Founding Lead RF & EMC Engineer
Pillar Space · Los Angeles, CA · hybrid
USD 185,000 to 275,000 per year
FOUNDING LEAD RF & EMC ENGINEER
Equity: 0.3% – 1% depending on experience
ABOUT US
We're a stealth team building space hardware at the edge of what's currently possible — high-stakes, flight-grade systems where the engineering bar is unforgiving and the upside is enormous. While we can't share full details yet, our founding and early engineering team includes talent from SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, and Impulse Space, the group includes people who've pulled off feats almost no one else on Earth has.
ROLE OVERVIEW
We are seeking a Lead RF & EMC Engineer to own our spacecraft's RF systems and electromagnetic compatibility from first principles — the links that connect the vehicle to the ground, and the discipline that keeps every system on board from interfering with another.
This is a senior technical leadership role. You will not only define and execute the RF and EMC architecture, but also help build the team, set technical standards, mentor engineers, and establish the systems, processes, and culture required to develop flight-grade RF hardware.
This is not a narrow component-design role. You will own the full RF chain: frequency planning and link budgets, antennas and their placement on the vehicle, RF front ends and transceivers, and the spectrum licensing that lets us transmit at all. You will also own the vehicle's EMC program — grounding, bonding, shielding, emissions and susceptibility requirements, and the test campaigns that prove compliance. You will partner closely with avionics on radio selection, interfaces, and board-level EMC, and make system-level trades across RF performance, mass, power, thermal, cost, and reliability.
The ideal candidate has direct experience with spacecraft RF systems, antenna design, EMC engineering, environmental qualification, and technical team leadership. We recognize that very few people have all of this. What matters most is that you have exceptional fundamentals, have led real RF systems from concept toward flight, have managed or mentored engineers in high-performance technical environments, and can operate independently in ambiguity while making sound engineering tradeoffs. You will have direct ownership over one of the company's core technical challenges.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
- Own the RF and EMC architecture, from early design through development, integration, test, qualification, and flight operations.
- Own end-to-end link design: frequency planning, link budgets, modulation and coding trades, data rate and margin analysis, and coverage across every mission phase.
- Lead design, selection, and qualification of RF hardware: transceivers, transponders, LNAs, power amplifiers, filters, diplexers, switches, and coaxial and waveguide assemblies.
- Design, simulate, and test antennas (e.g., patch, helix, horn, reflector, phased array), and own antenna placement, field-of-view, pattern, and multipath analysis on the vehicle.
- Analyze and mitigate high-power and space-environment RF effects: multipaction, passive intermodulation, corona, and thermal effects on RF performance.
- Lead spectrum licensing and coordination: FCC, NTIA, and ITU filings, frequency coordination, and compliance with ground network partner requirements.
- Partner with the ground segment on ground station and network provider selection, and on end-to-end RF compatibility testing between vehicle and ground.
- Own the vehicle EMC program: the EMC control plan, emissions and susceptibility requirements (e.g., MIL-STD-461, MIL-STD-464), and allocation of limits to each subsystem and unit.
- Define grounding, bonding, shielding, and harness EMC requirements with avionics, mechanical, and integration teams.
- Perform system-level compatibility analysis: RF self-compatibility between transmitters and receivers, intra-system EMC, ESD and spacecraft charging, ordnance and pyro safety margins, and launch vehicle compatibility.
- Build the RF and EMC test infrastructure: RF test sets, ground station emulators, antenna measurement capability, pre-compliance EMC setups, and automated RF test.
- Plan and execute RF and EMC qualification and acceptance campaigns: antenna pattern measurements, RF performance over thermal vacuum, end-to-end compatibility tests, and conducted and radiated emissions and susceptibility testing.
- Partner with avionics on radio and processor interfaces, RF and high-speed PCB layout, board-level EMC design, and debugging, driving root-cause resolution across RF, hardware, and software on the bench and during integrated test campaigns.
- Provide technical leadership across RF, antenna, EMC, and RF test efforts.
- Help hire, manage, mentor, and develop RF and EMC engineers as the team grows.
- Establish engineering processes: design standards, design reviews, RF and EMC requirements verification, configuration management, and test discipline appropriate for flight-grade hardware.
- Help define RF and EMC requirements, interfaces, link and power budgets, verification plans, and interference-handling approaches for the vehicle.
- Work closely with avionics, flight software, GNC, propulsion, thermal, mechanical, systems, ground software, and mission operations to close interfaces, deliver flight RF hardware, and field an integrated flight system.
- Work closely with the founders and early engineering team to shape the technical roadmap, engineering culture, hiring plan, and long-term RF and communications strategy.
- Represent the RF and EMC function in cross-disciplinary design reviews, customer conversations, investor diligence, vendor discussions, regulatory filings, and mission planning as needed.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
- 8+ years designing, testing, or flight-qualifying RF systems, antennas, or EMC programs for spacecraft, launch vehicles, aircraft, defense systems, or other high-reliability systems.
- Prior experience leading technical workstreams, managing engineers, mentoring junior and mid-level engineers, or building high-performing engineering teams.
- Demonstrated ability to own complex RF systems from early architecture through design, test, qualification, and operational readiness.
- Strong fundamentals in electromagnetics, microwave engineering, transmission lines, antenna theory, and digital communication systems.
- Expert proficiency with RF and electromagnetic simulation tools (e.g., Ansys HFSS, CST Studio Suite, Altair FEKO, Keysight ADS, AWR Microwave Office) and experience correlating simulation to measurement.
- Experience designing, specifying, or integrating RF hardware: antennas, amplifiers, filters, and transceivers.
- Experience with link budget analysis, modulation and coding, and RF system-level performance tradeoffs.
- Experience with EMC design and test, including emissions and susceptibility requirements, grounding and bonding, and shielding.
- Experience taking hardware beyond the bench into integration, environmental testing, and representative testbeds.
- Experience with disciplined hardware development practices: design reviews, configuration management, requirements verification, and documented test procedures.
- Lab fluency: comfortable with vector network analyzers, spectrum analyzers, signal generators, power meters, oscilloscopes, EMI receivers, LISNs, and test automation.
- Ability to work independently with limited direction, identify the right next problem to solve, and drive technical work from ambiguity to qualified flight hardware.
- Ability to make practical system-level tradeoffs across link margin, data rate, mass, power, cost, schedule, reliability, and mission risk.
- Ability to lead through influence in a cross-functional environment spanning avionics, flight software, GNC, mechanical, thermal, systems, ground, and mission operations.
HIGHLY VALUABLE EXPERIENCE
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