Principal Antenna Engineer

About the role

You'll join a venture-backed space technology company building the flight-ready electronically scanned antenna arrays at the heart of next-generation spaceborne radar missions. Located in Seattle, WA, our state-of‑the‑art antennas need to deliver the gain, efficiency, bandwidth, scan performance, sidelobe control, polarization purity, and calibration accuracy that advanced SAR and target‑tracking payloads demand, and we’re looking for the engineer who can own that problem end to end.

Responsibilities

• Own the antenna end‑to‑end: requirements and architecture (including interfaces to adjacent systems), EM design, prototype build, measurement, calibration, and qualification.
• Translate radar performance needs into flight‑ready hardware, serving as the technical owner with a direct line to payload integration and launch.
• Day‑to‑day activities include:
  • Phased‑array antenna design and EM modeling, from requirements through architecture and trade studies.
  • Building and measuring prototypes, correlating EM models to test data.
  • Optimizing and calibrating array performance across frequency and scan angle.
  • Developing beam‑steering and alignment methods, working closely with RF, FPGA/DSP, and software teams.
  • Supporting spacecraft integration and environmental qualification.
  • Mature antenna hardware from prototype to a flight‑ready, repeatable product.

Requirements

• Expert‑level design experience with phased‑array / electronically scanned antennas — array theory, impedance and mutual coupling, scan behavior, and polarization.
• Hands‑on experience with beamforming and array calibration.
• High‑frequency PCB, feed, and passive RF component design.
• Proficiency with EM simulation tools such as HFSS, CST, or FEKO.
• Programming/scripting skill in Python or MATLAB for modeling and data analysis.
• Experience with VNA and near‑/far‑field antenna measurement.
• Experience carrying RF hardware through space qualification.
• Hands‑on, rigorous, self‑driven mindset; takes full ownership of outcomes; strong first‑principles EM judgment; disciplined about correlating models to test data; comfortable operating with ambiguity and evolving requirements.
• Ability to collaborate closely across RF, digital, mechanical, thermal, and software disciplines.
• May require access to U.S. export‑controlled information and ability to obtain a U.S. government security clearance; U.S. citizenship required.

Pay

Salary: up to $220,000 gross per annum + stocks/shares.

Benefits

Brilliant benefits package.