Senior RF Design Engineer I - Pipeline

About the role

We are currently seeking a Senior RF Design Engineer I based onsite at Rocket Lab's global headquarters in Long Beach, CA. The Senior RF Design Engineer will be responsible for supporting the development of new RF products including Rocket Lab’s radio product line alongside the radio development team.

Responsibilities

• Define and maintain requirements specifications
• Support the development process, ensuring key design decisions and developments are in alignment with the required product capabilities
• Design and prototype the RF product including component selection and PCB layout / fabrication / packaging
• Support the development of test plans and procedures
• Support the design and development of GSE and production automation
• Support the development of product documentation including ICDs and User Manuals
• Liaise with Test Engineers and Manufacturing Engineers to drive New Product Introduction
• Customer/Program Support
• Review proposals and requirements specifications to assess compliance based on existing unit capabilities vs development needs
• Scope and drive development activities for new requirements
• Support engineering reviews such as PDRs, CDRs and TRRs
• Provide technical support to internal/external customers including general questions and anomaly troubleshooting
• Maintain broad awareness of product development and production schedules to ensure the needs of customers and programs are satisfied

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, RF communications (or other engineering degree) and 5+ years of relevant experience
• Fundamental RF knowledge including cascaded device analysis, link budget analysis, and HFSS
• Experience in developing and delivering a RF product including assessing requirements, prototyping engineering models, and producing space worthy products
• A solid theoretical and practical understanding of RF communications and navigation systems and components
• U.S. Citizenship is required due to program requirements

Desired Qualifications

• Extensive experience in space grade board design including parts selection and performance simulation
• Extensive experience in circuit analyses including worst case, reliability, FMECA, thermal, and derating analyses
• Extensive experience supporting and leading complex engineering programs and developing associated documentation
• Experience designing, integrating, and testing RF communications systems for launch vehicles or satellites
• Demonstrated expertise in people management
• Experience leading incident management and investigations
• Experience in conflict resolution and dealing with difficult people
• The ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines
• Effective communication skills and the ability to build strong working relationships
• Project management experience