DSP Engineer (Early Career)

northwoodspace•Los Angeles, CA

About The Position

About Northwood : Northwood is on a mission to transform connectivity between earth and space and bring the benefits of space to the masses through innovations in space communications technologies. If you like building quickly and seeing your work deployed in locations around the globe with real impact, we want you at Northwood. Job Level: The level of this position will be determined based on the qualifications and experience of the successful candidate. We are open to considering candidates of varying experience levels, from early-career to experienced. Role: To build the ground station network of the future, Northwood needs to own the full RF stack — and engineers who understand that our ability to deliver mission-critical data ultimately rests on the waveforms and physical layer that carry it. We are looking for a DSP Engineer to join the development of our software-defined radio systems, with a focus on physical layer algorithm design and implementation for modem and beamforming products. You will own the full lifecycle of signal processing algorithms — from initial concept and floating-point modeling through fixed-point implementation and field validation. You will work closely with FPGA engineers, contribute to RF systems analysis, and serve as the technical owner of delivering a reliable communication link to our customers. This role is a great fit for an engineer with strong numerical and programming fundamentals who is eager to go deep in DSP and satellite communications. We care more about how you think and build than how many years you’ve been doing it.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree with 2+ years of relevant experience, or Master’s degree, in a field involving numerical algorithm development
Strong programming skills in Python
Exposure to lower-level languages such as C++ or Rust
Solid end-to-end understanding of digital communications — modulation, pulse shaping, synchronization, and demodulation
Demonstrated ownership of an algorithmic outcome: you built something, deployed it, and found out if it worked

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with SDR frameworks such as GNU Radio
Experience with fixed-point algorithm development
Knowledge of satellite communications standards such as CCSDS or DVB-S2X
Experience with FPGA development or close collaboration with FPGA engineers
Experience modeling physical systems to inform adaptive algorithm design
Experience building or contributing to high-performance numerical libraries or frameworks

Responsibilities

Own the design, validation, and testing of physical layer algorithms for demodulation and beamforming applications
Develop and maintain floating- and fixed-point algorithm models in Python and Rust
Collaborate with FPGA engineers to validate fixed-point implementations appropriate for RTL, ensuring high fidelity between model and hardware
Contribute to RF systems analysis and dynamic link budgeting for phased array systems
Take ownership of customer waveform requirements and end-to-end delivery.