RF Engineer
Impulse Space
Posted on Sep 10, 2024
As an RF engineer, your core responsibility will be to own the design, testing, and delivery of flight RF hardware systems for space missions anywhere from low earth orbit to mars. You’ll also work to conduct vehicle-level testing, RF integration, and desense evaluations.
- Department
- Avionics
- Employment Type
- Full Time
- Location
- Redondo Beach
- Workplace type
- Onsite
- Compensation
- $110,000 - $175,000 / year
- Reporting To
- Jake Messner, Staff RF Engineer
Responsibilities
- Design and bring up RF transmit and receive systems supporting operation from UHF to Ka-Band
- Work with a cross-disciplinary team to define and implement RF hardware requirements on a mission-by-mission basis, design RF PCBs, bring up and troubleshoot RF systems, and integrate systems to spacecraft
- Improve existing RF products throughout their lifecycle by troubleshooting issues, performing failure analysis of parts and systems, and implementing improvements
- Support RF performance testing including for radiation, thermal, vibration, and KPIs
- Work with antenna engineers to design compatible systems and work with RF software engineers to design performant RF systems and maintain link budgets
- Work closely with integration and operations teams to conduct integration, checkout procedures, and vehicle-level EMI testing
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related technical field
- 2+ years of professional experience designing or testing RF components
- Strong RF PCB debugging skills
- Ability to work in the lab with RF equipment including spectrum analyzers, network analyzers, signal generators, and software defined radios
- Proficient in RF test procedure design and implementation
- Strong understanding of the major blocks of RF front ends
- Familiarity with blocks of signal modulation/demodulation and modulation schemes such as BPSK, APSK, GMSK, FSK, etc
- Demonstrate experience with link budget and lineup calculations
- Demonstrated experience characterizing system desense and coexistence
Preferred Skills and Experience
- Ability to design and integrate RF components including LNAs, filters, PAs, mixers, etc.
- Familiarity with an electromagnetic simulation software such as HFSS, CST, ADS, or Genesys
- Previous experience designing Ka-Band RF transmitters and receivers (26.5-40 GHz)
- Experience scripting Python, LabView, TILE or another software used for instrument control and data processing
- Experience with FPGA development in Verilog/VHDL
- Experience with common RF protocols like SRS4, DVBS-II, and CCSDS
- Experience in a startup or agile development environment
To 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. Learn more about the ITAR here.
Impulse Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Impulse 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.
About Impulse Space
Impulse Space, the in-space transportation company founded by Tom Mueller, is opening access beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) with its fleet of in-space transportation vehicles. The high-energy Helios vehicle unlocks orbits beyond LEO with its powerful Deneb engine, dropping off payloads in MEO, GEO, heliocentric, lunar, and other planetary orbits. The flight-proven Mira vehicle uses a nontoxic, high-impulse chemical propulsion system to offer orbital transport, constellation deployment, and precision reentry services to customers throughout LEO. Led by a team that delivered the most reliable rockets in history, Impulse provides economical and efficient in-space transportation by reliably and rapidly getting customers where they want to go.
Our Hiring Process
Stage 1:
Applied
Stage 2:
2nd Technical Phone Screen
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