Hardware Engineering Lead - Communication & Sensing Systems

Viasat, Inc.•Carlsbad, CA

6d•Onsite

About The Position

As a Hardware Engineering Product Team (IPT) Lead coordinating efforts within the Viasat Government Space and New Technologies group, you will lead engineers across specialties. You will oversee the hardware development lifecycle, starting with requirements definition and continuing through production, fielding, and sustainment of a sophisticated communication and sensing system.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent experience in Electrical Engineering or an associated technical domain
15+ years of experience in hardware engineering or technical leadership for complex communications, RF, space, or sensing systems
A track history of successfully transitioning new hardware designs to production.
Demonstrated experience leading multi field engineering teams across hardware, firmware, DSP, and embedded software
Proven communication skills (both verbal and written) with experience delivering technical briefs and guiding design reviews
US Government position. US Citizenship required
Active DoD Top Secret Clearance (with SCI eligibility)
Ability to travel up to 10%

Nice To Haves

Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering or a related technical area, with equivalent experience accepted
Active DoD TS/SCI Clearance with SAP
Experience collaborating effectively with distributed teams across time zones, functions, cultures, and fields
Proven experience with integration of hardware, firmware, and software on platforms such as FPGAs, processors, or embedded architectures
Experience integrating subcontracted hardware into larger system architectures
Strong ability in solving, debugging, and root cause analysis across HW/SW boundaries
Familiarity with RF systems, waveform design principles, calibration strategies, or sensing system performance metrics
Demonstrating dedicated customer focus, a passion for excellence, and a one-team approach

Responsibilities

Lead efforts in circuitry, reconfigurable logic devices, and development of software coordinated within hardware involving internal groups and external subcontractors.
Lead "make/buy" evaluations and system-level architectural decisions, including DSP strategy, FPGA partitioning, and HW/SW interface definitions.
Serve as the technical hardware lead for customer engagements, proposal development, and the generation of Basis of Estimates (BOEs).
Act as the primary technical focal point for subcontracted hardware, providing rigorous review and challenge of builds, analyses, and work to ensure compliance.
Define and manage complex HW/PL/SW interfaces and verification strategies to ensure robust system integration and performance.
Deliver high-quality technical briefings and lead successful execution of major build reviews (PDR, CDR) and internal achievement reviews.
Establish and enforce alignment with sound engineering processes, build standards, and configuration management (CM) controls.
Partner with program leadership to drive schedule accuracy and resource planning activities.
Coordinate with Supply Chain and New Product Introduction (NPI) teams to manage hardware builds and production transitions.
Collaborate with Test Leads to define comprehensive test requirements and identify Special Test Equipment (STE) needs.