{"id":1545384,"url":"https://alion.io/job/northwood-space-rf-antenna-systems-engineer","title":"RF & Antenna Systems Engineer","company":{"id":6433,"name":"Northwood Space","domain":"northwoodspace.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/northwoodspace","size_band":"1001-5000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":86,"open_postings":7,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.571,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":54,"computed_at":"2026-10-24T06:02:35Z"}},"role":"Hardware","role_family":"Hardware","seniority":"junior","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Los Angeles, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":104000,"max":155000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":155000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":2,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"MATLAB","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"CCSDS","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-09-30T21:24:19Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-09-30","last_verified_at":"2026-10-24T10:36:22Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":23,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":23},"description":"About Northwood:\nNorthwood is a modern space infrastructure company bringing the benefits of space to the masses through advanced communications technology. We are building a global network of phased array ground stations that enable real-time, reliable communication for satellite missions such as national security, global connectivity, and disaster response. With a vertically integrated approach, Northwood designs, builds, and rapidly deploys scalable systems that power the next generation of space missions. If you like solving complex challenges and seeing your work deployed around the world with real impact, Northwood is the place to do it.\nRole:\nAs an Senior RF & Antenna Systems Engineer you will define and evaluate phased-array RF architectures for Northwood’s satellite ground-station network. You will translate mission and link requirements into antenna, aperture, beamforming, RF front-end, calibration, and tracking requirements, and evaluate how those choices affect end-to-end communications performance.\nThis role sits at the intersection of phased arrays, RF systems, SATCOM links, and physical-layer communications. You will work closely with antenna, RF, DSP/communications, digital, mechanical, manufacturing, software, and operations teams to ensure that the complete ground-station system achieves its required link performance.\nThe ideal candidate has deep experience in phased-array or antenna systems and can reason beyond the aperture-connecting gain, scan loss, polarization, sidelobes, noise, linearity, phase noise, calibration, and propagation to EVM, acquisition, BER, throughput, and link availability.\nResponsibilities:\nDefine phased-array antenna and RF-system architectures for satellite communication ground stations.\n\nTranslate mission, coverage, link-availability, waveform, throughput, and regulatory requirements into aperture, RF front-end, beamforming, calibration, pointing, and tracking specifications.\n\nDevelop and maintain end-to-end SATCOM link budgets incorporating measured aperture and RF-chain performance.\n\nAnalyze analog, hybrid, and digital beamforming approaches in collaboration with RF and digital implementation teams.\n\nDetermine how antenna and RF impairments affect communications performance, including EVM, carrier acquisition, BER/BLER, throughput, spectral compliance, and link availability.\n\nAnalyze RF lineups and performance budgets for gain, noise figure, dynamic range, linearity, compression, intermodulation, phase noise, frequency stability, filtering, and isolation.\n\nBuild Python, MATLAB, or similar models combining array behavior, measured RF performance, propagation, and modem-level metrics.\n\nLead cross-functional investigations of degraded G/T, EIRP, link margin, EVM, acquisition, tracking, BER, throughput, or spectral performance.\n\nSupport regulatory submissions, spectrum coordination, partner interface reviews, system acceptance, and operational deployment.\n\nBasic Qualifications:\nBachelor’s or advanced degree in Electrical Engineering, Communications Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related discipline.\n\n2+ years of experience with phased arrays, antenna systems, RF communication systems, or SATCOM terminals.\n\nExperience with communication-link analysis, including EIRP, G/T, C/N0, Eb/N0, link margin, atmospheric loss, and interference.\n\nUnderstanding of digital communications sufficient to relate RF performance to modulation-dependent EVM, acquisition, BER, throughput, and spectral performance.\n\nExperience defining or evaluating RF lineups, including noise figure, gain, linearity, dynamic range, phase noise, filtering, and isolation.\n\nHands-on experience with RF measurements and integrated system debugging using equipment such as vector network analyzers, spectrum analyzers, signal generators, noise sources, and vector signal analyzers.\n\nPreferred Qualifications:\nFamiliarity with SATCOM waveforms and standards such as DVB-S2/S2X, CCSDS, or equivalent modem architectures.\n\nExperience analyzing modulation-dependent EVM, BER/BLER, adjacent-channel leakage, spectral regrowth, amplifier backoff, and link degradation.\n\nExperience with SDR-integrated RF systems or collaboration with FPGA, DSP, modem, and embedded-software teams.\n\nExperience with HFSS, CST, or comparable full-wave electromagnetic tools.\n\nFamiliarity with radar, sensing, 5G NR, 802.11ad/ay, MIMO, multi-beam systems, or electronic-warfare systems where the experience transfers to array and RF-system architecture.\n\nAdditional Requirements:\nMust be willing to work extended hours and weekends as needed\n\nCompensation:\nRF/Antenna Engineer/Level 1: $104,000 - $130,000 per year\nRF/Antenna Engineer/Level 2: $124,000 - $155,000 per year\nAdditional Information:\nIf you need a reasonable accommodation as part of your application for employment or interviews with us, please let us know.\nTo conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a 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.\nNorthwood Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Northwood Space is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.","description_format":"text","description_chars":5612,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":2,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":true,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Satellite Communications","Ground Systems"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-30T22:07:14Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":78,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.867,"p_room":0.9,"age_days":23,"expected_fill_days":54,"reasons":["conf:3","velocity","win:mid","comp:junior"],"computed_at":"2026-10-24T06:02:35Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":155000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/northwood-space-rf-antenna-systems-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/northwood-space-rf-antenna-systems-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-24T13:57:09Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":20137,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-25T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":6433},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=6433"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fnorthwood-space-rf-antenna-systems-engineer"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fnorthwood-space-rf-antenna-systems-engineer"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fnorthwood-space-rf-antenna-systems-engineer"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/northwood-space-rf-antenna-systems-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fnorthwood-space-rf-antenna-systems-engineer"}]}