Lead Satellite Payload Avionics Engineer

Army National Guard; Los Alamitos (CA); On-site; USD 25,000 - 36,000; Full time

Job summary

Meridian Space is seeking an avionics engineer to own the design and development of satellite payloads, including RF front-ends, transceivers, waveguide interfaces, and antenna controls. You will lead end-to-end hardware development, from schematics through full in-orbit qualification, within a small high-ambition team.

The role covers hardware design, testing, integration, and failure analysis with emphasis on RF performance, signal integrity, and space-grade reliability.

Qualifications

• Graduate degree in Electrical Engineering or related field.
• Minimum of 4 years of RF/Analog circuit design experience.
• Experience modeling, designing, and testing radio subsystems, preferably for satellite payloads.
• Proficiency with hardware design tools (Altium Designer, Cadence, or equivalent).
• Experience using HFSS, CST, or similar RF simulation tools.
• Ability to perform bench-level analog/power bring-up and troubleshooting with test equipment.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop satellite payload avionics systems, including RF front-ends, transceivers, and antenna interfaces.
• Develop and review hardware schematics, PCB layouts, and embedded control architectures for communication electronics.
• Lead integration, testing, and qualification of payload avionics at subsystem and system levels (EMC, vibration, thermal).
• Participate in failure analysis, root cause investigations, and continuous improvement of designs.
• Perform link budget analysis, system modeling, and simulation for space-to-ground and inter-satellite links.

Skills

RF/Analog design

PCB layout

RF simulation

HW tools: Altium/Cadence

System integration

Bench testing

Communication skills

Education

Electrical Engineering degree

Tools

Altium Designer

Cadence

HFSS

CST

Job description

Meridian Space is seeking an avionics engineer to own the design and development of satellite payloads, including RF front-ends, transceivers, waveguide interfaces, and antenna controls. You will lead end-to-end hardware development, from schematics through full in-orbit qualification, within a small high-ambition team.

The role covers hardware design, testing, integration, and failure analysis with emphasis on RF performance, signal integrity, and space-grade reliability.