Director, Radar PayloadActive$198K

Rocket Lab is the end-to-end space company building rockets, spacecraft, and critical subsystems that keep the world connected, protected, expand humanity’s reach to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. We move fast, build real hardware for meaningful missions, and make the impossible routine.

What you'll do

• Lead the end-to-end development of space-based radar payload systems: including architecture design, prototyping, integration, test, and flight development – Ensure key design decisions and developments are in alignment with product / system needs

• Define and maintain radar payload requirements specifications and performance: metrics considering orbital parameters and mission constraints

• Conduct radar system design trades in support of new business proposals and: mission architectures including orbit selection and spacecraft impacts

• Drive key design decisions for waveform design, antenna architecture, and: signal processing chains optimized for space-based operations

• Lead analyses including radar equation modeling for various orbits, clutter: analysis, SNR, ambiguity resolution, and Doppler centroid variations

• Oversee the development of radar calibration procedures and image quality: assessment methodologies for spaceborne systems

What they're looking for

• Direct the integration of radar payloads with spacecraft bus systems: including power budgets, thermal management, structural interfaces, and data handling architectures
• Lead mission planning activities including ground track analysis, access time: optimization, and coverage requirements
• Lead the development of test plans, procedures, and RF/radar test campaigns
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to radar and RF engineering teams