Software Defined Radio Hardware Associate (Winter 2027)
This posting asks for U.S. citizenship.
About the role
Astranis builds advanced satellites for high orbits, expanding humanity’s reach into the solar system. Today Astranis satellites provide dedicated, secure networks to highly-sophisticated customers across the globe – large enterprises, sovereign governments, and the US military.
With five satellites on orbit and many more set to launch soon, the company is servicing a backlog of more than $1 billion of commercial contracts. Astranis is the preferred satellite communications partner for buyers with stringent requirements for uptime, data security, network visibility, and customization.
Astranis has raised over $1.2 billion from some of the world’s best investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Baillie Gifford, Blackrock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, and Snowpoint, and employs a team of 500 engineers and entrepreneurs. Astranis designs, builds, and operates its satellites out of its 153,000 sq. ft. headquarters in Northern California, USA.
Software Defined Radio Hardware Associate (Winter 2027)
Associate Engineer positions typically last for twelve weeks, and are salaried roles designed for students who have already received a bachelor's degree (or who will have done so before working at Astranis).
As an Associate Engineer, you will have an amazing opportunity to work on hard problems - we pride ourselves on giving everyone at Astranis a chance to do meaningful work on challenging projects, and our Associate Engineers work on projects that are of equal importance and difficulty to the projects we give our full-time employees. Many past Associate Engineers have designed and tested hardware/software that is heading to space on our first satellite, and many now work at Astranis full-time.
If you are still a college student, please apply to join us as an Intern.
Role
- Design, simulate, implement, and test our internally developed software defined radio hardware
- Bringup and debug hardware in the lab with top of the line instruments and equipment
- Write code to help evaluate performance and automate testing of satellite hardware
- Integrate these systems into the spacecraft by working closely with the rest of the team
Requirements
- A passion for hardware development, including working in a fast-paced environment and hands-on design and development
- Currently pursuing a degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent
- Demonstrated ability to personally design, build, and test PCBA hardware from scratch (student design team projects, design competitions, personal projects)
- Solid EE foundation in one or more of the following areas:
- analog design (op amps, transistors, RLC filters)
- digital design (FPGAs, SOCs, SERDES, DDR, LVDS)
- mixed signal design (ADCs, DACs, power integrity)
- RF design (Lineups, s-parameters, impedance matching)
Bonus
- Experience building or using software defined radios
- Experience with Altium Designer (or other PCB design software)
- Experience with analysis software (ADS, ANSYS, Matlab)
- Experience with Python or similar programming languages
- Experience with soldering and rework
- Experience with EE lab bench equipment (power supply, oscilloscope, spectrum analyzers, signal generators, network analyzers, etc)
The base salary for this position is $1,925 per week.
Base Salary
$1,925 - $1,925 USD
U.S. Citizenship, Lawful Permanent Residency, or Refugee/Asylee Status Required
(To comply with U.S. Government space technology export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the United States, or other protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3))
Our mission and products are built for everyone, regardless of gender, race, creed, or background. We believe in a diverse and inclusive workplace, and we invite all people to join our team and bring their unique perspectives to make us stronger.
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Copied from the listing Astranis published, verified 29 Oct 2026.
The application
Your details and CV, then 12 questions (6 written).
- 1.Astranis complies with U.S. Government space technology export regulations, therefore will you state which of the following applies to you:Pick one
- 2.What is the most impressive thing you have ever accomplished?Written answer
- 3.Please answer three of the following questions.Yes or no
- 4.We put capacitors on our voltage supplies in order to filter out high frequency noise. Which is better: a 10uF capacitor or a 0.1uF capacitor? WhyWritten answer · optional
- 5.A member of the software team recently got into LED art. They bought a couple of cheap LEDs and resistors and and wired them up. They expect all four to be the same brightness, but they're not. Why is that? Schematic: https://i.imgur.com/H0Written answer · optional
- 6.We need a power converter to go from a 5 V battery V to 3.3 V to a small microcontroller in low power mode. If we want it to be efficient, should we use a buck converter or a low drop-out regulator (LDO)?Written answer · optional
- 7.It's karaoke night at the office! We're choosing a DAC to play music from our computer - what are some important factors in the design?Written answer · optional
- 8.We use photodiodes to track our orientation relative to the sun. Briefly describe a possible signal chain from a photodiode to a microcontroller.Written answer · optional
- 9.Please confirm the season you are applying for.Pick one: Winter 2027
- 10.When are you able to join Astranis as an intern? (12 week minimum)Short answer
- 11.When do you plan on ending your internship?Short answer
- 12.At Astranis, we value in-person collaboration and a strong work ethic. Are you comfortable with working onsite at our San Francisco HQ 5 days a week?Yes or no
Taken from the application form Astranis runs, verified 29 Oct 2026.
About Astranis
Designs, builds and operates high-orbit satellites for sovereign connectivity.
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