{"id":449267,"url":"https://alion.io/job/foundational-satellite-laser-ranging-engineer","title":"Satellite Laser Ranging Engineer","company":{"id":173518,"name":"Foundational","domain":"foundational.io","url":"https://alion.io/company/foundational","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":null},"role":"Industrial Engineering","role_family":"Industrial Engineering","seniority":null,"employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["London, United Kingdom"],"countries":["GB"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":47000,"max_usd":99000,"period":"year","method":"role_country_seniority_unknown","sample_n":875},"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Linux","optional":false},{"name":"NumPy","optional":false},{"name":"Pandas","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"SciPy","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2025-12-02T19:25:30Z","employer_posted_date":"2025-12-02","last_verified_at":"2026-11-02T05:13:10Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":334,"trust":{"level":"stale","repost_count":0,"flags":["stale"],"days_open":334},"description":"We are Foundational.\nFoundational is an early-stage, mission-driven startup solving one of the hardest engineering challenges of the decade: creating an exquisite, real-time understanding of Earth and orbit using ground-based lasers.\nWe aren't just gathering data; we are building the platform that will enable the next generation of space traffic control, resilient navigation, and Earth observation. - essential for the sustainability and resilience of the space domain, monitoring our climate and empowering the future economy.\nThis mission, this technology... will be foundational to the future of civilization.\nThe Role\nAs our core expert in optical tracking, you will be responsible for the full lifecycle of our SLR (Satellite Laser Ranging) and Space Debris Laser Ranging (SDLR) systems. You will bridge the gap between optical design, hardware integration, and the software algorithms required to close the link budget.\n\nWhat You'll Be Doing\nSystem Modelling & Simulation: creating comprehensive models for SLR and SDLR performance, including radiometric link budgets, atmospheric transmission, and detector probability of detection.\n\nR&D of Novel Systems: Leading the design and integration of next-gen laser ranging architectures, selecting components (pulsed lasers, single-photon detectors, optics), and overseeing the assembly of optical benches.\n\nAdvanced Data Processing: Developing novel algorithms to process raw time-of-flight data, filtering noise from background photons, and refining orbital determination accuracy.\n\nDeployment & Validation: managing the installation of optical ground stations and conducting rigorous Site Acceptance Testing (SAT) to validate ranging precision and pointing accuracy.\n\nLaser Safety Leadership: Acting as a subject matter expert for laser safety, performing risk assessments, and ensuring compliance with UK/EU standards (e.g., BS EN 60825) for outdoor laser propagation.\n\nEssential Experience:\nDomain Expertise: Demonstrated experience designing, building, or operating SLR stations, Optical Ground Stations (OGS), or atmospheric LiDAR systems.\n\nAtmospheric Physics: A strong understanding of laser beam propagation through turbulent media, including beam wander, scintillation, and the use of link budgets to predict system return rates.\n\nSignal Processing: Proficiency in signal processing techniques specific to LiDAR/SLR (e.g., constant fraction discriminators, range gate optimization, and noise filtering algorithms).\n\nTiming Systems: Hands-on experience with high-precision timing hardware (Event Timers, GNSS synchronization, PTP/NTP protocols) and an understanding of jitter/latency sources.\n\nSoftware Stack: Strong proficiency in Python for instrument control (drivers, serial comms) and data analysis (NumPy, SciPy, Pandas). Experience with Linux environments is mandatory.\n\nAstronomy Hardware: Familiarity with telescope mounts (equatorial/Alt-Az), star tracking, and pointing models.\n\nWork Status: Must have the right to work in the UK.\n\nProactive & Self-Motivated: You thrive in a startup environment where requirements evolve, and you are comfortable working with autonomy.\n\nBonus Points (We'd love it if you...)\nExperience with FPGA programming for timing applications.\n\nFamiliarity with orbital mechanics (TLEs, CPF/CRD formats).\n\nExperience with optical design software (Zemax or Code V).\n\nWhy Join Us?\nA high-impact role with genuine ownership and autonomy in a new startup\n\nGovernment backed EMI scheme options in a fast-growing VC backed startup operating in stealth.\n\nDynamic and collaborative work environment: We foster a culture of innovation, creativity, and teamwork.\n\nMake a real impact: Your contributions will directly shape our product and company success.\n\nOpportunity to work on cutting-edge technology: Use your skills on meaningful, challenging and complex projects.","description_format":"text","description_chars":3857,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United Kingdom","iso":"GB","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Data Governance & Catalogs","Data Quality & Observability"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-06T08:14:22Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":5,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.179,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":334,"expected_fill_days":30,"reasons":["conf:1","win:tail","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-11-02T06:13:15Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/foundational-satellite-laser-ranging-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/foundational-satellite-laser-ranging-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-02T07:39:14Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":10864,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-03T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":173518},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=173518"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Ffoundational-satellite-laser-ranging-engineer"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Ffoundational-satellite-laser-ranging-engineer"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Ffoundational-satellite-laser-ranging-engineer"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/foundational-satellite-laser-ranging-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Ffoundational-satellite-laser-ranging-engineer"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":449267}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"foundational.io","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":449267},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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