Senior RF Systems Engineer (Portal)

The role

You will define and evaluate phased-array RF architectures for satellite ground-station networks. You will translate mission and link requirements into antenna, beamforming, and RF front-end specifications.

What you will do

• Define phased-array antenna and RF-system architectures for satellite communication ground stations.
• Translate mission, coverage, and regulatory requirements into technical specifications.
• Develop and maintain end-to-end SATCOM link budgets.
• Analyze analog, hybrid, and digital beamforming approaches.
• Determine how antenna and RF impairments affect communications performance.
• Analyze RF lineups and performance budgets.
• Build Python, MATLAB, or similar models.
• Lead cross-functional investigations of degraded performance.
• Support regulatory submissions, spectrum coordination, and operational deployment.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor's or advanced degree in Electrical Engineering, Communications Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related discipline.
• 5+ years of experience with phased arrays, antenna systems, RF communication systems, or SATCOM terminals.
• Experience with communication-link analysis, including EIRP, G/T, C/N0, Eb/N0, link margin, atmospheric loss, and interference.
• Understanding of digital communications sufficient to relate RF performance to modulation-dependent EVM, acquisition, BER, throughput, and spectral performance.
• Experience defining or evaluating RF lineups, including noise figure, gain, linearity, dynamic range, phase noise, filtering, and isolation.
• Hands-on experience with RF measurements and integrated system debugging using equipment such as vector network analyzers, spectrum analyzers, signal generators, noise sources, and vector signal analy
• Must be willing to work extended hours and weekends as needed.

Nice to have

• Familiarity with SATCOM waveforms and standards such as DVB-S2/S2X, CCSDS, or equivalent modem architectures.
• Experience analyzing modulation-dependent EVM, BER/BLER, adjacent-channel leakage, spectral regrowth, amplifier backoff, and link degradation.
• Experience with SDR-integrated RF systems or collaboration with FPGA, DSP, modem, and embedded-software teams.
• Experience with HFSS, CST, or comparable full-wave electromagnetic tools.
• Familiarity with radar, sensing, 5G NR, 802.11ad/ay, MIMO, multi-beam systems, or electronic-warfare systems.

Before you apply

• To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, 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 eligib

About the company

Northwood is a modern space infrastructure company building a global network of phased array and parabolic ground stations. They design, build, and deploy scalable systems for satellite missions.