Joblaze summary

In the role of Senior RF Electrical Engineer at Northwood Space, the individual will focus on designing and refining RF hardware for the Prism parabolic antenna, ensuring optimal performance across its multi-band RF chain. Key skills include extensive RF design experience, proficiency with RF test equipment, and the ability to manage hardware from initial design through to production. This position is suited for seasoned engineers with a strong background in RF circuits, filters, and antennas, particularly those familiar with satellite ground terminal hardware. Northwood's vertically integrated approach emphasizes collaboration across teams to deliver impactful space communication solutions.

Joblaze insights

Listed today — first seen on Joblaze November 8, 2026. Last confirmed on Northwood Space's careers page November 8, 2026.
This exact title is also open at 1 other location at Northwood Space: Torrance, CA.
Salary band is above the typical range for comparable tech roles (median ~$127,000).
Starts above 35% of 34 comparable senior other roles in United States that list RF we track (median $162,500 across 8 companies).
RF appears in 2.1% of 2740 comparable senior other roles in United States; Filters appears in 0.1% of 2740 comparable senior other roles in United States.

Quick facts

What's the salary range?: Northwood Space lists $140,000–$226,000 for this role.
How much experience is required?: At least 5 years of relevant experience for this Senior RF Electrical Engineer (Prism) role.
What's the tech stack?: Joblaze extracted these technologies from the posting: Antenna, Electronics, Filters, PCB, RF, amplifiers.
What seniority level is this role?: Northwood Space targets senior candidates for this position.
Is this full-time or contract?: Full-time for this Senior RF Electrical Engineer (Prism) role at Northwood Space.

From the original posting

Role:

As a Senior RF Electrical Engineer, you will design and own RF hardware for Prism, Northwood's 2.4-meter parabolic antenna for high-throughput satellite links. You will work across Prism's multi-band RF chain (receive front ends, frequency conversion, filtering, and the transmit line-up that drives Prism's high power amplifiers), taking hardware from architecture through prototype, characterization, and production. You will make system-level RF performance trades and collaborate across hardware, software, and test teams to deliver hardware that performs in the field.

Responsibilities:

Design RF electronics hardware for Prism, and iterate on existing Prism hardware to improve reliability, performance, and manufacturability
Own RF line-up design for Prism's receive and transmit chains, balancing gain, noise figure, linearity, output power, and blocker/interference tolerance
Design and trade RF architectures that support Prism's multiple frequency bands, including band switching, filtering, and shared signal paths
Create electromagnetic simulation models of Prism hardware (amplifiers, filters, PCB layout) to design and evaluate performance
Build RF circuits for Prism (LNAs, filters, power amplifiers, frequency converters) as well as support circuitry (power, digital control), and characterize their performance

Basic Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering or related engineering discipline
5+ years of RF design experience, across circuits, filters, or antennas
Experience taking RF hardware from design through bring-up, characterization, and debug in the lab
Comfort with RF test equipment, including network analyzers, spectrum analyzers, signal generators, noise figure analyzers, and power meters

Preferred Qualifications:

RF line-up design, considering non-linearity, noise, output power, and blocker/jammer tolerance
Power amplifier, LNA, and filter design
Satellite ground terminal hardware across multiple frequency bands, such as LNBs, block upconverters/downconverters, or tracking receivers
Frequency synthesis and LO design, including PLLs and phase noise optimization
Filter, diplexer, and multiplexer design, including waveguide and planar implementations
Waveguide component and transition design, including waveguide-to-microstrip transitions, OMTs, and feeds
Theory and testing related to EVM, Noise Figure, power handling metrics (IIP2, IMD), impedance matching, amplifier stability, and cascaded network analysis
Design and bring-up of point-of-load converters and common digital interfaces such as I2C/SPI

Additional Requirements:

This position requires successfully obtaining and maintaining a Top Secret Security Clearance as a condition of employment. While the clearance may not be immediately necessary upon hire, we encourage you to initiatethe application process promptly upon accepting this offer. Your ability to secure the necessary clearance is essential for fulfilling key responsibilities of the role. Should you be unable to obtain it, Northwood Space reserves the right to modify or terminate your employment to align with operational needs.

Compensation:

RF Hardware/Level 3: $140,000-$175,000

RF Hardware/Level 4: $152,000-$190,000

RF Hardware/Level 5: $180,000-$226,000

Additional Information:

Standard company text repeated across Northwood Space's postings is omitted here.

Senior RF Electrical Engineer (Prism)

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