RF Systems Engineer (Satellite Communications)

Location: Long Beach, California, United States; full-time position based at the Long Beach location.

Salary: $120,540–$209,520 USD annually in California.

Company

hirify.global develops commercial space stations, satellites, and space infrastructure for research, manufacturing, government, corporate, and private customers.

What you will do

• Own spacecraft RF system requirements, verification plans, link parameters, and communication system design.
• Calculate and maintain link budgets, estimate throughput and bit error rates, and analyze antenna patterns, cable losses, channel conditions, and orbital coverage.
• Support regulatory license applications with power flux density and antenna contour analyses.
• Own RF products from development testing through mission operations and serve as the subject matter expert for assigned components.
• Plan design, manufacturing, testing, integration, delivery, acceptance, qualification, and vehicle-level checkout activities.
• Coordinate mechanical, thermal, test, manufacturing, avionics, mission assurance, project management, and vendor relationships.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in ECE, EE, Physics, or a related STEM discipline.
• Familiarity with digital RF communication theory, components, and fundamentals, including satellite link budgets, G/T, C/No, Eb/No, EVM, noise figure, bit error rate, modulation, interference, IQ modulators, channel impairments, EIRP, FSPL, and Doppler shift.
• Familiarity with antennas and propagation, including antenna gain/directivity and polarization.
• Experience with RF measurements and concepts, including spectrum analyzers and noise bandwidth.
• Experience with RF fundamentals, including S-parameters.
• Experience with programming and data analysis tools.
• Experience with product management, vendor management, design reviews, requirements, and verification.

Nice to have

• MS or PhD in ECE, EE, Physics, or a related STEM discipline.
• Startup, aerospace, or design-for-space experience.
• Space-environment testing experience, including EMI/EMC, environmental testing, or SMC-S-016 requirements.
• Experience with spectral masks, spur measurements, STK, Python, or Matlab.
• Knowledge of satellite communications, orbital mechanics, P1dB, transmission-line loss, spectral regrowth, harmonic distortion, and RF passive components.
• Knowledge of CCSDS, DVB-S2, DSP for RF communications, receiver synchronization, Shannon theory, Nyquist sampling, and forward error correction.
• Knowledge of multipath, axial ratio, and cross-polarization effects.

Culture & Benefits

• Full-time exempt employment with compensation calibrated to experience and demonstrated capability.
• Full-time employees receive company equity, medical, dental, and vision coverage, paid time off, parental leave, disability insurance, life insurance, and access to a 401(k).
• Exempt staff may receive 20+ vacation days, with the ability to cash out unused vacation annually.
• Additional benefits include ClassPass credits, personalized mental healthcare, discounts, free snacks, coffee, drinks, dinner meals, and subsidized lunch.