What you will do:- Own user-terminal antenna designs from requirements and concept development through simulation, prototyping, validation, and production release.
- Develop compact, low-profile, embedded, multiband, dual-band, or wideband antennas for satellite communication terminals.
- Translate link-budget and system requirements into antenna specifications, including frequency coverage, realized gain, efficiency, polarization, axial ratio, radiation pattern, return loss, bandwidth, and coverage.
- Perform antenna trade studies involving size, bandwidth, efficiency, gain, polarization, ground-plane dependence, terminal orientation, and installation constraints.
- Design antenna radiators, feeds, matching networks, baluns, hybrids, polarization networks, and other passive RF structures.
- Develop circularly polarized or linearly polarized antenna solutions based on system requirements.
- Conduct full-wave electromagnetic simulations using Ansys HFSS, CST Studio Suite, Altair FEKO, or equivalent tools.
- Integrate antennas with the terminal enclosure, PCB, ground structure, radome, cables, batteries, displays, processors, and other nearby electronics.
- Evaluate detuning, blockage, user interaction, cable coupling, enclosure effects, manufacturing tolerances, and material-property variation.
- Plan and perform antenna measurements using VNAs, anechoic chambers, near-field or far-field ranges, and over-the-air test systems.
- Correlate simulation with measured performance and resolve discrepancies through structured, data-driven troubleshooting.
- Support antenna tuning, design-for-manufacturing reviews, tolerance analysis, supplier interaction, and production validation.
- Develop environmental verification plans addressing temperature, humidity, vibration, shock, outdoor exposure, and other applicable user-terminal conditions.
- Document requirements, analyses, design decisions, test procedures, results, and technical risks.
- Collaborate with RF front-end, modem, baseband, firmware, mechanical, thermal, test, manufacturing, regulatory, and systems teams.
- Mentor engineers and help establish repeatable antenna design and verification practices.
Required qualifications:- Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, electromagnetics, applied physics, or a related field.
- Typically 7 or more years of hands-on antenna design and development experience.
- Demonstrated experience designing compact or electrically small antennas for size-constrained products.
- Strong understanding of antenna theory, impedance matching, radiation patterns, polarization, efficiency, bandwidth, and near-field coupling.
- Hands-on experience with at least one full-wave electromagnetic simulation tool, such as HFSS, CST, or FEKO.
- Experience taking an antenna design from simulation through prototype fabrication and measured validation.
- Experience operating VNAs and performing antenna-pattern, gain, efficiency, polarization, and return-loss measurements.
- Ability to diagnose differences between predicted and measured antenna performance.
- Experience integrating antennas into mechanically and electrically complex products.
- Strong technical communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.
- Strong knowledge and understanding of satellite communication systems, with the ability to derive detailed technical requirements from high-level objectives and system direction.
Preferred qualifications:- Experience with satellite communication terminals, IoT terminals, portable radios, GNSS, cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or other compact wireless products.
- Experience with circularly polarized, dual-band, multiband, broadband, spiral, crossed-dipole, patch, helix, monopole, or inverted-F antennas.
- Understanding of satellite link budgets, polarization mismatch, multipath, terminal orientation, and coverage requirements.
- Experience with antenna matching and tuning in the presence of production tolerances and enclosure variation.
- Familiarity with outdoor-terminal regulatory, EMC, RF-exposure, and environmental requirements.
- Experience transferring antenna designs into medium- or high-volume production.
- Phased-array antenna/RFFE experience is beneficial.
Additional RequirementsThis is a fast-paced, high-impact environment - flexibility to occasionally work extended hours or weekends during critical periods is expected.
$160,000 - $195,000 a year
