2027 Spring Optical Engineering Internship

Ephemeris Net is a space networking company extending the internet to space through commercial space networking solutions. The engineering intern will work on optical terminals for space-based laser communications or networking services that connect satellites into a space network, contributing to hardware, embedded software, simulations, or related engineering projects.

What you'll do:

• Design and implement optical transceiver FPGA firmware
• Build a space network simulator
• Design and fabricate test fixtures or mechanical subsystems for optical terminal prototypes or their test fixtures
• Build high speed optoelectronic communication test equipment
• Write embedded flight software
• You will be assigned a mentor who works on the product area closest to your project. You will have regular check-ins and direct access to them for technical guidance
• Before you start, we will meet to understand your strengths and growth goals and come up with a project for you
• You are expected to scope your project, execute, and present your results to the team at the end of the internship

What they're looking for:

• Demonstrated ability to build things: personal projects, research, coursework, or prior internships where you wrote code, designed hardware, or ran experiments that produced tangible results
• Strong fundamentals in at least one of: embedded systems and FPGA development, software engineering (C, C++, Python, or Rust), optical or mechanical design, electrical engineering, information theory, or networking and simulation
• Ability to work on-site in El Segundo, CA or Oakland, CA for a minimum of 3 months, 3 days a week
• Must be a US person (15 CFR § 772.1)
• Prior experience with FPGA development (Verilog, VHDL, or SystemVerilog)
• Familiarity with optical systems, laser communications, or free-space optics
• Experience with network simulation tools or protocol design
• Exposure to space systems engineering, orbital mechanics, or flight software
• Experience with CAD tools (SolidWorks, NX) or PCB design (Altium, KiCad)

Benefits:

• Comprehensive health care coverage