Spacecraft RF Engineer

Proteus Space; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical benefits

Vacation policy

401k matching

Leave policies

Dental care

Vision care

Job summary

Proteus Space, Inc. in Los Angeles seeks an experienced RF Engineer to join our flight program team in an in-office role. You will lead system-level design, evaluation, PCB layout, testing, and integration of spacecraft RF subsystems.

You will drive EMI/EMC analyses, magnetic cleanliness efforts, and ensure regulatory compliance while guiding junior engineers on test configurations and grounding. Requirements include a 5+ year aerospace hardware background, expertise in link budgets, PCB design

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or advanced degree in electrical engineering, aerospace engineering, or similar field.
• 5+ years of hands-on aerospace hardware experience.
• Expertise in link budgets and spacecraft communications subsystems.
• Proficiency in PCB design software (Altium, KiCad, etc.).
• Experience with RF test equipment and test setups.
• Must possess or be willing to obtain a DoD Top Secret security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Lead RF system architecture design and link budget analyses.
• Design and route PCBs interfacing with spacecraft subsystems.
• Perform EMI/EMC analysis and testing across the spacecraft.
• Lead magnetic cleanliness efforts, including testing on flight hardware.
• Ensure regulatory compliance and guide test configurations and grounding.

Skills

Hands-on aerospace hardware

Link budgets

RF subsystem design

EMI/EMC analysis

RF test equipment

Education

Bachelor’s or advanced degree in EE or aerospace engineering

Tools

Altium

KiCad

Job description

Company Description

Proteus Space is a Los Angeles-based spacecraft technology company established to capitalize on a rapidly evolving space landscape and the urgent need to deliver resilient orbital capabilities to maintain and increase our national science and security interests. We combine serious space flight experience with an open minded, first-principles approach, leveraging advanced computational design and Industry 4.0 practices to deliver custom spacecraft and mission solutions with industry leading speed, precision, and reliability. We seek to enable every payload and mission with a fully custom, purpose-built spacecraft bus, designed and delivered using Proteus™, our patent-pending, automated computational design platform, with industry leading reliability.

Role Description

We are seeking an RF Engineer to join our flight program team. This is a full-time, in office role for an experienced professional with a proven track record of hands-on work across multiple areas of spacecraft electrical and communications engineering. In this role, you will lead the system-level design, evaluation, PCB layout, testing, and integration of spacecraft radio frequency (RF) systems, while managing EMI/EMC, magnetics compliance, and magnetic cleanliness for magnetically sensitive payload missions.

Key Responsibilities.

• Lead RF system architecture design, link budget analyses, and the integration of spacecraft communications subsystem.
• Design and route custom printed circuit boards (PCBs) interfacing with various spacecraft subsystems.
• Perform comprehensive Electromagnetic Interference and Compatibility (EMI/EMC) analysis and testing across the entire spacecraft.
• Lead magnetic cleanliness efforts, including dipole modeling, stray field budgeting, and hands-on magnetic survey testing on flight hardware.
• Ensure regulatory compliance (FCC/NTIA), document design processes, and provide technical guidance on test configurations and grounding to fellow engineers.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or advanced degree in electrical engineering, aerospace engineering, or similar field, with 5+ years of hands‑on aerospace hardware experience.
• Expertise in link budgets and spacecraft communications subsystems.
• Proficiency in PCB design software (e.g. Altium, Kicad, etc.).
• Expertise working with test equipment such as oscilloscopes, manual soldering/rework, and RF test equipment.
• Proven experience evaluating, testing, and integrating RF hardware, working in clean room environments, and adhering to ESD protocols.
• Must possess or be willing and eligible to obtain a United States Department of Defense Top Secret security clearance.

Desired Qualifications

• Experience with spacecraft magnetic cleanliness programs, magnetic modeling, or stray field characterization.
• Experience with the NASA GEVS standard, IPC Class board assembly standards, and designing electronics specifically for space applications.
• Proficiency in PCB design software (e.g. Altium, Kicad, etc.).

Salary Range:

$150,000 - $190,000 per year. Final compensation is based on experience, education and qualifications.

Benefits

Proteus Space offers comprehensive benefits including paid medical healthcare for employees, flexible vacation policy, sick days, 401k matching option, pregnancy leave, family leave, holiday pay, military service leave, dental care, vision care and other benefits.

Equal Opportunity

Proteus is committed to providing equal employment opportunity regardless of an applicant’s age, disability, sex, race, religion, gender, national origin, veteran status or any other legally protected characteristic. The Company will provide reasonable accommodations to an applicant with a disability or religious belief in or to enable the applicant to apply for the position.