{"id":3206730,"url":"https://alion.io/job/pillar-space-systems-founding-lead-rf-emc-engineer","title":"Founding Lead RF & EMC Engineer","company":{"id":4398852,"name":"Pillar Space Systems","domain":"pillarspace.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/pillar-space-systems","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":75,"open_postings":4,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":1,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":null,"computed_at":"2026-10-28T05:59:10Z"}},"role":"Hardware","role_family":"Hardware","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"hybrid","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":185000,"max":275000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":275000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":8,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Ansys HFSS","optional":false},{"name":"AWS","optional":false},{"name":"ECSS","optional":false},{"name":"FMEA","optional":false},{"name":"Keysight ADS","optional":false},{"name":"MIL-STD-461","optional":false},{"name":"CCSDS","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-12T21:31:26Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-12","last_verified_at":"2026-10-28T05:21:00Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":15,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":15},"description":"Founding Lead RF & EMC Engineer\nEquity: 0.3% - 1% depending on experience\nAbout Us\nWe're a stealth team building space hardware at the edge of what's currently possible - high-stakes, flight-grade systems where the engineering bar is unforgiving and the upside is enormous. While we can't share full details yet, our founding and early engineering team includes talent from SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, and Impulse Space, the group includes people who've pulled off feats almost no one else on Earth has.\nRole Overview\nWe are seeking a Lead RF & EMC Engineer to own our spacecraft's RF systems and electromagnetic compatibility from first principles - the links that connect the vehicle to the ground, and the discipline that keeps every system on board from interfering with another.\nThis is a senior technical leadership role. You will not only define and execute the RF and EMC architecture, but also help build the team, set technical standards, mentor engineers, and establish the systems, processes, and culture required to develop flight-grade RF hardware.\nThis is not a narrow component-design role. You will own the full RF chain: frequency planning and link budgets, antennas and their placement on the vehicle, RF front ends and transceivers, and the spectrum licensing that lets us transmit at all. You will also own the vehicle's EMC program - grounding, bonding, shielding, emissions and susceptibility requirements, and the test campaigns that prove compliance. You will partner closely with avionics on radio selection, interfaces, and board-level EMC, and make system-level trades across RF performance, mass, power, thermal, cost, and reliability.\nThe ideal candidate has direct experience with spacecraft RF systems, antenna design, EMC engineering, environmental qualification, and technical team leadership. We recognize that very few people have all of this. What matters most is that you have exceptional fundamentals, have led real RF systems from concept toward flight, have managed or mentored engineers in high-performance technical environments, and can operate independently in ambiguity while making sound engineering tradeoffs. You will have direct ownership over one of the company's core technical challenges.\nKey Responsibilities\nOwn the RF and EMC architecture, from early design through development, integration, test, qualification, and flight operations.\n\nOwn end-to-end link design: frequency planning, link budgets, modulation and coding trades, data rate and margin analysis, and coverage across every mission phase.\n\nLead design, selection, and qualification of RF hardware: transceivers, transponders, LNAs, power amplifiers, filters, diplexers, switches, and coaxial and waveguide assemblies.\n\nDesign, simulate, and test antennas (e.g., patch, helix, horn, reflector, phased array), and own antenna placement, field-of-view, pattern, and multipath analysis on the vehicle.\n\nAnalyze and mitigate high-power and space-environment RF effects: multipaction, passive intermodulation, corona, and thermal effects on RF performance.\n\nLead spectrum licensing and coordination: FCC, NTIA, and ITU filings, frequency coordination, and compliance with ground network partner requirements.\n\nPartner with the ground segment on ground station and network provider selection, and on end-to-end RF compatibility testing between vehicle and ground.\n\nOwn the vehicle EMC program: the EMC control plan, emissions and susceptibility requirements (e.g., MIL-STD-461, MIL-STD-464), and allocation of limits to each subsystem and unit.\n\nDefine grounding, bonding, shielding, and harness EMC requirements with avionics, mechanical, and integration teams.\n\nPerform system-level compatibility analysis: RF self-compatibility between transmitters and receivers, intra-system EMC, ESD and spacecraft charging, ordnance and pyro safety margins, and launch vehicle compatibility.\n\nBuild the RF and EMC test infrastructure: RF test sets, ground station emulators, antenna measurement capability, pre-compliance EMC setups, and automated RF test.\n\nPlan and execute RF and EMC qualification and acceptance campaigns: antenna pattern measurements, RF performance over thermal vacuum, end-to-end compatibility tests, and conducted and radiated emissions and susceptibility testing.\n\nPartner with avionics on radio and processor interfaces, RF and high-speed PCB layout, board-level EMC design, and debugging, driving root-cause resolution across RF, hardware, and software on the bench and during integrated test campaigns.\n\nProvide technical leadership across RF, antenna, EMC, and RF test efforts.\n\nHelp hire, manage, mentor, and develop RF and EMC engineers as the team grows.\n\nEstablish engineering processes: design standards, design reviews, RF and EMC requirements verification, configuration management, and test discipline appropriate for flight-grade hardware.\n\nHelp define RF and EMC requirements, interfaces, link and power budgets, verification plans, and interference-handling approaches for the vehicle.\n\nWork closely with avionics, flight software, GNC, propulsion, thermal, mechanical, systems, ground software, and mission operations to close interfaces, deliver flight RF hardware, and field an integrated flight system.\n\nWork closely with the founders and early engineering team to shape the technical roadmap, engineering culture, hiring plan, and long-term RF and communications strategy.\n\nRepresent the RF and EMC function in cross-disciplinary design reviews, customer conversations, investor diligence, vendor discussions, regulatory filings, and mission planning as needed.\n\nBasic Qualifications\nBachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical discipline.\n\n8+ years designing, testing, or flight-qualifying RF systems, antennas, or EMC programs for spacecraft, launch vehicles, aircraft, defense systems, or other high-reliability systems.\n\nPrior experience leading technical workstreams, managing engineers, mentoring junior and mid-level engineers, or building high-performing engineering teams.\n\nDemonstrated ability to own complex RF systems from early architecture through design, test, qualification, and operational readiness.\n\nStrong fundamentals in electromagnetics, microwave engineering, transmission lines, antenna theory, and digital communication systems.\n\nExpert proficiency with RF and electromagnetic simulation tools (e.g., Ansys HFSS, CST Studio Suite, Altair FEKO, Keysight ADS, AWR Microwave Office) and experience correlating simulation to measurement.\n\nExperience designing, specifying, or integrating RF hardware: antennas, amplifiers, filters, and transceivers.\n\nExperience with link budget analysis, modulation and coding, and RF system-level performance tradeoffs.\n\nExperience with EMC design and test, including emissions and susceptibility requirements, grounding and bonding, and shielding.\n\nExperience taking hardware beyond the bench into integration, environmental testing, and representative testbeds.\n\nExperience with disciplined hardware development practices: design reviews, configuration management, requirements verification, and documented test procedures.\n\nLab fluency: comfortable with vector network analyzers, spectrum analyzers, signal generators, power meters, oscilloscopes, EMI receivers, LISNs, and test automation.\n\nAbility to work independently with limited direction, identify the right next problem to solve, and drive technical work from ambiguity to qualified flight hardware.\n\nAbility to make practical system-level tradeoffs across link margin, data rate, mass, power, cost, schedule, reliability, and mission risk.\n\nAbility to lead through influence in a cross-functional environment spanning avionics, flight software, GNC, mechanical, thermal, systems, ground, and mission operations.\n\nHighly Valuable Experience\nWe do not expect every candidate to have all of the following. The strongest candidates will likely have depth in some areas and the ability to quickly learn the others.\nDemonstrated flight heritage - RF hardware or antennas you helped design or build that have flown and operated on orbit.\n\nExperience leading RF, antenna, EMC, or communications teams.\n\nExperience managing engineers in a startup, aerospace company, defense contractor, launch company, or other high-reliability technical environment.\n\nExperience with UHF, S-band, X-band, or Ka-band spacecraft communications, including TT&C and high-rate payload downlinks.\n\nExperience with phased arrays, electronically steered antennas, or gimbaled high-gain antennas.\n\nExperience with optical communications terminals or inter-satellite links.\n\nExperience with software-defined radios, FPGA-based modems, or CCSDS and DVB-S2 physical and data link layers.\n\nExperience with GNSS receivers and antennas for spacecraft navigation.\n\nExperience with spectrum licensing: FCC Part 25 or experimental licenses, NTIA coordination, and ITU filings.\n\nExperience with commercial ground station networks (e.g., KSAT, AWS Ground Station, SSC) or NASA Near Space Network and DSN compatibility.\n\nExperience running EMC test campaigns to MIL-STD-461 and MIL-STD-464 or equivalent standards (e.g., ECSS-E-ST-20-07C), including test plans, facility selection, and failure investigation.\n\nExperience with multipaction and passive intermodulation analysis and testing (e.g., ECSS-E-ST-20-01C).\n\nExperience with ESD, surface and internal charging, and charging mitigation (e.g., NASA-HDBK-4002).\n\nExperience with launch vehicle RF and EMC compatibility analyses and payload user guide requirements.\n\nExperience with antenna measurement in anechoic chambers, near-field ranges, or compact ranges.\n\nExperience with RF PCB design and layout, high-speed signal integrity, and board-level EMC.\n\nExperience designing test infrastructure developed internally, including RF test sets, ground station emulators, and automated RF test stations.\n\nExperience with environmental qualification and acceptance testing of RF hardware: vibration, shock, thermal vacuum, and thermal cycling.\n\nExperience with reliability and mission assurance: FMEA, worst-case analysis, and parts derating for RF components.\n\nExperience supporting RF systems through flight operations, on-orbit anomaly response, and link performance characterization.\n\nExperience in early-stage startups, small high-performing teams, or environments where engineers must own broad technical scope.\n\nExperience recruiting, interviewing, closing, and onboarding exceptional technical talent.\n\nWho You Are\nYou are an exceptional RF engineer with strong fundamentals and the ability to reason from first principles.\n\nYou are a technical leader who raises the bar for the people around you.\n\nYou have managed, mentored, or led engineers before and know how to create clarity, accountability, and momentum in ambiguous environments.\n\nYou are comfortable owning large, ambiguous, mission-critical problems without waiting for detailed direction.\n\nYou can move fluidly between link analysis, simulation, the bench, integration, test, team leadership, and system-level tradeoffs.\n\nYou are not just interested in simulations; you want to close a link with real hardware, in real environments, under real constraints.\n\nYou are excited by flight-grade hardware that has to work the first time and keep working when things go wrong.\n\nYou are willing to learn unfamiliar domains quickly and deeply, whether that means avionics, flight software, signal processing, thermal, spectrum regulation, or flight operations.\n\nYou have strong opinions loosely held. You can defend a technical position, accept feedback, change course when the system demands it, and make appropriate tradeoffs in support of the mission.\n\nYou are collaborative, low-ego, and rigorous.\n\nYou want founding-level ownership and are motivated by building a company, not just completing assigned tasks.\n\nYou are excited to help build not only the product, but also the engineering organization behind it....","description_format":"text","description_chars":13638,"description_truncated":true,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":8,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":true,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity","Health insurance","Unlimited PTO"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["C4ISR","Ground Systems"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-24T13:26:12Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":79,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.832,"p_room":0.945,"age_days":15,"expected_fill_days":27,"reasons":["conf:0","velocity","win:mid"],"computed_at":"2026-10-28T05:59:10Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":275000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/pillar-space-systems-founding-lead-rf-emc-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/pillar-space-systems-founding-lead-rf-emc-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-28T09:01:22Z","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":11697,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-29T00:00:00Z"}},"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":4398852},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=4398852"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fpillar-space-systems-founding-lead-rf-emc-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%2Fpillar-space-systems-founding-lead-rf-emc-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%2Fpillar-space-systems-founding-lead-rf-emc-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/pillar-space-systems-founding-lead-rf-emc-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fpillar-space-systems-founding-lead-rf-emc-engineer"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3206730}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"pillarspace.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3206730},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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