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Los Angeles, California, United States
Onsite
K2 is building the largest and highest-power satellites ever flown, unlocking performance levels previously out of reach across every orbit. Backed by over $1 billion in total funding from leading investors including Altimeter Capital, ICONIQ, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, and T. Rowe Price — and with over $1 billion in signed contracts across commercial and US government customers, we're mass-producing the highest-power satellite platforms ever built for missions from LEO to deep space.
The rise of heavy-lift launch vehicles is shifting the industry from an era of mass constraint to one of mass abundance, and we believe this new era demands a fundamentally different class of spacecraft. Engineered to survive the harshest radiation environments and to fully capitalize on today's and tomorrow's massive rockets, K2 satellites deliver unmatched capability at constellation scale and across multiple orbits.
With multiple launches in 2027 and plans to scale to 100 satellites a year, we're Building Bigger — helping develop the solar system and build toward a Kardashev Type II (K2) civilization. If you are a motivated individual who thrives in a fast-paced environment and you're excited about contributing to the success of a high-growth Series D-funded company, we'd love for you to apply.
The Role
K2's ambitions extend beyond the satellite bus. By designing and operating our own spacecraft and regularly manifesting hardware to orbit, K2 is uniquely positioned to develop, test, and deploy ambitious, “limit-of-physics” optical and photonic payloads across MEO, GEO, cislunar, and deep space on unprecedented timelines. The satellite bus is the platform – the payloads are the mission.
As a Senior Photonics Engineer focused on free-space optics, your role is to define how K2 measures and models the atmosphere, and how our optical hardware is designed to work through it. You will work at the intersection of free-space optical communications, adaptive optics, and integrated photonics, and own the full loop from experiment to model, across a ladder of experiments: tabletop emulators that reproduce atmospheric turbulence in the lab, benches that put our optical hardware (free-space receivers, wavefront correction, and photonic chips) inside that emulated channel, outdoor links across real turbulence on rooftops and test ranges, and occasional campaigns at mountaintop optical ground stations and observatories. You will own K2's atmospheric channel modeling and decide how measured data flows into requirements for PIC, test, and payload teams. You will work closely with PIC designers, test engineers, and K2's optical payload team, and as K2's payloads grow, you will also consult on remote-sensing and other payloads that look through the atmosphere.
Responsibilities
Qualifications
Nice to Have
Compensation and Benefits:
If you don’t meet 100% of the preferred skills and experience, we encourage you to still apply! Building a spacecraft unlike any other requires a team unlike any other and non-traditional career twists and turns are encouraged!
If you need a reasonable accommodation as part of your application for employment or interviews with us, please let us know.
Export Compliance
As defined in the ITAR, “U.S. Persons” include U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents (i.e., Green Card holders), and certain protected individuals (e.g., refugees/asylees, American Samoans). Please consult with a knowledgeable advisor if you are unsure whether you are a “U.S. Person.”
The person hired for this role will have access to information and items controlled by U.S. export control regulations, including the export control regulations outlined in the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR). The person hired for this role must therefore either be a “U.S. person” as defined by 22 C.F.R. § 120.15 or otherwise eligible for a federally issued export control license.
Equal Opportunity
K2 Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with K2 Space 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.
