Principal Antenna Engineer

EVONA; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 198,000 - 242,000; Full time

Job summary

EVONA in Seattle, WA, is seeking a Principal Antenna Engineer for radar payloads. You will own the end-to-end antenna hardware from requirements and architecture through EM design, prototypes, testing, calibration, and qualification, delivering flight-ready solutions for spaceborne radar missions.

You will collaborate with RF, FPGA/DSP, software, and mechanical teams, drive beamforming and calibration, and guide the product from prototype to flight-qualified hardware while navigating strict

Qualifications

• Expert-level design experience with phased-array / electronically scanned antennas.
• Hands-on experience with beamforming and array calibration.
• High-frequency PCB, feed, and passive RF component design.
• Experience carrying RF hardware through space qualification.

Responsibilities

• Own phased-array design and EM modeling from requirements to architecture and trades.
• Build and measure prototypes, correlating EM models to test data.
• Optimize and calibrate array performance across frequency and scan angle.
• Develop beam-steering and alignment methods with RF, FPGA/DSP, and software teams.
• Support spacecraft integration and environmental qualification.
• Mature antenna hardware from prototype to flight-ready, repeatable product.

Skills

Phased-array design

EM modeling

Beamforming

Array calibration

Python

MATLAB

RF measurement

Space qualification

Tools

HFSS

CST

FEKO

Job description

Principal Antenna Engineer - Radar Payloads

Location: Seattle, WA

Salary: up to $220,000 Gross Per Annum + Stocks/Shares + Brilliant benefits package

You’ll join a venture-backed space technology company building the flight-ready electronically scanned antenna arrays at the heart of next-generation spaceborne radar missions.

Our state-of-art antennas need to deliver the gain, efficiency, bandwidth, scan performance, sidelobe control, polarization purity, and calibration accuracy that advanced SAR and target-tracking payloads demand and we’re looking for the engineer who can own that problem end to end.

As Principal Antenna Engineer, you’ll have ownership of the antenna end to end: requirements and architecture (including interfaces to adjacent systems), EM design, prototype build, measurement, calibration, and qualification.

You’ll be the technical owner translating radar performance needs into flight-ready hardware, with a direct line to payload integration and launch.

Day To Day, You’ll

• Own phased-array antenna design and EM modeling, from requirements through architecture and trade studies
• Build and measure prototypes, correlating EM models to test data
• Optimize and calibrate array performance across frequency and scan angle
• Develop beam-steering and alignment methods, working closely with RF, FPGA/DSP, and software teams
• Support spacecraft integration and environmental qualification
• Mature antenna hardware from prototype to a flight-ready, repeatable product

You’ll Bring

• Expert-level design experience with phased-array / electronically scanned antennas — array theory, impedance and mutual coupling, scan behavior, and polarization
• Hands-on experience with beamforming and array calibration
• High-frequency PCB, feed, and passive RF component design
• Proficiency with EM simulation tools such as HFSS, CST, or FEKO
• Programming/scripting skill in Python or MATLAB for modeling and data analysis
• Experience with VNA and near-/far-field antenna measurement
• Experience carrying RF hardware through space qualification

You’ll also need to be hands-on, rigorous, self-driven, and take full ownership of outcomes, with strong first-principles EM judgment, discipline about correlating models to test data, and comfort operating with ambiguity and evolving requirements; while collaborating closely across RF, digital, mechanical, thermal, and software disciplines.

This role may require access to U.S. export-controlled information and may require the ability to obtain a U.S. government security clearance. Candidates must be a U.S. citizen to be eligible.