Senior Wireless Software Engineer - MAC Control Plane - TeraWave

About this role

Application close date: Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the requisition is closed. At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight!   

Blue Origin is pioneering the future of space-based communications with TeraWave, a revolutionary satellite communications network designed to deliver symmetrical data speeds of up to 6 Tbps anywhere on Earth. This multi-orbit constellation will consist of optically interconnected satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) and medium Earth orbit (MEO), providing enterprise-grade connectivity for critical operations worldwide.

As a Senior Software Engineer on the TeraWave Software and Networking Team, you design and implement control-plane software for a custom Media Access Control (MAC) layer supporting Blue Origin's TeraWave network.

The MAC control plane governs radio-resource allocation, link establishment, scheduling, quality of service, link adaptation, and mobility across dynamic satellite-to-ground connections. As such, you help develop purpose-built MAC protocols and control mechanisms that address the scale, propagation characteristics, mobility, and availability requirements of the TeraWave architecture.

You work closely with PHY, modem, networking, platform, and systems engineers to deliver a high-throughput, predictable-latency wireless stack designed specifically for space-based communications.

Responsibilities • Design and implement MAC control-plane software for point-to-point and point-to-multipoint satellite communication links.

• Develop scalable TDMA, demand-assigned multiple access, admission-control, and resource-allocation algorithms for many beams, links, and terminals.

• Implement state machines for link establishment, maintenance, reconfiguration, teardown, fault recovery, and transitions between beams, satellites, and gateways.

• Develop MAC control logic for QoS enforcement, traffic prioritization, flow control, retransmission, and coordinated link adaptation with PHY and modem teams.

• Define and implement interfaces between the MAC control plane, PHY layer, modem hardware, networking data plane, and hardware-accelerated MAC functions.

• Evaluate centralized, distributed, and hierarchical MAC-control architectures, accounting for control latency, stale state, partial failures, and constellation-scale operation.

• Build simulation, test, telemetry, and performance-analysis capabilities to validate protocol behavior under mobility, fading, congestion, and failure scenarios.

• Lead MAC control-plane development from architecture and prototyping through hardware integration, system qualification, and operational deployment.

Basic Qualifications • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related technical field.

• Seven or more years of software-development experience in wireless networking, communication systems, embedded systems, or high-performance networking.

• Advanced proficiency in C or C++ with concurrent, timing-sensitive software in Linux, real-time Linux, or RTOS environments.

• Experience designing or implementing wireless MAC protocols, resource schedulers, protocol state machines, flow-control mechanisms, or QoS systems.

• Experience developing software through hardware integration, system testing, performance characterization, and production deployment.

Preferred Qualifications • Experience developing MAC or link-layer software for satellite, non-terrestrial, cellular, fixed wireless, or other custom communication platforms.

• Knowledge of TDMA, DAMA, OFDMA, link adaptation, adaptive modulation and coding, ARQ or HARQ, admission control, and radio-resource management.

• Experience integrating control-plane software with PHY implementations, FPGAs, DSPs, modems, or custom SoCs.

• Experience with high-performance packet-processing technologies such as DPDK, VPP, eBPF, or hardware packet-processing engines.

• Experience using simulation and analysis environments such as ns-3, MATLAB, Python, or custom discrete-event simulators.

• Experience designing distributed control systems that operate under constrained bandwidth, variable latency, partial connectivity, or stale system state.

  Base Pay Range for: CA applicants is $248,830.00 - $348,361.65
WA applicants is $248,830.00 - $348,361.65 Other site ranges may differ

Culture Statement Don’t meet all desired requirements? Studies have shown that some people are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single desired qualification. At Blue Origin, we are dedicated to building an authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every desired qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Export Control Regulations Applicants for employment at Blue Origin must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e. current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Background Check • Required for all positions: Blue’s Standard Background Check • Required for Certain Job Profiles:  Defense Biometric Identification System (DBIDS) background check if at any time the role requires one to be on a military installation • Required for Certain Job Profiles: Drivers who operate Commercial Motor Vehicles with a Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW), Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) or combination of power unit and trailer that meets or exceeds 10,001 lbs. and/or transports placardable amounts of hazardous materials by ground in any vehicle on a public road while in commerce, may be subject to additional Federal Motor Carrier

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