Principal RF/Electrical Engineer

Elveo; Chantilly, Northern (VA, KY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Elveo seeks a Principal RF/Electrical Engineer in Chantilly, VA to own RF, electronics and software for satellite communications. You will analyze, design, and optimize systems, perform link budgets, and guide antenna selection while collaborating with the systems team and vendors.

Responsibilities include hardware/software integration, testing, and providing solid technical documentation. ITAR awareness and cross-disciplinary teamwork are essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's in RF or Electrical Engineering and 15+ years of space payload experience.
• Strong RF link budget knowledge and RF component understanding.
• Experience in wireless system design and antenna theory basics.
• Hands-on RF front end, SDRs, LNA/SSPA, filters, PLLs, and RF hardware.
• Programming in C++, Python or MATLAB; Linux proficiency.
• Proficiency with Altium, ADS, SolidWorks and test equipment.

Responsibilities

• Design RF-front end hardware and software for satellite communications.
• Develop link budgets, simulations, and RF system dimensioning.
• Plan coverage, frequency usage, and interference mitigation.
• Support satellite integration, testing, and delivery with partners.
• Bench-level mechatronics work: assembly, prototyping, debugging.
• Document hardware/software designs and maintain technical specs.

Skills

RF/Electrical engineering

Linux knowledge

Programming languages

Schematic capture

Education

Bachelor’s degree in RF or Electrical Engineering

Tools

Altium Designer

ADS

SolidWorks

VNAs / spectrum analyzers

Job description

About Elveo

Elveo is what happens when two pioneers in direct-to-device (D2D) communications join forces. Elveo brings together a combined 20 years of expertise to close the coverage gap for more than 50 mobile network operators (MNOs) and major distribution partners operating in 60+ countries worldwide.

That heritage and our technology powers what we call ‘elevated intelligence’ — a new approach that processes and adapts on orbit, delivering voice and data services straight to mobile users, IoT devices and machines across enterprise, government and humanitarian sectors worldwide.

As a team, we’re on a mission to deliver powerful compute and connectivity directly to individuals and objects everywhere on Earth.

Join us, and become part of a globally inclusive company that is transforming satellite communications from a niche service to an essential global infrastructure, and democratizing connectivity for billions worldwide.

Ready to take the next step? Join us.

Job Summary

As a Principal RF/Electrical Engineer at Elveo, you will be responsible for wearing many hats in the world of radio frequencies, electronics, hardware, and software. You will be responsible for the analysis, design, implementation, optimization, and enhancement of our satellite communications systems (and, ultimately, the future constellation network, including inter-satellite and multi-orbit links). Some work products will include link budgets analyses, system dimensioning for coverage and capacity (including traffic analysis and simulation), initial system design and dimensioning, coverage planning, frequency planning, interference analysis and mitigation techniques. This engineer will also be responsible for supporting the iterative design and testing of our satellite communications systems hardware/electronics and software. This will include working with software defined radios, single-board computers, FPGAs, SoCs, processors, LNAs, and filters – you will also be involved in our payload antenna selection and design. While playing with all this hardware on a bench, you’ll probably need to pick up a soldering gun, use a spectrum analyzer, assemble circuits on a breadboard, and/or configure an RF channel simulator.

If you enjoy the challenge of wearing many hats and have a track record of creative thinking to solve unconventional problems, then we look forward to meeting you!

Core Responsibilities

• Support design of satellite communications systems hardware (RF-Front-End, LNA, SSPA, PLLs, Filters, etc.) and software design and development
• Support selection and design of small satellite antenna technologies
• Develop link budget analyses, simulations, traffic/capacity analysis, RF system design and dimensioning, coverage and frequency planning, etc.
• Support satellite communications systems integration, testing, delivery to launch and satellite bus partners/vendors.
• Design and plan satellite communications systems testing configurations on the ground when testing satellite communications systems performance both in-lab and in-orbit.
• Interface with Systems Engineering team to inform constellation/network architecture and design based on RF communications systems performance.
• Bench level mechatronics work including testing, integration, assembly, programming and prototyping of electronics hardware and software.
• Some software-based Systems Engineering analysis.
• Support developing and maintaining technical documentation for hardware/software design and development.
• Must be able to work independently and in a team environment.

Qualifications

• A Bachelor’s degree (or better) in RF or Electrical Engineering.
• 15+ years of experience working on projects developing space payload hardware and software (preferably communications systems).
• Thorough understanding of RF link budget, RF active and passive components.
• Experience in designing wireless communication systems.
• Experience in basic principles of antenna theory.
• Hands-on experience from concept to production with RF Front End design, SDRs, antennas, LNA, SSPA, filters, couplers, RF switches, PLLs, antennas, DC-DC converters, microcontroller, FPGA is highly desired.
• Hands-on experience with testing, troubleshooting, and debugging RF systems.
• Programming Proficiency in one or more programming languages is highly desired (e.g., C++, C, Python, MATLAB, etc.)
• Experience working with Linux based systems.
• Proficiency with electrical design software, such as Altium Designer, ADS, and SolidWorks are highly desired.
• Proficiency with test equipment including VNAs, protocol signal generators, and spectrum analyzers.
• Proficiency with schematic capture and PCB layout using Altium.
• Strong knowledge and understanding of RF air interfaces and their use of multiple access schemes such as TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, CDMA, etc. is highly desired.
• Hands-on experience with integrating hardware and software systems is desired.
• Must be good with computers. Fluent in Linux, Windows, and Mac OSX; Very capable with Microsoft Office (Excel, Project, PowerPoint, Word).
• Hands-on experience with programming microcontrollers, FPGAs and SDRs is desired.
• Knowledge of some communications/networking protocols (for instance: IP, TCP/IP, DVB-S/S2/S2X, CCSDS, LoRA, TDMA, CDMA, FDMA, GSE Encapsulation, ZeroMQ, VXLAN tunneling, DHCP, Tailscale, Ethernet, etc.)

ITAR Requirements

To comply with U.S. Government export control regulations (ITAR), applicants must be one of the following: (i) a U.S. citizen or national, (ii) a lawful permanent resident (green card holder), (iii) a refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) an asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158. Individuals who do not meet these criteria must be eligible to obtain the necessary authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. For more information, please refer to the ITAR guidelines.

Learn about ITAR here.

Job Location

Chantilly, VA.