Principal RF Systems Engineer – Satellite Communications

Calder Search; Mountain View (CA); Hybrid; USD 255,000 - 270,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Job summary

Calder Search is partnering with a commercially established satellite communications company to hire a Principal RF Systems Engineer in Mountain View, CA. This is a hands-on senior IC role designed for ownership of a new RF payload capability from ground up.

You will define the technical roadmap, own the RF architecture, and drive design, build, integration, validation and test, while staying hands-on and non-managerial.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in RF, wireless or satellite communications engineering.
• Strong RF systems and antenna design fundamentals.
• Experience taking hardware from requirements through build, validation and test.
• Exposure to phased-array / electronically steered antennas, beamforming and OTA testing.
• Experience delivering RF technology into commercial products or programmes.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end RF payload architecture including antenna systems and RF front ends.
• Design and analyze phased-array antennas; perform beamforming and coverage assessments.
• Conduct satellite link design, budgets, Doppler and interference analysis.
• Oversee RF integration, validation and OTA testing.
• Define the technical roadmap for a new capability and drive from design to test.

Skills

RF design fundamentals

Phased-array antennas

OTA testing

Satellite communications

Hands-on engineering

Tools

RF measurement equipment

Antenna testing tools

Job description

Principal RF Systems Engineer – Satellite Communications

Mountain View, CA | Hybrid, 2–3 days onsite

$255,000–$270,000 base + equity

We’re working with a commercially established satellite communications company building technology that extends cellular connectivity beyond traditional terrestrial networks.

They’re now hiring a Principal RF Systems Engineer to become the first technical hire in a newly formed group, taking ownership of a new RF communications payload capability from the ground up.

This is a hands‑on senior IC role.

You won’t be inheriting somebody else’s finished architecture or moving into a people‑management position. You’ll help define the technical roadmap, own the RF architecture, and remain close enough to the engineering to take it through design, build, integration, validation and test.

What you’ll own

• End-to-end RF payload architecture, including antenna systems, RF front ends, frequency planning and waveform selection
• Phased-array / electronically steered antenna design and analysis, including beamforming, scan performance, EIRP, G/T and coverage
• Satellite link design including link budgets, modulation and coding, Doppler and interference analysis
• RF integration, performance verification, over-the-air testing and environmental qualification
• Technical decisions at the intersection of satellite communications and cellular standards, including 4G LTE, 5G NR and 3GPP NTN
• The initial technical roadmap for a new capability that will grow around the architecture you establish

What we’re looking for

The critical requirement is design ownership.

We’re looking for someone who has personally taken complex RF or antenna systems through the lifecycle — specifying and designing the system, not simply implementing, integrating or maintaining somebody else’s design.

You’ll likely bring:

• 8+ years in RF, wireless or satellite communications engineering
• Strong RF systems and antenna design fundamentals
• Experience taking hardware from requirements and architecture through build, validation and test
• Exposure to phased-array / electronically steered antennas, beamforming and OTA testing
• Experience delivering RF technology into commercial products or programmes such as satellite communications, IoT, wireless devices, chipsets, wearables or mobile networks

Commercial product-development experience is important. Candidates whose backgrounds are primarily theoretical/academic, simulation-only, RF test, programme management, adaptation of existing systems, or defence/government programmes without commercial product development are unlikely to be the right match.

This is also a senior individual-contributor position rather than a people-management role. We’re particularly interested in engineers who have led technically complex 0-to-1 programmes while remaining hands‑on.

The opportunity

This isn’t an early research project looking for its first use case.

You’ll be joining a commercially established satellite communications business with deployed technology and an international, engineering-heavy team, at the point where a new technical capability is being created.

For the right engineer, the attraction is simple: own something from the beginning rather than inherit it later.

Location: Mountain View, California

Base salary: $255,000–$270,000 per year

Equity: Competitive equity package

Visa: Existing visa transfers can be considered; new sponsorship is not available

Candidates must be eligible to obtain a U.S. security clearance should the programme require it. An active clearance is not required to apply.