RF Systems Mechanical Engineer - Antenna & Packaging

Zipline; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 135,000 - 225,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline seeks a Mechanical Design Engineer for RF Systems to own the physical architecture of antenna and RF assemblies used across its avionics systems. You will collaborate with RF, Electrical, EMC, Systems, Navigation, Flight Test, Manufacturing and vehicle-structure teams to preserve antenna performance from prototype to production.

The role requires translating RF requirements into mechanical constraints, designing mounts, radomes, shielding, and serviceable modules, and leading

Qualifications

• Strong mechanical engineering fundamentals including structures, vibration, thermal design and material selection.
• Advanced CAD, GD&T, datum-strategy, drawing-release, and production-tolerance skills.
• Working knowledge of RF fundamentals: antenna gain, radiation pattern, polarization, ground-plane effects, impedance, insertion loss, shielding and link margin.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end mechanical design for antenna and RF assemblies, including architecture, packaging, CAD, drawings, specifications, tolerance analysis, BOMs, and production release.
• Translate link-budget, antenna-pattern, polarization, isolation, desense, environmental, structural, and vehicle-level requirements into measurable mechanical constraints.
• Establish antenna placement, orientation, keep-out, ground-plane, separation, and installation requirements across vehicle structures and avionics assemblies.
• Design antenna mounts, radomes, housings, RF shields, feedline routing, connector interfaces, strain relief, grounding features, and serviceable module assemblies.
• Define mechanical shielding, seam, gasket, grounding, and bonding strategies to contain emissions while avoiding antenna effects.
• Collaborate with RF and Test engineers on measurements such as S-parameters, VSWR, insertion loss, antenna efficiency, gain, radiation pattern, polarization, isolation, desense, and environmental performance.
• Create fixtures and representative structures for chamber and bench measurements to reproduce installed configurations.
• Perform structural, thermal, vibration, fatigue, and tolerance analyses to ensure assemblies remain stable and repeatable.
• Define critical-to-quality dimensions and manufacturing controls for antenna position and cable routing.
• Work with antenna vendors, material suppliers, connectors, and contract manufacturers to qualify parts and processes.
• Lead investigations of RF field failures where mechanical configuration may contribute; use telemetry and measurements to establish root cause.

Skills

Mechanical Design

RF Systems

CAD

GD&T

Thermal Analysis

Vibration

Production Release

Tools

Vector Network Analyzer

Job description

Zipline seeks a Mechanical Design Engineer for RF Systems to own the physical architecture of antenna and RF assemblies used across its avionics systems. You will collaborate with RF, Electrical, EMC, Systems, Navigation, Flight Test, Manufacturing and vehicle-structure teams to preserve antenna performance from prototype to production.

The role requires translating RF requirements into mechanical constraints, designing mounts, radomes, shielding, and serviceable modules, and leading