RF Electrical Engineer

Xona Space Systems, Inc

$90K — $130K *
Aerospace & Defense
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • B.S. in Electrical Engineering or related field; M.S. preferred
  • Hands-on RF/electrical engineering experience, particularly in PCB design
  • Proficient with RF/EM tools such as HFSS, ADS, or MATLAB
  • Familiar with EMI/EMC standards like MIL-STD-461
  • Experience with digital interfaces like UART, SPI, I2C, and Ethernet
  • Hands-on lab experience with oscilloscopes, network analyzers, and signal generators
  • Strong documentation and cross-functional communication skills

Responsibilities

  • Design the spacecraft's S-Band radio including schematic capture and PCB layout
  • Develop spacecraft radio link budgets for all mission phases
  • Ensure EMI/EMC compliance and reliability for spaceflight
  • Conduct electrical and RF testing/validation at all levels
  • Execute hardware bring-up, debugging, and performance tuning

Benefits

  • Opportunity to impact satellite communications directly
  • Work in a hands-on, interdisciplinary team environment
  • Engage in complex problem-solving in challenging environments
  • Potential to advance your career within a cutting-edge space technology company
Full Job Description
Overview

We're looking for an RF Electrical Engineer to take ownership of our spacecraft's TT&C (Telemetry, Tracking & Command) radios - the S-Band link that keeps our satellites talking to the ground.

You'll own this subsystem end to end: architecture, link budgets, PCB design, and the antenna interface, built to survive the harshest environment there is. This is a hands-on, cross-disciplinary role working directly with electrical, systems, mechanical, and software engineers to ship a critical piece of hardware that flies.

What You'll Own:
  • End-to-end design of the satellite's S-Band radio - schematic capture, PCB layout, and component selection, in close coordination with antenna design engineers
  • Spacecraft radio link budgets across all mission phases
  • EMI/EMC compliance and spaceflight reliability across the design
  • Electrical and RF test/validation at unit, subsystem, and system level
  • Hardware bring-up, debugging, and performance tuning in lab and flight environments

What You Bring:
  • B.S. in Electrical Engineering or related field (M.S. a plus)
  • Hands-on experience with RF/electrical engineering, including PCB design with RF layout and routing
  • Proficiency with RF/EM tools: HFSS, ADS, or MATLAB
  • Working knowledge of EMI/EMC standards and practices (e.g., MIL-STD-461)
  • Experience with digital interfaces relevant to radio integration (UART, SPI, I2C, Ethernet)
  • Hands-on lab experience: oscilloscopes, network analyzers, signal generators
  • Strong documentation habits and cross-functional communication

Strongly Preferred:
  • Experience designing RF/electronics for space or spacecraft systems
  • Exposure to radiation-tolerant component selection and thermal/vacuum design constraints

For U.S. Roles: To comply with U.S. Government space technology export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the United States (i.e. Green Card holder), or other protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3).

For U.K. Roles: To comply with U.K. regulations, this role requires Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) checks, and successful candidates must be eligible to obtain UK Security Clearance (SC).

For Canada Roles: Successful candidates must obtain and hold a security clearance at the reliability status level, and pass security assessment for the Canadian Controlled Goods Program (CGP) and ITAR.

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