RF/Microwave Satellite Engineer (Starlink)

SpaceX; Redmond; On-site; AUD 179,000 - 287,000; Full time

Job summary

SpaceX is seeking an RF/Microwave Engineer, Satellites (Starlink) to join the Satellite Payload Engineering team. You will design, implement, and verify electrical hardware for satellites and ground systems, collaborating with RF, antenna, DSP, and ASIC engineers across the architecture.

The role requires a strong foundation in RF/microwave circuit design, system-level thinking, and hands-on use of 3D EM tools. Extensive knowledge of microwave frequencies and S- and X-band awareness is a plus.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, physics or other engineering discipline
• 1+ years of RF/microwave circuit design experience
• 1+ years of experience with 3D EM simulation tools (CST, HFSS, FEKO, SEMCAD, EMPro, TICRA or XFDTD)
• Master’s degree in electrical or computer engineering with RF/microwave emphasis (or 2y+ industry experience)
• Experience designing linear/non-linear circuits: PA, LNA, mixers, filters, PLLs
• Strong understanding of RF passive components
• Familiar with RF test equipment: spectrum analyzers, VSA, VSG, VNAs
• Experience RF performance characterization at microwave frequencies
• Knowledge of digital comms: QPSK, QAM, APSK
• RF/microwave design using ADS, HFSS, AWR or similar
• Understanding of propagation and antenna systems
• Schematic/layout with Altium or equivalent
• Experience in Matlab, Python, C++ for RF modeling
• Python/LabVIEW for test automation
• Digital comms theory: BER and noise figure
• RF/microwave design in Ku/Ka/V/E bands

Responsibilities

• Simulate and model communication systems
• Partition functions between hardware and software across teams
• Assess design feasibility for architecture definitions
• Derive RF link specifications for RF and antenna subsystems
• Characterize and analyze system performance
• Provide technical support to regulatory, coordination, and market access teams

Skills

RF circuit design

LNA design

Mixer design

Filters design

PLL design

Python

Matlab

C++

Education

Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, physics or other engineering discipline

Master’s degree in electrical or computer engineering

Tools

Altium Designer

Matlab

Python

C++

Job description

SpaceX is seeking an RF/Microwave Engineer, Satellites (Starlink) to join the Satellite Payload Engineering team. You will design, implement, and verify electrical hardware for satellites and ground systems, collaborating with RF, antenna, DSP, and ASIC engineers across the architecture.

The role requires a strong foundation in RF/microwave circuit design, system-level thinking, and hands-on use of 3D EM tools. Extensive knowledge of microwave frequencies and S- and X-band awareness is a plus.