Contract Digital Signal Processing Engineer Jobs in California

Inversion builds advanced reentry systems to deliver next-generation capabilities from space.
Our mission is to make Earth radically more accessible by turning Low-Earth Orbit into an on-demand logistics domain. We see space not as a destination, but as a platform - one that unlocks unprecedented speed and global reach.
Our spacecraft are designed to deliver payloads anywhere on Earth in under an hour, operating through extreme reentry conditions and landing with high precision. These systems open the door to new ways of testing, delivering, and operating at hypersonic speeds.
Inherently dual-use, our technology is built to meet urgent national security needs while laying the groundwork for future commercial applications. Backed by leading investors including Y Combinator, Spark Capital, and Lockheed Martin Ventures, and working with partners such as the U.S. Space Force and NASA, Inversion is pushing the boundaries of what's possible in space-based defense and logistics.

What You'll Do:

As a Senior Digital Signal Processing Engineer, you will lead the development, implementation, and validation of real-time digital signal processing algorithms supporting Inversion's next-generation re-entry vehicles. You will work within the Avionics team to develop DSP solutions for communications, telemetry, sensing, and RF-adjacent applications across both flight and ground systems.

This role is ideal for an experienced engineer who can translate complex signal environments and system requirements into robust algorithms, simulation tools, and deployable implementations across software, FPGA, GPU, or embedded hardware platforms. You will help develop critical hardware and systems for cutting-edge maneuverable reentry vehicles - advancing one of the most capable reentry vehicle platforms ever developed.

You will be a key member of the Avionics team, reporting directly to the Director of Engineering, Avionics. Our engineers are responsible for the complete lifecycle of the systems they create, including concept development, modeling, implementation, integration, test, and operational support.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Develop and implement real-time digital signal processing techniques and algorithms for communications, telemetry, and RF/sensor processing applications.
• Design, prototype, and validate algorithms for detection, classification, demodulation, tracking, estimation, and signal characterization.
• Perform modeling and simulation of communications and dynamic signal environments to support algorithm development and system performance assessment.
• Develop waveform generation, signal analysis, and processing pipelines for modulated signals such as QPSK, BPSK, OFDM, and related schemes.
• Optimize processing algorithms for speed, memory use, latency, and power consumption on target hardware platforms.
• Support architecture trades between software, FPGA, GPU, and embedded processor implementations.
• Work closely with RF, FPGA, software, and systems engineers to define processing requirements, interfaces, and performance metrics.
• Develop test datasets, analysis tools, and performance evaluation methods for algorithm assessment and validation.
• Support integration, debug, and test of DSP algorithms in prototype and deployed hardware systems.
• Document algorithm design, assumptions, simulation results, validation results, and implementation guidance.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, Applied Mathematics, or a related technical field with a DSP / RF / communications focus.
• Typically 5+ years of professional experience developing DSP algorithms for communications, telemetry, radar, sensor processing, or related real-time signal processing applications.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance up to Top Secret.
• Strong experience with digital signal processing algorithm development for real-world applications.
• Experience with waveform construction and analysis, including modulation schemes such as QPSK, BPSK, OFDM, or similar.
• Background in spectral estimation, detection theory, estimation theory, statistical signal processing, and related analytical methods.
• Proficiency with MATLAB, Python, C/C++, or similar tools for modeling, simulation, analysis, and implementation of signal processing algorithms.
• Understanding of real-time signal processing constraints and hardware implementation tradeoffs.
• Familiarity with communications, radar, EW, and/or sensor processing techniques.
• Experience with filtering, channelization, FFT-based processing, demodulation, synchronization, tracking, and feature extraction.
• Experience translating algorithms to FPGA, GPU, or embedded processor platforms.
• Ability to evaluate algorithm performance in noisy, contested, or dynamic signal environments.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain algorithm performance and tradeoffs clearly to multidisciplinary teams.

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience supporting telemetry, RF communications, or SDR-based systems.
• Familiarity with link-level and system-level performance modeling for communications or sensing applications.
• Experience with hardware-in-the-loop testing, recorded signal playback, or closed-loop real-time validation.
• Experience working closely with FPGA teams to define fixed-point implementations, resource tradeoffs, and verification strategies.
• Familiarity with aerospace environmental and operational constraints for deployed flight hardware.
• Knowledge of communications standards, signal integrity considerations, and practical RF/DSP integration challenges.
• Experience building internal tools for algorithm evaluation, dataset generation, visualization, and automated regression testing.
• Familiarity with aerospace and defense development or test standards such as MIL-STD-810/461, DO-160, SMC-S-016, or similar frameworks.
• Experience in startup environments or small, highly collaborative engineering teams.

Additionally: Staff-Level Consideration - We are also open to considering exceptional candidates for a Staff DSP Engineer level. Staff-level candidates should possess all of the qualifications listed above, in addition to 8+ years of professional experience with demonstrated technical leadership in DSP architecture, algorithm development, and deployed system integration. The Staff-level compensation range is $161,000 - $221,000.

The California annual base salary for this role is currently $137,000 - $193,000.  Pay Grades are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data.  Individual pay will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: interviews and an assessment of several factors that are unique to each candidate, job-related skills, relevant education and experience, certifications, abilities of the candidate and internal equity.