Space RF Systems Engineer & Team Lead

Telemetry Today LLC; Herndon (VA); On-site; USD 170,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

HawkEye 360 is seeking a Principal RF Electrical Engineer and Team Lead to guide the Space Team’s RF design for satellite platforms. You will oversee digital, analog, and power electronics, RF payloads, and antenna systems, while mentoring a small RF/EE team and remaining hands-on with design and tests.

You will drive PCB layout, RF chain development, and performance verification, coordinating with mechanical, software, payload, and systems teams to meet mission requirements and program

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in RF/Electrical Engineering or related field.
• 10+ years hands-on RF electronics design and testing including SDRs, mixers, filters, amplifiers, and receiver chains.
• PCB design and layout with Altium or similar.
• Strong understanding of power electronics, high-speed digital and analog circuit design.
• RF fundamentals and SDR architectures.
• Experience with lab equipment such as Spectrum/Network Analyzers, Signal Generators, Noise Figure Analyzers, RF test chambers.
• Hands-on flight hardware experience (satellite integration, RF lab testing, prototyping).
• Experience handling ESD-sensitive components and operating in cleanroom environments.
• Strong communication to explain complex concepts cross-functionally.
• 1+ years of technical leadership or team lead experience.
• Experience in smallsat/space RF payloads or communications.
• Experience designing for radiation environments (TID and Proton).
• Git version control and modern engineering workflows.
• Programming: Python, MATLAB, C++.
• RF simulation tools: ADS, CST, Genesys, HFSS, Scikit-RF, Emerge.
• CAD familiarity: NX, SolidWorks.

Responsibilities

• Design digital, analog, and power electronics for satellite hardware and RF chain development.
• Lead PCB design and RF layout with emphasis on impedance, grounding, shielding and signal integrity.
• Establish engineering best practices, design standards, and review processes for reliability.
• Lead root‑cause analyses and data‑driven problem solving for flight hardware.
• Manage task planning, delegation, and technical roadmapping for RF/EE team milestones.
• Collaborate with PCB contract manufacturers to ensure quality and timely delivery.
• Design and develop RF payload architectures and SDR systems for space missions.
• Develop test procedures and automation scripts to characterize SDR and RF front‑end performance.
• Support spacecraft integration and testing, including EGSE and flatsats.
• Perform first article testing, burn‑in, thermal validation and hardware checkouts.

Skills

RF design

Team leadership

Cross-functional comms

RF test automation

RF hardware testing

Python

MATLAB

C++

PCB design

RF fundamentals

Education

Bachelor's degree in RF/EE

Tools

Altium

NX

SolidWorks

Python

MATLAB

C++

ADS

HFSS

CST

Genesys

Scikit-RF

Job description

HawkEye 360 is seeking a Principal RF Electrical Engineer and Team Lead to guide the Space Team’s RF design for satellite platforms. You will oversee digital, analog, and power electronics, RF payloads, and antenna systems, while mentoring a small RF/EE team and remaining hands-on with design and tests.

You will drive PCB layout, RF chain development, and performance verification, coordinating with mechanical, software, payload, and systems teams to meet mission requirements and program