Senior RF Systems Engineer

Orbint GmbH; München; Hybrid; EUR 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Orbint GmbH seeks a Senior RF Systems Engineer to lead design and development of RF sensing payloads for space-based SIGINT. You will own antenna systems, RF front-ends, receivers, and payload performance across mission concepts.

Work spans RF engineering, satellite payload development and mission engineering, with validation via lab measurements and mission data, influencing architecture decisions and trade-offs.

Qualifications

• Master's or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Communications Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Physics, or related field.
• Strong understanding of RF systems, antennas, microwave engineering, receivers, radar, EW, or sensing systems.
• Proven experience designing RF, microwave, antenna, radar, or sensing systems from concept through test.
• Experience with RF front-end design, receivers, antenna systems, RF measurements, or payload development.
• Experience with RF design, electromagnetic simulation, and PCB development tools such as CST, HFSS, ADS, AWR, Altium Designer.
• Ability to translate simulation results into practical design decisions.
• Familiarity with link budgets, interference analysis, and payload performance metrics.
• Programming in Python, MATLAB, or C++ and familiarity with engineering software workflows.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop RF payload architectures for space-based sensing and SIGINT missions.
• Define and allocate payload requirements across antennas, RF front-ends, receivers, digitizers, and onboard processing.
• Design and evaluate antenna systems, receiver chains, frequency conversion, filtering, and RF subsystems.
• Perform RF system analysis including link budgets, sensitivity, dynamic range, interference, and modeling.
• Develop high-fidelity simulation environments for RF propagation and mission sensing capabilities.
• Drive trade studies balancing performance, complexity, power, mass, and cost.
• Collaborate with spacecraft, software, and mission teams to meet operational requirements.
• Validate models and designs using lab measurements, field data, and mission data.

Skills

RF systems

antenna systems

receiver architectures

RF front-end design

RF measurements

Python

MATLAB

Git

mission engineering

Education

Masters or PhD in Electrical/Communications/Aerospace

Tools

CST Studio Suite

HFSS

ADS

AWR

Altium Designer

Job description

As a Senior RF Systems Engineer, you will be responsible for the design and development of the RF sensing payloads that underpin our space-based SIGINT capabilities. You will own key technical decisions spanning antenna systems, RF front-ends, receiver architectures, payload performance, and mission-level RF sensing concepts.

You will work at the intersection of RF engineering, satellite payload development, and mission engineering:

• Design and develop RF payload architectures for space-based sensing and SIGINT missions.
• Define and allocate payload-level requirements across antennas, RF front-ends, receivers, digitizers, and onboard processing systems.
• Design and evaluate antenna systems, receiver chains, frequency conversion stages, filtering concepts, and RF subsystem architectures.
• Perform RF system analysis including link budgets, sensitivity analysis, dynamic range assessment, interference analysis, and payload performance modeling.
• Develop high-fidelity simulation environments for RF propagation, signal environments, payload performance, and mission-level sensing capabilities.
• Drive technical trade studies and architecture decisions balancing performance, complexity, power consumption, mass, and cost.
• Work closely with spacecraft, software, and mission teams to ensure payload designs meet operational requirements.
• Validate models and designs using laboratory measurements, field data, and mission data.

About You

We do not expect a perfect match to every bullet point, but you should recognize yourself in most of the profile below.

Core Technical Profile

• Master's or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Communications Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Physics, or a related technical field.
• Strong understanding of RF systems, wireless communications, antennas, microwave engineering, receiver architectures, radar systems, or electronic warfare systems.
• Proven experience designing RF, microwave, antenna, radar, communications, EW, or sensing systems from concept through implementation and test.
• Experience with RF front-end design, receiver architectures, antenna systems, RF measurements, or payload development.
• Experience with RF design, electromagnetic simulation, and PCB development tools such as CST Studio Suite, HFSS, ADS, AWR, Altium Designer, or equivalent.
• Ability to interpret and translate electromagnetic simulation results into practical antenna, RF front-end, and payload design decisions.
• Familiarity with RF propagation, link budgets, interference analysis, receiver performance metrics, and electromagnetic effects.
• Experience with RF simulation, modeling, laboratory measurements, or system-level performance evaluation.
• Programming experience in Python, MATLAB, C++, or similar technical computing environments.
• Comfortable working with simulation tools and engineering software to evaluate complex RF systems.
• Comfortable with software engineering best practices including Git, testing, documentation, code review, and collaborative development workflows.

Desired Backgrounds

• Antenna and phased-array design using electromagnetic simulation tools such as CST Studio Suite or HFSS.
• RF and microwave circuit design including schematic capture, PCB layout, and design verification using Altium Designer or equivalent EDA tools.
• Satellite communications and payload engineering.
• Radar, passive sensing, or RF sensing systems.
• Electronic warfare (EW), SIGINT, COMINT, or ELINT systems.
• RF testing, characterization, and validation.
• Space systems engineering and satellite payload development.

SIGINT / Defence Domain (Strong Plus)

• Experience with COMINT, ELINT, SIGINT, EW, or RF sensing systems.
• Understanding of emitter detection, characterization, localization, or geolocation concepts.
• Experience with distributed sensing, multi-platform RF systems, or satellite-based sensing architectures.
• Understanding of defence and security user needs and operational environments.

General

• Structured, analytical working style with strong problem-solving skills and a high bar for technical quality.
• Ability to translate complex RF and system-level phenomena into engineering solutions and actionable insights.
• Ability to take ownership from concept through implementation, testing, and operational validation.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to explain technical trade-offs to engineers, management, and customers.
• Very good command of English (spoken and written); German is an asset.
• Eligibility for security clearance.

Why Orbint

At Orbint, you will be joining an ambitious team where your work directly shapes a new space-based SIGINT capability for European defence and security. From defining RF payload architectures and antenna systems to developing next-generation sensing capabilities, you will play a key role in building the future of space-based RF intelligence.

• A brief motivation letter explaining how you became aware of Orbint, why working on space-based SIGINT for defence and security users is motivating for you, and how your previous experience would strengthen the Orbint team.
• References to prior technical work (e.g. thesis, papers, talks, hardware projects, RF designs, antenna developments, technical reports, patents, or engineering tools), if permissible.
• Your earliest possible starting date and your salary expectations.