Principal L1 PHY & Modem Implementation Engineer

Job Title

Principal L1 PHY & Modem Implementation Engineer

Role Summary

Senior hands-on engineering role to develop and optimize L1 PHY and modem implementations for a high-throughput satellite communications system (TeraWave). The role spans physical-layer processing, DSP implementation, HW/SW partitioning, and modem integration from pre-silicon through post-silicon validation.

Work closely with modem architecture, DSP algorithm, ASIC, FPGA, firmware, BSP, and system engineering teams to produce efficient, production-ready modem implementations.

Experience Level

Senior - typically 10+ years of experience in L1 PHY, modem implementation, DSP implementation, embedded communications software, or related areas.

Responsibilities

Primary technical responsibilities include implementation, optimization, integration, and validation of L1 PHY and modem components for high-throughput satellite communications.

• Design, develop, and optimize L1 PHY and modem implementations for high-throughput satellite communication systems.
• Implement and integrate PHY processing functions: framing, FEC processing, rate matching, scrambling, modulation/demodulation, FFT/IFFT, reference-signal processing, and TX/RX chains.
• Develop optimized C/C++ or equivalent embedded real-time implementations for modem and DSP processing functions.
• Define and evaluate HW/SW partitioning across processors, DSP engines, FPGA/ASIC accelerators, and embedded software.
• Analyze and optimize modem processing for throughput, latency, computational complexity, memory bandwidth, and processor utilization.
• Optimize multicore processing, memory organization, buffering, concurrency, and accelerator utilization for L1 workloads.
• Collaborate with modem algorithm, ASIC, FPGA, firmware, BSP, and system teams to define interfaces and integrate hardware accelerators.
• Support pre-silicon verification, simulation, FPGA prototyping, system integration, and post-silicon validation.
• Debug complex system-level issues spanning L1 software, DSP processing, hardware accelerators, firmware, and ASIC interfaces.
• Provide technical guidance and contribute to modem architecture and HW/SW partitioning decisions.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and experience for successful performance in this role.

• 10+ years of practical experience in L1 PHY software, modem implementation, DSP implementation, or embedded communications software.
• Strong understanding of OFDM-based communication systems and major PHY transmit/receive processing chains.
• Experience implementing or integrating L1 PHY processing on CPUs, DSPs, SoCs, FPGAs, ASIC accelerators, or heterogeneous architectures.
• Proven knowledge of HW/SW partitioning and hardware acceleration for compute-intensive modem functions.
• Experience with performance profiling and optimization, multicore processing, memory management, and efficient data movement.
• Experience working with interfaces between L1 software, embedded firmware, and custom hardware or accelerators.
• Ability to collaborate across modem, DSP, ASIC, FPGA, firmware, BSP, and system engineering teams.

Nice-to-have:

• Experience with FEC (LDPC, Turbo, Polar), rate matching, LLR processing, FFT/IFFT, MIMO, beamforming, synchronization, and channel estimation from an implementation perspective.
• Experience with SIMD/vector processing, fixed-point implementations, multicore optimization, and high-performance embedded computing architectures.
• Familiarity with MATLAB, Python, RTOS/BSPs, device drivers, FPGA prototyping, hardware emulation, and post-silicon modem bring-up.
• Experience with satellite or non-terrestrial communication systems and familiarity with 3GPP PHY specifications.

Education Requirements

Required: Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical discipline. Preferred: Master's degree or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Communications, Signal Processing, or a related field.

About the Company

Company: Blue Origin

Headquarters: Kent, Washington, United States

Blue Origin is an American aerospace company developing technologies for spaceflight, including reusable launch vehicles, orbital and suborbital systems, and space infrastructure for commercial and government customers.