Wireless Communications Engineer

Mclaurin Aerospace • Houston, TX

1d • Onsite

About The Position

McLaurin is hiring a Wireless Communications Engineer for its JETS II contract team at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The role supports NASA deep-space exploration programs, including ISS, Orion, Moon Base, and Exploration Programs, as part of the Communication and Tracking Sub-System Analysis Team. The engineer serves as an RF communications systems engineer, assessing communication links and systems and supporting technical reviews and integration activities. This is an on-location position, with situational telework only.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering and typically 2–5 years of experience in the field or a related area.
• A BS or MS degree in Electrical Engineering from an accredited engineering school.
• College-level RF communications coursework, such as digital communications, DSP, microwave, satellite communications, and estimation and detection theory.
• Strong analytical skills in RF communications.
• Strong knowledge of communication systems, including digital modulation and demodulation, encoding and decoding, spread-spectrum signals, signal detection, data formatting, and packetizing.
• Excellent communication and organizational skills and the ability to work in a team environment.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident for at least three years and successfully complete a U.S. government background investigation.
• Must be able to pass a comprehensive security background investigation.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with spectrum management, including the NTIA spectrum approval process, review of spectrum requests, spectrum sharing, and interference analysis.
• Experience with NASA processes.
• Knowledge of antennas, RF propagation, and network-layer protocols.
• Familiarity with CCSDS communication standards.
• Knowledge of pseudo-noise (PN) ranging, forward error correction such as LDPC, radiometric range and range-rate calculations, and orbital dynamics.
• Programming experience with C/C++ and Python.

Responsibilities

• Review link- and network-layer protocols implemented on communication systems based on CCSDS recommendations.
• Determine RF communication-link performance and create link budgets using analytical methods, analysis, and simulations.
• Participate in and contribute to Systems Requirements Reviews (SRR), Preliminary and Critical Design Reviews, and Technical Interchange Meetings.
• Perform RF interference and compatibility analysis, Power Flux Density analysis, and spectral analysis for space-based communication systems using MATLAB, Simulink, and Excel.
• Review RF communications subsystem-level Interface Requirements Documents (IRDs), Verification Requirements (VRs), Interface Control Documents (ICDs), and component-level requirements for transponders, transceivers, and baseband processors.
• Assist and support the NASA RF communications subsystem manager with reviews and meetings, serving as a technical point of contact.
• Represent Johnson Space Center and interface with other NASA centers, federal agencies, and commercial partners.
• Perform other duties as required.

Benefits

• Competitive pay.
• Positive work-life balance.
• 100% employer-paid medical, dental, vision, life, accidental death and dismemberment, short-term disability, and long-term disability insurance.
• 11 paid holidays annually.
• Generous paid time off.
• 401(k) after 12 months of service, with employer match.
• Education assistance.
• Relocation assistance, if applicable.

What This Job Offers

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