Chief Architect - Optical Communication Terminals (Free-Space Optical Communications)

Location: Broomfield, Colorado, United States; based at the Broomfield office with the option to work remotely a few days per week. Travel up to 5%.

Salary: $167,808–$219,704 base salary per year, plus bonus, equity, and benefits.

Company

Skyloom, an hirify.global company, develops, deploys, and operates space communication infrastructure and optical data transport systems for government and commercial customers.

What you will do

• Lead architecture, design, and development of next-generation Optical Communication Terminals for space applications.
• Lead engineering activities for optical communications payloads from concept through launch.
• Define, analyze, and validate system and subsystem requirements for space environments.
• Optimize end-to-end optical communication performance using analytical techniques, numerical modeling, laboratory testing, and large-scale data analysis.
• Lead system-level test planning, verification, compliance analysis, hardware/software validation, and integration troubleshooting.
• Guide multidisciplinary engineering teams, own critical design reviews, communicate technical solutions, and mentor team members.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience designing and developing Free Space Optical communication systems or Optical Communication Terminals.
• Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Ph.D. degree in Optical Engineering, Physics, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Hands-on experience with optical system design, modeling, validation, and fiber-optic and free-space optics laboratory setups.
• Strong understanding of wavefront errors, SNR, BER, link budgets, adaptive optics, beam steering, Pointing, Acquisition and Tracking, and pointing-error impacts.
• Experience with optical simulation and modeling tools such as Zemax, Code V, MATLAB, or Python, plus strong quantitative data-analysis skills.
• Must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, protected individual, or eligible to obtain the required U.S. government authorizations for export-controlled technology.

Nice to have

• Experience with Optical Inter-Satellite Links, LEO optical networking, and high-speed optical communications of 100 Gbps or greater.
• Space-flight industry experience and experience transitioning optical products into production.
• Laser safety knowledge.
• Knowledge of space optical instruments such as telescopes, spectrometers, and interferometers.
• Spanish language skills.

Culture & Benefits

• Collaborative, autonomous, and fast-paced engineering environment within a multicultural startup setting.
• Medical, dental, and vision plans.
• Matching 401(k), unlimited PTO, and paid holidays.
• Parental and adoption leave, legal insurance, and a home technology stipend.