Senior Systems Engineer

KBR • San Diego, CA

20h • $130 - $143 • Onsite

About The Position

KBR’s National Security Solutions team provides high-end engineering and advanced technology solutions to our customers in the intelligence and national security communities. In this position, your work will have a profound impact on the country’s most critical role – protecting our national security. The Senior Systems Engineer will support the architecture, analysis, integration, and technical oversight of advanced SATCOM and tactical communications systems. The role requires strong technical depth in RF engineering, digital communications, and modem development, with emphasis on physical layer performance and waveform implementation. The engineer will work across RF, IF, baseband, and networking layers to evaluate and develop modem and terminal architectures for military and commercial satellite communications systems. Responsibilities include analysis of modulation and coding performance, multiple access techniques, waveform optimization, and integration of SoC/FPGA-based communications subsystems. This position is hands-on and technical. The ideal candidate has direct experience developing, analyzing, or implementing modem or radio subsystems — not solely supporting requirements documentation.

Requirements

• BS in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Applied Mathematics, or related field
• 8+ years of progressively responsible experience in communications system development
• Demonstrated hands-on experience supporting modem, waveform, or RF subsystem design or integration
• Experience supporting integration and system-level testing
• Experience working in DoD or defense communications programs
• Strong foundation in RF engineering principles including non-linear effects, phase noise, filtering, frequency planning, and interference analysis
• Deep understanding of digital communications theory including modulation, coding, synchronization, and detection
• Experience evaluating or implementing ModCod strategies and adaptive coding and modulation
• Experience with FDMA, TDMA, DSSS, CDMA or related multiple access schemes
• Experience performing link budget analysis and system performance modeling
• Experience with FPGA or SoC-based modem architectures
• Experience with modeling/simulation tools such as MATLAB or equivalent
• Ability to translate waveform and RF performance analysis into actionable system requirements
• Active DoD SECRET clearance

Nice To Haves

• MS in Electrical Engineering (Communications, RF, or Signal Processing concentration preferred)
• Experience with MILSATCOM (WGS, AEHF, MUOS) or Commercial SATCOM systems
• Experience with protected waveforms and secure modem architectures
• Experience reviewing or contributing to DSP implementations in C/C++ or HDL
• Active DoD Top Secret clearance

Responsibilities

• Analyze and define modem and RF subsystem architectures for SATCOM or tactical radio systems
• Evaluate modulation and coding schemes (QPSK, 8PSK, APSK variants, LDPC, Turbo, etc.) under operational link conditions
• Assess and support implementation of multiple access techniques including FDMA, TDMA, DSSS, CDMA
• Develop and review link budgets, spectral efficiency analysis, and interference mitigation strategies
• Support System-on-Chip (SoC) or FPGA-based modem implementations and hardware/software partitioning decisions
• Define system and interface requirements across RF, IF, baseband, and Layer 2 interfaces
• Support integration and test of modem and terminal subsystems in laboratory and field environments
• Identify technical risks and performance trades across waveform, RF, and network layers.

Benefits

• KBR offers a selection of competitive lifestyle benefits which could include 401K plan with company match, medical, dental, vision, life insurance, AD&D, flexible spending account, disability, paid time off, or flexible work schedule.
• We support career advancement through professional training and development.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level