Lead Systems Architect, High-Speed Modems

About the role

About us

At Viasat, the work you do helps people stay connected in ways that matter, from everyday moments to critical missions across air, land, sea, and space.

We’re a place for people who are curious, bold, and motivated by meaningful work. Here, you'll have the opportunity to make an impact, explore new possibilities, and grow your career in ways that align with your interests and goals. When you're ready to take on something new, you'll find leaders who support your development and help you turn your ambition into action.

What you'll do

You will play a key role in defining, architecting, and leading the development of advanced high-speed communications modem solutions for space, optical, and terrestrial communications applications. This role is focused on system-level architecture, requirements ownership, technical leadership, and integration across multidisciplinary development teams. You will provide technical direction to hardware, FPGA, ASIC, software, and systems engineering teams while serving as a primary technical interface to customers and subcontractors.

The day-to-day

Define and maintain end-to-end modem and communications system architectures

Manage system and subsystem requirements, including decomposition, allocation, and traceability

Lead trade studies involving waveform design and implementation approaches

Provide technical leadership across FPGA, ASIC, hardware, software, and systems engineering teams

Coordinate internal and subcontractor modem development activities

Interface directly with customers and support technical reviews

Lead system integration, verification, and validation activities

Identify and manage technical risks and performance margins

Support major design reviews and proposal activities

Support proposal development by constructing detailed Basis of Estimates (BOEs) and maintaining program execution cadence across key milestones.

What you'll need

Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, or related technical field (Master’s preferred)

8+ years of experience in developing complex algorithm for modem design or system architecture definition, design, integration, and testing

Expertise in digital modem timing recovery, frequency acquisition and recovery, AGC, carrier/phase recovery, and FEC

Working knowledge of modern digital communications systems, DSP, and modem design

Knowledge of Ethernet, optical transport networking, framing, and data formatting standards

Experience modeling modem algorithms using MATLAB, Python, C, or C++

Experience implementing or guiding modem implementations in FPGA and/or ASIC technologies

Ability to lead multidisciplinary technical teams

Strong customer-facing communication skills

U.S. Citizenship

Ability to Obtain Active Top Secret Clearance

Ability to travel up to 10%

What will help you on the job

Active Top Secret security clearance

Experience designing satellite, optical, or terrestrial communications systems

Experience leading modem architecture and technical teams

Free-space optical communications experience

100G+ communications ASIC experience

Space systems and payload experience

Familiarity with CCSDS, DVB-S2X, Ethernet, and optical networking protocols

MBSE and requirements-based verification experience

Salary range

$141,500.00 - $224,000.00 / annually. For specific work locations within San Jose, the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, the base pay range for this role is $176,000.00- $264,000.00/ annually

At Viasat, we consider many factors when it comes to compensation, including the scope of the position as well as your background and experience. Base pay may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Additional cash or stock incentives may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to a range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the position offered. Learn more about Viasat’s comprehensive benefit offerings that are focused on your holistic health and wellness at https://careers.viasat.com/benefits.

EEO Statement

Viasat is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, seeking to create a welcoming and diverse environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, genetics, age, or veteran status or any other applicable legally protected status or characteristic. If you would like to request an accommodation on the basis of disability for completing this on-line application, please click here .

Posting text as published by VIASAT.

The evidence behind this listing

Workplace

Remote Matched in posting text

Seniority

senior From the job title

Employment type

Not established

Location as listed

US Remote (excluding ND, VT, or RI); Tempe, Arizona, United States; Carlsbad, California, United States

Pay and work authorization

Stated pay

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Visa sponsorship

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Security clearance

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Citizenship

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