Job Details
New ideas are all around us, but only a few will change the world. That’s our focus at JPL. We ask the biggest questions, then search the universe for answers—literally. We build upon ideas that have guided generations, then share our discoveries to inspire generations to come. Your mission—your opportunity—is to seek out the answers that bring us one step closer. If you’re driven to discover, create, and inspire something that lasts a lifetime and beyond, you’re ready for JPL.
Located in Pasadena, California, JPL has a campus-like environment situated on 177 acres in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and offers a work environment unlike any other: we inspire passion, foster innovation, build collaboration, and reward excellence.
Responsibilities:
The JPL Communications and Instruments Division performs scientific investigations, advanced technology research, engineering developments and system implementations encompassing space telecommunications, tracking and active remote sensing using electromagnetic waves.
The Flight Communications and Tracking Section provides cost-effective space communications systems, software defined radios, high power RF amplifiers, and power supplies that support primary telecom subsystems and major radar and radiometer science payloads. The section also provides Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) flight equipment, radiometric science instruments, high stability frequency standards and clocks and seismometers for NASA/JPL missions. In addition to flight hardware expertise, the section specializes in collection of and processing of worldwide, fixed site, GNSS data that is processed into clock, atmospheric, and ionospheric GNSS correction metrics. The section also develops high stability frequency references and clocks for flight and ground applications.
The Flight Communications & Tracking Section at JPL is looking for a highly motivated and experienced Flight Telecom Systems Engineer II to join their Communication System Engineering and Operations Group. As a member of this Group, you will have an opportunity to be involved in all phases of product development from early concept and mission formulation, low technology readiness specification and prototyping to engineering and flight model development and implementation, functional and environmental testing, and flight operations support. In this role, you will perform complex and varied engineering tasks within the telecom discipline, partnering with senior engineers across all phases of the product lifecycle.
Tasks include but are not limited to:
Provide telecom system engineering support on various flight telecom subsystems for deep-space interplanetary missions, Earth-orbiting missions, and lunar/Mars relay networks.
Demonstrate the collaborative, team-oriented approach expected of a future technical leader by proactively supporting teammates, sharing knowledge, and contributing to a positive, safety-conscious team culture.
Take ownership of assigned tasks and deliverables, communicating progress, risks, and recommendations clearly to senior engineers and task leads.
Build strong working relationships across the telecom team and with other subsystem engineers, laying the groundwork for future technical leadership roles.
Participate actively in technical reviews and team discussions, offering sound engineering judgment and contributing to decisions that build trust with senior staff.
Generate telecom component and subsystem-level requirements, responding to project and flight system needs with appropriate requirements flow down
Develop and prepare interface agreements between the telecom subsystem and other spacecraft subsystems.
Conduct system-level link analyses, using statistically-derived link parameters
Partner with other engineers to evaluate current telecom components, algorithms, subsystems, and end-to-end system performance.
Conduct software simulations and hardware tests, summarizing results to verify…