K2 is building the largest and highest-power satellites ever flown, unlocking performance levels previously out of reach across every orbit. Backed by over $1 billion in total funding from leading investors including Altimeter Capital, ICONIQ, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, and T. Rowe Price — and with over $1 billion in signed contracts across commercial and US government customers, we're mass-producing the highest-power satellite platforms ever built for missions from LEO to deep space.
The rise of heavy-lift launch vehicles is shifting the industry from an era of mass constraint to one of mass abundance, and we believe this new era demands a fundamentally different class of spacecraft. Engineered to survive the harshest radiation environments and to fully capitalize on today's and tomorrow's massive rockets, K2 satellites deliver unmatched capability at constellation scale and across multiple orbits.
With multiple launches in 2027 and plans to scale to 100 satellites a year, we're Building Bigger — helping develop the solar system and build toward a Kardashev Type II (K2) civilization. If you are a motivated individual who thrives in a fast-paced environment and you're excited about contributing to the success of a high-growth Series D-funded company, we'd love for you to apply.
The Role
As K2's Principal Crypto Engineer, reporting to the VP of Satellite Engineering & Operations, you will own the technical architecture and design of our Type-1 cryptographic integrations across the spacecraft, payload, and ground segment. You'll lead these designs from concept and trade studies through implementation, integration, and test. You'll define how K2's satellites protect command, telemetry, and mission data at the hardware and software level, and build it to fit a high-volume satellite production line. You'll work hand-in-hand with our COMSEC Certification Lead on the National Security team, who owns the path to NSA approval. This is a foundational role: you'll set the cryptographic design standards the rest of the program builds against.
Responsibilities
Own the end-to-end technical architecture of Type-1 cryptographic integrations across the spacecraft, payload, and ground segment
Lead crypto designs from concept and trade studies through implementation, integration, and test
Design encryption, key management, and key loading implementations for command, telemetry, and mission data
Integrate cryptographic functions into flight software, avionics, FPGA, RF, and ground systems in partnership with those teams
Define hardware and software interfaces between crypto equipment and the broader system architecture
Produce the design documentation and test evidence needed to support certification, working closely with K2’s COMSEC Certification lead
Identify and mitigate cryptographic design risks across hardware, software, and RF boundaries
Establish reusable cryptographic designs, interfaces, and standards that scale across K2's production line
Support anomaly resolution and troubleshooting for fielded and on-orbit crypto systems
Qualifications
Bachelor's degree or higher in electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, or a related discipline
5+ years of engineering experience designing or integrating cryptographic systems or secure communications
Hands-on experience integrating NSA Type-1 cryptographic equipment into a hardware or software system
Working knowledge of key management and key loading implementations
Strong systems-level thinking, with the ability to reason from first principles across hardware, software, and RF boundaries
Ability to work in a fast-paced, autonomously driven, and demanding startup atmosphere with competing priorities and aggressive schedules
Nice to Have
Experience with spacecraft, satellite, or other space-system cryptographic integrations
Experience with embedded systems, FPGA design, or flight software
Familiarity with cryptographic modernization…