Senior Antenna Engineer

About the role

Inversion builds advanced reentry systems to deliver next-generation capabilities from space. Our mission is to make Earth radically more accessible by turning Low-Earth Orbit into an on-demand logistics domain. We see space not as a destination, but as a platform — one that unlocks unprecedented speed and global reach. Our spacecraft are designed to deliver payloads anywhere on Earth in under an hour, operating through extreme reentry conditions and landing with high precision. These systems open the door to new ways of testing, delivering, and operating at hypersonic speeds. Inherently dual-use, our technology is built to meet urgent national security needs while laying the groundwork for future commercial applications.

Responsibilities

• Lead antenna design, simulation, and placement activities for flight and ground communication systems.
• Capture antenna requirements and perform supporting electromagnetic simulation and analysis to meet system-level performance needs.
• Develop antenna concepts and trade studies across gain, bandwidth, efficiency, polarization, impedance matching, size, placement, and environmental constraints.
• Model and predict antenna and vehicle-level RF performance using EM simulation tools and installed-performance analysis methods.
• Plan and execute antenna prototyping, tuning, and validation activities for component-level and integrated system testing.
• Perform antenna measurements including impedance, return loss, radiation pattern, gain, efficiency, and polarization using anechoic chamber, near-field, and far-field test methods.
• Evaluate installation effects and recommend mitigation strategies for performance degradation due to vehicle geometry, nearby structures, radomes, thermal protection systems, or other environmental constraints.
• Partner closely with RF, electrical, mechanical, thermal, software, and systems engineering teams to ensure successful antenna implementation.
• Document requirements, design trades, simulation results, test data, and design recommendations.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a related technical field with RF/EM focus.
• 5+ years of professional experience in antenna design, EM simulation, and antenna integration.
• Strong R&D experience in RF and antenna systems.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance up to Top Secret.
• Deep knowledge of aperture antennas, impedance matching, Smith chart usage, polarization, bandwidth, and RF front-end interactions.
• Proficiency with antenna modeling and electromagnetic simulation tools such as HFSS, CST, FEKO, or similar.
• Experience with antenna prototyping methods and fabrication approaches.
• Experience with antenna measurement techniques including anechoic chamber, near-field, and far-field testing.
• Understanding of antenna integration effects on vehicle or platform performance.
• Familiarity with radomes, thermal/mechanical constraints, and embedded or conformal antenna design.
• Strong understanding of installed antenna performance, coupling effects, and interaction with surrounding structures.
• Ability to clearly communicate antenna design concepts and tradeoffs to multidisciplinary engineering teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a related technical field with RF/EM focus.
• 5+ years of professional experience in antenna design, EM simulation, and antenna integration.
• Strong R&D experience in RF and antenna systems.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance up to Top Secret.
• Deep knowledge of aperture antennas, impedance matching, Smith chart usage, polarization, bandwidth, and RF front-end interactions.
• Proficiency with antenna modeling and electromagnetic simulation tools such as HFSS, CST, FEKO, or similar.
• Experience with antenna prototyping methods and fabrication approaches.
• Experience with antenna measurement techniques including anechoic chamber, near-field, and far-field testing.
• Understanding of antenna integration effects on vehicle or platform performance.
• Familiarity with radomes, thermal/mechanical constraints, and embedded or conformal antenna design.
• Strong understanding of installed antenna performance, coupling effects, and interaction with surrounding structures.
• Ability to clearly communicate antenna design concepts and tradeoffs to multidisciplinary engineering teams.

Skills

• Experience designing antennas for aerospace vehicles, spacecraft, missiles, aircraft, or other highly integrated platforms.
• Familiarity with S-band, L-band, or other telemetry and communications frequency bands relevant to flight systems.
• Experience with vehicle-level RF analysis and link budget support.
• Familiarity with antenna/RF system integration in harsh thermal, vibration, shock, EMI/EMC, and radiation environments.
• Experience with radome analysis, conformal antenna integration, or embedded antenna architectures.
• Familiarity with aerospace and defense qualification standards such as MIL-STD-461/810, DO-160, SMC-S-016, or similar frameworks.
• Experience developing custom analysis scripts or tools in Python or MATLAB to support EM post-processing, optimization, or test data reduction.
• Experience in startup environments or small, highly collaborative engineering teams.

Benefits

Our office headquarters is located in Playa Vista, CA. This position requires in-office presence. The California annual base salary for this role is currently $137,000 - $193,000. Pay Grades are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual pay will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: interviews and an assessment of several factors that are unique to each candidate, job-related skills, relevant education and experience, certifications, abilities of the candidate and internal equity.

Pay

The California annual base salary for this role is currently $137,000 - $193,000. Pay Grades are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual pay will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: interviews and an assessment of several factors that are unique to each candidate, job-related skills, relevant education and experience, certifications, abilities of the candidate and internal equity.

Schedule

This position requires in-office presence.

Benefits

Learn more about the benefits we offer.

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