Sr. RF Front-End Engineer — Phased Array Antenna & RF Front-End Electronics
Senior RF front-end engineer who owns flight RF electronics for spacecraft phased-array antennas end to end: requirements and architecture, device-level circuit design, schematic capture, PCB layout, prototype bring-up, testing, and space qualification. Core work spans transmit/receive chains, cascade analysis, beamforming calibration, and lab characterization with VNAs and spectrum analyzers.
- Compensation
- $160K–$195K / yr
- Location
- Santa Clara, CA
- Work setup
- Onsite
- Seniority
- Senior
- Employment
- Contract
- Experience
- 4+ years
- Category
- Hardware
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering, RF/Microwave Engineering, or related field with 8+ years relevant experience; or Master's with 6+ years; or Ph.D. with 4+ years
- Hands-on ownership of RF front-end hardware from design and analysis through prototype fabrication, bring-up, and verification
- Strong understanding of RF fundamentals: S-parameters, impedance matching, transmission lines, noise figure, gain compression, intermodulation, stability, isolation, filtering, RF power measurement
- Experience designing or integrating RF electronics for phased arrays, beamforming systems, radar, wireless/satellite communications, or comparable multi-channel RF systems
- Experience with RF circuit simulation tools such as Keysight ADS, Cadence AWR, or equivalent, and schematic capture and PCB layout review tools
- Hands-on experience operating RF laboratory equipment and independently troubleshooting complex RF hardware
- Ability to communicate technical issues clearly, work across disciplines, and make data-driven decisions under schedule constraints
- Flexibility to occasionally work extended hours or weekends during critical periods
Nice to have
- Experience with active phased arrays, element-level or subarray RF chains, beamformer ICs, and amplitude/phase calibration
- Experience with electromagnetic and system tools such as Ansys HFSS, CST Studio Suite, Altair FEKO, MATLAB, Python, or Keysight SystemVue
- Experience with UHF or other satellite communication bands, circular polarization, link budgets, antenna gain/EIRP, scan loss, sidelobes, grating lobes, and mutual coupling
- Experience designing RF hardware for space, aerospace, defense, automotive, or another high-reliability environment
- Knowledge of environmental qualification, EMC/EMI, radiation effects, vibration, thermal-vacuum, and design for test and manufacturing
- Experience working with suppliers, contract manufacturers, and cross-site engineering teams
- Experience with RF-photonic signal distribution
- Experience with mixed-signal RF interfaces (ADC/DAC, modulators/demodulators, SDR)
- Familiarity with frequency-division duplex or other full-duplex RF front-end architectures
- Python for RF test automation and data analysis
Full description
Ready to make connectivity from space universally accessible, secure and actionable? Then you’ve come to the right place!
E-Space is bridging Earth and space to enable hyper-scaled deployments of Internet of Things (IoT) solutions and services. We are building a highly-advanced low Earth orbit (LEO) space system that will fundamentally change the design, economics, manufacturing and service delivery associated with traditional satellite and terrestrial IoT systems.
We’re intentional, we’re unapologetically curious and we’re 100% committed to innovate space-based communications and deliver actionable intelligence that will expand global economies, protect space and our planet and enhance our overall quality of life.
E-Space is seeking a Senior RF Front-End Engineer to design, develop, integrate, and verify flight RF front-end electronics for spacecraft phased-array antennas and satellite communication systems. This hands-on role provides end-to-end ownership—from translating system requirements into device-level RF/microwave circuit designs through schematic capture, board layout, prototype bring-up, testing, and simulation-to-measurement correlation. The engineer will develop robust RF hardware for operation in the space environment while collaborating closely with our principal RF engineer and the broader antenna electronics team.
What you will do:
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Own RF front-end hardware from requirements and architecture through device-level circuit design, schematic capture, PCB layout, prototype bring-up, qualification, and release.
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Design transmit and receive chains using power amplifiers, low-noise amplifiers, filters, duplexers, switches, couplers, attenuators, mixers, synthesizers, transceivers, phase shifters, beamformer devices, and RF matching networks.
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Perform RF cascade analyses and architectural trade studies covering gain, noise figure, sensitivity, linearity, P1dB, IP3, dynamic range, EIRP, efficiency, stability, spurious performance, and link margin, including simultaneous transmit-and-receive architectures using frequency-division duplexing.
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Define component specifications and select parts based on RF performance, power consumption, thermal behavior, size, manufacturability, availability, cost, reliability, and suitability for the space environment.
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Design and review controlled-impedance transmission lines, grounding, shielding, bias networks, RF PCB stackups, and critical component placement and routing.
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Develop RF and mixed-signal boards incorporating ADCs, DACs, modulation, and demodulation where digitized RF interfaces are required.
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