RF Engineer (High Power Space Antenna) Verified today
About the role
The RF Engineer designs, builds, tests, and manages a state-of-the-art satellite RF payload system for secure and jam-resistant communications. You will be cradle-to-grave owner of hardware that flies in space: perform trade studies, select and manage vendors, design RF and antenna hardware, test, and guide your system through production readiness.
What you will do
- Own the entire RF payload subsystem and overall hardware implementation of the space side of a link budget
- Find commercial-off-the-shelf parts, specify and work with partners to build custom parts, or design custom hardware in-house
- Design, manage, analyze, fabricate, test and measure RF and millimeter wave hardware: antennas, waveguide, transmission lines, filters, power amplifiers, upconverters, mixers, and local oscillators
- Establish and manage qualification and acceptance test campaigns for space environments (vibration, thermal, TVAC, radiation) per MIL-STD-461 and SMC-S-016
- Collaborate with team members on integration and test of your hardware on the spacecraft
Required qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related STEM field with focus on RF, millimeter wave, electromagnetics theory, or antenna systems
- Minimum 1 year RF engineering experience (internship, team project, graduate research, or extracurricular experience applicable)
- Strong technical fundamentals in RF electronics and electromagnetic physics: S-parameters, frequency mixing, antenna patterns and directivity, amplifier gain, output power, efficiency and linearity
- Familiar with RF test and measurement tools: vector network analyzers (VNAs), spectrum analyzers, signal generators, software defined radios (SDRs)
- Self-motivated with strong organizational, written, and oral communication skills
Preferred qualifications
- Master's degree in Electrical Engineering with focus on RF, millimeter wave, electromagnetics theory, or antennas
- 2 to 6 years professional experience working on RF hardware
- Demonstrated ability to own RF or space hardware or systems within an integrated engineering team (e.g. CubeSats, SAE)
- Experience with RF and antenna design simulation tools: Ansys Electronics Desktop HFSS, Keysight ADS, Cadence AWR Microwave Office, or similar
- Familiar with antenna measurement tools such as near field scanners
- Experience designing and validating hardware for launch and space environments
- Familiar with printed circuit board design and Altium
- Data processing and visualization using Python or MATLAB
- Understanding of link budgets, phased arrays, spread spectrum waveforms, waveguide modes
- Experience with traveling wave tube amps, solid state power amplifiers, upconverter integrated circuits, horn antennas, or similar RF components
Terms
Offers will be contingent on the candidate's ability to access export-controlled information under U.S. law.