Antenna Design Engineer

IC Resources; California (MO); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

IC Resources is seeking a Senior Antenna Design Engineer for a venture-backed space technology company to advance antenna tech for next-gen LEO satellite systems.

This hands-on role covers the full lifecycle from EM simulation to prototype hardware, calibration and test, with collaboration across RF, mechanical and systems teams.

Qualifications

• BS/MS/PhD in EE or EM with 5+ years relevant in antennas.
• Hands-on experience from simulation to hardware.
• Experience with phased arrays and beamforming.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop advanced antennas and arrays for satellite comms.
• Develop phased arrays and electronically scanned antennas.
• Perform EM simulation and optimization with HFSS, CST, or FEKO.
• Prototype, integrate and validate hardware.
• Conduct RF measurements with VNAs and anechoic chambers.
• Analyze patterns, gain, polarization, S-parameters.
• Develop tooling in Python and MATLAB.
• Collaborate with RF, mechanical, and test teams.

Skills

Antenna design

HFSS

CST

FEKO

Phased arrays

Beamforming

Python

MATLAB

RF measurements

Education

BSc Electrical Eng

MS/PhD in EM

Tools

VNAs

Anechoic chambers

Job description

Competitive salary + equity + benefits

The Opportunity

A rapidly growing, venture-backed space technology company is seeking a Senior Antenna Design Engineer to develop advanced antenna technologies for next-generation LEO satellite communications systems.

This is a hands-on R&D position covering the full antenna development lifecycle, from electromagnetic simulation and architecture through prototype hardware, characterization, calibration, and test.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop advanced antennas and antenna arrays for satellite communications systems.
• Develop phased arrays, electronically scanned antennas, beam-steering, and beamforming solutions.
• Perform EM simulation and optimization using HFSS, CST, and/or FEKO.
• Design antenna technologies including patches, arrays, metasurfaces, reflectarrays, transmitarrays, horns, waveguides, and reflector systems.
• Take designs from simulation through fabrication, integration, and hardware validation.
• Perform RF and antenna measurements using VNAs, antenna ranges, anechoic chambers, and related test equipment.
• Analyze antenna patterns, gain, efficiency, polarization, S-parameters, scan performance, and mutual coupling.
• Develop analysis and test automation tools using Python and/or MATLAB.
• Collaborate with RF, electrical, mechanical, systems, and test engineering teams.

Skills & Experience

• BS, MS, or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Electromagnetics, RF/Microwave Engineering, or a related field.
• 5+ years of relevant antenna, RF/microwave, or electromagnetics experience.
• Strong fundamentals in electromagnetics, antenna theory, and microwave engineering.
• Demonstrated hands‑on antenna design experience from simulation through physical hardware.
• Experience with phased arrays, electronically scanned arrays, beamforming, and/or beam steering.
• Strong experience with HFSS, CST, and/or FEKO.
• Experience with microwave/mmWave antenna systems, ideally within approximately 10.7–51.4 GHz.
• Hands‑on experience with VNAs, near‑field/far‑field antenna measurements, and RF characterization.
• Experience with Python and/or MATLAB.
• Understanding of array concepts including grating lobes, scan loss, sidelobes, mutual coupling, polarization, and calibration.
• Experience with metasurfaces, reflectarrays, transmitarrays, shaped reflectors, or other advanced antenna architectures is highly desirable.
• Satellite communications, spacecraft, radar, or other high‑performance RF system experience is preferred.

Additional Information

The position offers significant technical ownership within a growing antenna engineering team developing new space based communications technology.