Lasercom Engineer - All Levels

About EON EON is building the highest-throughput point-to-point data transport network ever deployed in space. Using free-space laser links in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), we move petabytes of data between any two points on Earth as an alternative to subsea or terrestrial fiber. EON recently closed a $10.75M seed financing round led by Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst in their first-ever co-led space deal. EON is building out of its R&D center in Culver City. Today, approximately 95% of the global internet travels through a few hundred subsea fiber-optic cables, infrastructure designed in the early 2000s that has gone largely unchanged. Demand for new fiber has never been higher, but laying it is extraordinarily difficult: permits, ocean geology, and geopolitical boundaries make every new cable a years-long, billion-dollar undertaking. That bottleneck is a liability with cables at constant risk of being cut, whether by accident or adversarial action, and no amount of ground-based investment can fully solve it. EON is currently hiring our founding laser communications (Lasercom) team and seeking engineers who want to build the network infrastructure of the modern world and grow a real business from the ground up. Engineers at EON work across the full breadth of optical systems, from free-space link design to ground terminal hardware, solving problems that are real, hands-on, and consequential. The Role EON is building Tbps-class optical links to MEO, and every piece of the optical chain needs an owner, from the physics through hardware in space. If you run deep in a specific concentration (coherent communications, amplification and beam control, optical design, optomechanics, pointing, or test and integration) we'll put you on the part of the system where your depth matters most, and your work will directly gate first light on our single-route demonstrator and enable the full constellation. If you're a strong generalist who can move across the chain, you'll help integrate it end to end and grow into the seat that fits you best. Either way, you join the first wave of the optical team, work directly with engineers across the lasercom team, and own hardware that ships. Below are some of the concentrations we're building in. Don't worry about being a perfect match, and if your experience leans toward one of these, or spans several, tell us and we'll find the right seat together. A note on level and background: We hire this role at all levels, from Associate through Senior and Principal Lasercom Engineer, and calibrate title, scope, and compensation to your experience. If this list doesn't perfectly match your background still reach out. We are always looking for exceptional people from many disciplines. Responsibilities Own a distinct link in the optical chain and carry it from concept through first light Design and model your subsystem against system-level targets Build, characterize, and debug hardware at the bench, standing up test setups and validating performance against your own analysis Define interfaces and integration constraints with engineers across the lasercom chain, driving co-design trade-offs where optical, electrical, and mechanical performance are tightly coupled Identify the highest-risk assumptions in your subsystem early and retire them through analysis, prototyping, and test Set and defend technical direction with incomplete data, documenting your reasoning so the team can build on it Concentrations 1. System Architecture You own the link end to end: link budget, FEC strategy, OSNR and availability targets, and how the optical, atmospheric, and orbital pieces fit together. You set the targets that the team will design against. You may excel here if you've owned a full lasercom link budget end to end and can defend every assumption in it. 2. Coherent Communications You work in coherent transceivers, DSP, and forward error correction. You've designed modems, written or tuned soft-decision LDPC, equalization, and modulation, and you can reason about a link budget from the waveform up. You may excel here if you've designed modems or coherent DSP and reason natively in OSNR, symbol rates, and coding margin. 3. Amplifiers & Beam Control You work in optical amplification and beam forming: EDFAs, pump design, optical power, and the beam control needed to close a MEO link. You may excel here if you've closed link budgets through optical amplification and beam control. 4. Optical Design You design the telescope, back end optics, and free-space optical path that gets the beam out and brings it back. Zemax/Code V are your daily tools. FRED is a plus. You may excel here if you've designed free-space optical paths and telescopes in Zemax or Code V. 5. Pointing, Acquisition & Tracking (PAT) You acquire and hold a beam on a MEO satellite across a multi-hour pass, through atmospheric turbulence. Nothing transmits without you. You may excel here if closed-loop pointing and tracking through atmospheric turbulence is your core discipline. 6. Test & Integration You stand up the lab and test bench, then integrate the optical chain end to end, even before there's final hardware to integrate. You may excel here if you've stood up optical test benches and integrated a signal chain end to end. Not sure, or a strong generalist? If you run deep across the chain rather than in one box, that's a seat too. You'll help integrate the system end to end and grow into the concentration that fits you best. Basic Qualifications A degree in physics, optical engineering, electrical engineering, or a related technical field. Hands-on lab experience in optics, photonics, lasers, or precision optical hardware. Strong fundamentals in optics and photonics, with the analytical depth to reason about a link end to end. Programming for modeling, analysis, or test (Python, MATLAB, or similar). Comfort moving fast and making sound calls without complete data. Preferred Experience Direct free-space optics or laser communications experience, on the ground segment or space segment Coherent optical communications or terrestrial high-data-rate telecom background (transceivers, DSP, FEC) Familiarity with pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT) and atmospheric optical effects Proficiency with optical design and analysis tools (e.g., Zemax, Code V; FRED a plus) Experience taking optical hardware from prototype through integration, environmental test, or field deployment What this job is really like We're a seed-stage company building toward first light on a single-route demonstrator. There's no program office and no requirements team. As part of EON you'll own your piece of the chain, defend your calls on incomplete data, and spend real time at the bench. If you do your best work inside a large, well-resourced program, this isn't it. If you want your fingerprints on a Tbps-class link from the start, this is it. Compensation + Benefits In addition to base salary (to be determined on a case by case basis), compensation for this role includes: EON believes the business should be primarily employee owned. In turn, all compensation offers include company stock options for FTEs. Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental insurance with significant cost covered by the company for yourself and dependents. Paid parental leave and flexible PTO (3 weeks accrued vacation and 10 company holidays per year). Relocation assistance to Los Angeles available. A real equipment and lab budget. Location: Culver City, CA (onsite). Endeavor Optical Network is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with EON is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.