected to understand every detail of this complex system design and its expected function, including high speed mixed signal beamformer boards, clock distribution networks, RFFE boards, integrated radiating antenna elements, and full array calibration and verification procedures.

Core Responsibilities

• Integrate flight and lab RF hardware electronics, design test beds, fixtures, etc. for operational verification of RF hardware and software technologies.

• Design, develop, and document test and integration procedures for flight and lab RF hardware, particularly RF Front Ends, and Mixed-Signal Digital Electronics.

• Design, develop, specify, and maintain hardware and software for Electronic Ground Support Equipment aka EGSE to be used to support satellite RF digital phased array payload verification, particularly before, during, and after functional and environmental testing.

• Bench-level work with electronics to debug and troubleshoot issues that arise during testing, including functional and environmental testing.

• Working alongside engineers and technicians, Inform the design, development, and optimization of the company’s operational testing procedures and policies for our Production and research and development campaign for our space technology.

• Huge focus on automation for testing and data collection tools to ensure testing can be done reliably, repeatedly, and at scale in production.

Basic Qualifications

• A Bachelor’s degree or better in Electrical Engineering, RF Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechatronics Engineering, or similar degrees.

• 5+ years of experience as an RF Engineer focused on system design and/or test.

• Experience with standard RF lab equipment is required: Oscilloscopes, Spectrum and Vector Network Analyzer, Multimeter, etc.

• Hands-on experience with RFFE printed circuit boards, single-board computers, microcontrollers, FPGAs, GPUs, CPUs, SoCs, software-defined radios, and/or antennas.

• Ability to read and understand datasheets for integrated circuits and electronics.

• Experience using Linux based systems and programming proficiency in one or more programming languages, such as Rust, C++, C, Python, MATLAB, etc.

• Must have good communication skills and be able to work independently as well as in a team environment.

Preferred Qualifications, Testing Experience in areas such as

• EMI testing RE 102, RS103.

• Vibration Testing, Experience with GEVs.

• Familiarity with ethernet, serial and or CAN communication protocols.

• Recent participation in projects developing space payload hardware and software, preferably communications systems.

• Experience working with and testing Digitally or electronically steered Phased Array Antenna systems

• Experience working with GSM/LTE/NR communications and cellular backhaul networks

ITAR Requirements

To comply with U.S. Government export control regulations (ITAR), applicants must be one of the following: (i) a U.S. citizen or national, (ii) a lawful permanent resident (green card holder), (iii) a refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) an asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158. Individuals who do not meet these criteria must be eligible to obtain the necessary authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. For more information, please refer to the ITAR guidelines.

Learn about ITAR here.

Job Location

Chantilly, VA