Senior RF Engineer Hardware

Front Door Defense; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) plan

Stock options

Medical benefits (dental & vision)

Flex-Friday schedule

Unlimited PTO

Professional development opportunities

Job summary

Venus Aerospace is seeking a Senior RF Engineer in Houston to design, build, and flight test RF telemetry systems for rocket propulsion tests. You will lead architecture decisions for radios, antennas, and ground stations and perform rigorous link analyses across various flight regimes.

You’ll develop HITL test environments, collaborate with multiple engineering teams, and ensure data readiness for flight data collection and analysis.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical, Mechanical, Mechatronics Engineering or related field.
• 5+ years of RF telemetry experience in rocket, missile or space applications.
• Experience with link analysis for flight vehicles in supersonic/hypersonic regimes.
• Experience selecting onboard antennas and radios; designing ground systems.
• Experience hardware‑in‑the‑loop testing and system integration.

Responsibilities

• Design, build and fly RF telemetry systems for tests.
• Lead architecture and selection of telemetry hardware, radios, antennas, and ground stations.
• Conduct link analysis across flight regimes to improve vehicle capabilities.
• Design ground stations and networks to capture data and send commands.
• Develop HITL testing environments to support software development and verification.
• Collaborate across engineering disciplines to meet program needs.
• Prepare and review technical documents and requirements.

Skills

RF telemetry

link budgets

HITL testing

systems thinking

vendor management

Education

Electrical/Mechanical/Mechatronics or related

Radar Systems or Data Science background

Tools

CAN bus

UART

SPI

I2C

Ethernet

Job description

Senior RF Engineer

Design and validate RF telemetry systems for rocket flight tests and data collection.

Location: Houston, Texas

About The Role

Principal RF Engineer

Join us as an RF Telemetry Engineer and help design, build and flight test revolutionary propulsion technology. You'll lead assessment of link budgets, design of both ground stations and onboard radio and antenna systems, and system testing to ensure we gather critical test data. This role blends analysis, mission planning, hands‑on engineering, hardware‑in‑the‑loop testing, and cross‑disciplinary collaboration to deliver reliable, flight‑ready systems. If you excel at systems thinking, flight systems implementations and solving hard problems, you'll thrive here.

What You’ll Get To Do

• Design, build and fly your systems
• Lead the architecture, design, and selection of telemetry hardware, radios, antennas and ground stations
• Conduct link analysis on a range of flight regimes as we rapidly improve our vehicle capabilities
• Design ground stations and ground station networks to capture flight data and send commands
• Deconflict frequency plans in different launch environments
• Define requirements, conduct trade studies and select radios and antennas to complete the mission
• Develop and maintain hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) test environments to support software development, integration, and verification
• Support system integration, ground testing, and flight testing, including troubleshooting and root cause analysis
• Assess system risks and recommend mitigations
• Collaborate with external vendors and suppliers to define requirements, evaluate components, manage technical trade studies, and support procurement
• Author and review technical documentation, including requirements, interface control documents (ICDs), schematics, test plans, and verification reports
• Collaborate with Flight Software, Avionics, IT, GN&C, Aerodynamics, and Structures engineering disciplines to ascertain system requirements and meet technical program needs
• Collaborate with Manufacturing and Quality to ensure your systems are ready to fly

What You Have

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical, Mechanical, Mechatronics Engineering, or a related field. Alternatively, Radar Systems or Data Science experience, with a strong quantitative and mechanical measurements foundation
• 5+ years of experience in RF telemetry in rocket, missile or space applications
• Experience conducting link analysis for flight vehicles in the supersonic and hypersonic flight regimes
• Experience writing requirements, conducting trade studies, selecting onboard antennas, and radios
• Experience placing and designing ground systems to receive data from and send commands
• Experience implementing and troubleshooting grounding, bonding, and shielding solutions for analog-to-digital instrumentation signals in multi-band RF environments
• Strong background in hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) testing and integration
• Experience working with and managing outside vendors, including technical evaluations and supplier coordination
• Strong troubleshooting and systems‑level thinking skills
• Experience with environmental testing and qualification
• Key competencies: systems‑level avionics expertise; cross‑functional collaboration; vendor and supplier management; clear technical communication

What Will Set You Apart

• Strong experience with small vehicle avionics teams
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to collaborate with diverse teams
• Familiarity with embedded systems, buses and protocols (CAN, UART, SPI, I2C, Ethernet, MIL-STD-1553, etc.)
• Experience managing contractors for consulting or hardware production
• Multiple launch campaigns under your belt
• Experience contributing to design reviews and flight safety reviews with range stakeholders

Location: On‑site in Houston, TX

Benefits: Venus Aerospace employee benefits include a 401(k) plan, stock options, and medical benefits, including dental and vision. We have a flex-Friday flexible schedule, unlimited PTO, and receive professional development opportunities.

ITAR Requirements

This position involves access to technology that is subject to U.S. export controls. Any job offer made will be contingent upon the applicant’s capacity to serve in compliance with U.S. export controls. To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be able to meet ITAR requirements (U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State). You can learn more about ITAR here.

Venus Aerospace is an Equal Opportunity Employer including Disabled/Veterans. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability. If you have a disability and believe you need a reasonable accommodation, please email [e-mail] or call [phone]. This email and phone number were created exclusively to assist job seekers whose disability prevents them from being able to apply online. Messages or any other purposes, such as following up on an application, third party staffing agencies, website technical issues, or any other issues not related to a disability, will not receive a response. Messages will be returned within five business days.