RF & Antenna Systems Engineer
Join Northwood as a Senior RF & Antenna Systems Engineer to define and evaluate phased-array RF architectures for satellite ground stations.
Posted by employer 1 day ago
First seen on Joblaze 1 day ago
Last verified on the company career page 1 day ago
Skills & Technologies
What you'll build
- Define phased-array antenna and RF-system architectures
- Translate mission and link requirements into specifications
- Develop and maintain end-to-end SATCOM link budgets
- Analyze beamforming approaches with implementation teams
- Support regulatory submissions and operational deployment
Must have
- Bachelor’s or advanced degree in Electrical Engineering or related discipline
- 2+ years of experience with phased arrays or RF communication systems
- Experience with communication-link analysis
- Hands-on experience with RF measurements and debugging
Nice to have
- Familiarity with SATCOM waveforms and standards
- Experience analyzing modulation-dependent EVM and link degradation
- Experience with SDR-integrated RF systems
- Familiarity with radar, sensing, or 5G NR systems
Practical constraints
- Must be willing to work extended hours and weekends as needed
- Must be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident
Requirements
- Experience
- 2+ years
- Education
- Bachelor's degree
- Visa
- No sponsorship (stated in posting)
Not disclosed in this posting: work arrangement.
Joblaze summary
In the role of Senior RF & Antenna Systems Engineer at Northwood Space, the individual will focus on defining and evaluating phased-array RF architectures for satellite ground stations, translating complex mission requirements into technical specifications. Key skills include expertise in phased arrays, RF communication systems, and communication-link analysis, with a strong emphasis on performance metrics like EVM and BER. This position is suited for candidates with a solid background in electrical or communications engineering and at least two years of relevant experience. The role involves collaboration across various technical teams to ensure optimal system performance.
Joblaze insights
- Listed yesterday — first seen on Joblaze October 1, 2026. Last confirmed on Northwood Space's careers page October 1, 2026.
- This exact title is also open at 1 other location at Northwood Space: Torrance, CA.
- Salary band is below the typical range for comparable tech roles (median ~$126,844).
- Starts above 5% of 246 comparable senior other roles in United States that list Python we track (median $151,000 across 55 companies). See Python salary trends
- Python appears in 16.3% of 2321 comparable senior other roles in United States; RF appears in 2.1% of 2321 comparable senior other roles in United States.
Quick facts
- What's the salary range?
- Northwood Space lists $104,000–$155,000 for this role.
- How much experience is required?
- At least 2 years of relevant experience for this RF & Antenna Systems Engineer role.
- What's the tech stack?
- Joblaze extracted these technologies from the posting: MATLAB, Python, RF, SATCOM, antenna systems.
- What seniority level is this role?
- Northwood Space targets senior candidates for this position.
- Is this full-time or contract?
- Full-time for this RF & Antenna Systems Engineer role at Northwood Space.
From the original posting
Role:
As an Senior RF & Antenna Systems Engineer you will define and evaluate phased-array RF architectures for Northwood’s satellite ground-station network. You will translate mission and link requirements into antenna, aperture, beamforming, RF front-end, calibration, and tracking requirements, and evaluate how those choices affect end-to-end communications performance.
This role sits at the intersection of phased arrays, RF systems, SATCOM links, and physical-layer communications. You will work closely with antenna, RF, DSP/communications, digital, mechanical, manufacturing, software, and operations teams to ensure that the complete ground-station system achieves its required link performance.
The ideal candidate has deep experience in phased-array or antenna systems and can reason beyond the aperture—connecting gain, scan loss, polarization, sidelobes, noise, linearity, phase noise, calibration, and propagation to EVM, acquisition, BER, throughput, and link availability.
Responsibilities:
Define phased-array antenna and RF-system architectures for satellite communication ground stations.
Translate mission, coverage, link-availability, waveform, throughput, and regulatory requirements into aperture, RF front-end, beamforming, calibration, pointing, and tracking specifications.
Develop and maintain end-to-end SATCOM link budgets incorporating measured aperture and RF-chain performance.
Analyze analog, hybrid, and digital beamforming approaches in collaboration with RF and digital implementation teams.
Determine how antenna and RF impairments affect communications performance, including EVM, carrier acquisition, BER/BLER, throughput, spectral compliance, and link availability.
Analyze RF lineups and performance budgets for gain, noise figure, dynamic range, linearity, compression, intermodulation, phase noise, frequency stability, filtering, and isolation.
Build Python, MATLAB, or similar models combining array behavior, measured RF performance, propagation, and modem-level metrics.
Lead cross-functional investigations of degraded G/T, EIRP, link margin, EVM, acquisition, tracking, BER, throughput, or spectral performance.
Support regulatory submissions, spectrum coordination, partner interface reviews, system acceptance, and operational deployment.
Basic Qualifications:
Bachelor’s or advanced degree in Electrical Engineering, Communications Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related discipline.
2+ years of experience with phased arrays, antenna systems, RF communication systems, or SATCOM terminals.
Experience with communication-link analysis, including EIRP, G/T, C/N0, Eb/N0, link margin, atmospheric loss, and interference.
Understanding of digital communications sufficient to relate RF performance to modulation-dependent EVM, acquisition, BER, throughput, and spectral performance.
Experience defining or evaluating RF lineups, including noise figure, gain, linearity, dynamic range, phase noise, filtering, and isolation.
Hands-on experience with RF measurements and integrated system debugging using equipment such as vector network analyzers, spectrum analyzers, signal generators, noise sources, and vector signal analyzers.
Preferred Qualifications:
Familiarity with SATCOM waveforms and standards such as DVB-S2/S2X, CCSDS, or equivalent modem architectures.
Experience analyzing modulation-dependent EVM, BER/BLER, adjacent-channel leakage, spectral regrowth, amplifier backoff, and link degradation.
Experience with SDR-integrated RF systems or collaboration with FPGA, DSP, modem, and embedded-software teams.
Experience with HFSS, CST, or comparable full-wave electromagnetic tools.
Familiarity with radar, sensing, 5G NR, 802.11ad/ay, MIMO, multi-beam systems, or electronic-warfare systems where the experience transfers to array and RF-system architecture.
Additional Requirements:
Must be willing to work extended hours and weekends as needed
Compensation:
RF/Antenna Engineer/Level 1: $104,000 - $130,000 per year
RF/Antenna Engineer/Level 2: $124,000 - $155,000 per year
Standard company text repeated across Northwood Space's postings is omitted here.