Expand your horizons, advance your career, and contribute to a secure future for generations. Northrop Grumman’s Space Sector invites you to bring your pioneering spirit to our collaborative teams. As a RF Microwave Design Engineer – Level 4 located in Dulles, VA, you’ll be a linchpin in missions of paramount importance, defining the art of the possible from day one. This position is 100% onsite and cannot accommodate telecommute work.

The candidate will work as an RF/Analog design engineer developing SDR and other components for satellite communications applications. As a senior principal engineer, the candidate will have a senior role in a small team to define and design robust RF solutions while working within system constraints on mass, power, and volume. The successful candidate will have strong technical skills coupled with the ability to operate within a fast-paced environment.

This position will work a 9/80 schedule, with every other Friday off.

In this job, you will:

• Design of software defined radio (SDR) and other RF components for satellite communication systems.
• Design and analysis of communications systems for satellite and interplanetary applications. The candidate must be familiar with RF analyses such as link budgets, digital modulation/coding, gain/loss budgets, noise figure, etc.
• Requirements flow-down from top-level customer document through subsystem-level definition to component-level specification. The candidate is expected to produce clear, concisely written documents that will be used as the technical basis for high dollar value procurements.
• Prepare and present design reviews for internal and external customers. The candidate will have regular interaction with the internal engineering and program management team as well as the external customer.
• Requirements verification based on customer’s top-level requirements compared to subcontractor and prime contractor actual implementation. The candidate will be able to concisely summarize findings and present them to the end customer.
• Subcontractor management (some travel required) and manufacturing interface definition including performance specification, interface control drawing, and statement of work generation. The candidate will work with potential subcontractors to ensure any technical solution meets the top-level customer's needs while satisfying system and program constraints.
• Support integration and test of the communications system including unit-level functional and environmental testing, spacecraft level testing, and in-orbit checkout. (some travel and occasional shift work required)
• Other duties as assigned

If this job description reads like it was written specifically for you, consider joining our team!

This position is contingent upon the candidate obtaining final clearances and program access(es) within a reasonable period of time as determined by the company.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in a STEM field with 8 years of professional experience – OR – Master’s degree with 6 years of professional experience – OR – PhD with 4 years of professional experience.
• Requires an active U.S. Government Top-Secret security clearance at time of application, current and within scope
• Ability to work with others from engineering and non-engineering disciplines in a fast-paced team environment
• Good oral presentation skills and comfort with customer interaction. Ability to write technical documents clearly and concisely.
• Well organized and able to keep track of and make progress on multiple simultaneous tasks.
• Strong skills in Microsoft Office (particularly Excel, Word and PowerPoint)
• Experience with RF circuit card design of software defined Radios
• Experience with performing RF analysis and trade studies to meet RF performance parameters including (Gain, noise figure, Intercept point, stability, power consumption, etc).
• Hands on experience with RF test equipment such as spectrum analyzers, signal generators, oscilloscopes, digital multimeters, arbitrary waveform generators, etc.
• Experience with digital waveforms such as WCDMA, BPSK, QPSK, and DVB-SX. Additionally, experience with and understanding of RF designs and validation test to support these waveforms.
• Experience with RF simulation tools such as Microwave office, ADS, or other simulation tools.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience leading small engineering teams in development or production of RF systems
• Familiar with engineering analysis tools such as MATLAB or Mathcad, and support tools such as Visual Basic for Applications
• Experience with cost account management for engineering portion of multi-year program, including cost and labor hour estimating, task scheduling and earned value tracking
• Experience or understanding of antenna design
• Experience with HFSS
• Experience with analog design of various circuits such as Opamps, regulators, feedback loops, power supply, etc.

Curious about all the exciting developments with the Northrop Grumman Space Sector? Click the link below:

https://www.northropgrumman.com/space

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