Senior RF Engineer — Ka-Band Power Amplifier Lead

Northwood; Torrance (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 226,000; Full time

Job summary

Northwood is a modern space infrastructure company delivering real-time communications for satellite missions. As a Senior Electrical Engineer (RF), you will own Ka-band high power amplifier design for Prism, Northwood's 2.4-meter parabolic antenna for high-throughput links.

You will take amplifiers from architecture through prototype, characterization, and production, collaborating with mechanical, thermal, and test engineers to ensure reliability and manufacturability.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering or related field.
• 5+ years of RF hardware design experience.
• Experience designing power amplifiers at microwave/mmWave frequencies.
• Proficiency with RF/EM simulation tools such as Keysight ADS, Cadence AWR, HFSS, or CST.
• Hands-on with RF test equipment including network analyzers and spectrum analyzers.

Responsibilities

• Design Ka-band high power amplifiers for Prism from architecture to bring-up.
• Develop power combining approaches to scale output power while protecting efficiency and reliability.
• Build electromagnetic and circuit simulation models to design and evaluate performance before hardware.
• Design supporting circuitry including bias, sequencing, power conditioning, protection, and monitoring.
• Own thermal and packaging considerations for high-dissipation RF hardware with mechanical/thermal teams.
• Characterize amplifier performance and troubleshoot the transmit chain.
• Drive designs through reliability testing and production readiness.
• Support integration and field troubleshooting of deployed Prism units.

Skills

RF hardware design

Microwave design

Power amplifier design

RF simulation tools

Lab measurement

Thermal packaging

Test equipment

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering

Master's degree in Electrical Engineering

PhD in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Keysight ADS

Cadence AWR

HFSS

CST

Job description

Northwood is a modern space infrastructure company delivering real-time communications for satellite missions. As a Senior Electrical Engineer (RF), you will own Ka-band high power amplifier design for Prism, Northwood's 2.4-meter parabolic antenna for high-throughput links.

You will take amplifiers from architecture through prototype, characterization, and production, collaborating with mechanical, thermal, and test engineers to ensure reliability and manufacturability.