Antenna Engineer, Satellites (Starlink)

SpaceX was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of enabling human life on Mars.

ANTENNA ENGINEER, SATELLITES (STARLINK)

SpaceX is leveraging its experience in building rockets and spacecraft to deploy Starlink, the world’s most advanced broadband internet system. Starlink is the world’s largest satellite constellation and is providing fast, reliable internet to 10M+ users worldwide. We design, build, test, and operate all parts of the system – thousands of satellites, consumer products that allow users to connect within minutes of unboxing, and the software that brings it all together. We’ve only begun to scratch the surface of Starlink’s potential global impact. As we continue to upgrade and expand the constellation, we’re looking for best-in-class engineers to join the team.

As a member of the Antenna Engineering team, you’ll have extreme ownership of phased array antennas, parabolic antennas, other RF systems for the satellites, gateways, and customer-facing hardware, and the opportunity to develop something entirely new to the market. You’ll regularly interact with senior leadership to influence fundamental operation of our constellation and network while collaborating with electrical, silicon, software, mechanical, and manufacturing teams to steer this project from initial conception to manufacturing.

RESPONSIBILITIES: 

• Design of advanced antenna and feed systems in support of next generation products including phased array and reflector products

• Fabricate and characterize prototypes of antennas, feed systems and RF front ends

• Contribute to development of software and testing of digital beamforming systems to demonstrate full phased array functionality

• Provide phased array expertise to set specifications and debug problems covering satellite and consumer phased array products

• Perform design validation testing of prototype and production designs

• Contribute to various aspects of the integration of the antennas into spacecraft and other systems

• Analyze in-the-field operational RF performance data of units and investigate methods to improve performance and debug issues

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline

• 2+ years of research or development experience in the areas of RF and antennas (internship and thesis work acceptable)

• 1+ years of experience using one of the 3D EM simulation tools: CST, HFSS, FEKO, EMPro, TICRA or XFDTD

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• Master’s degree or PhD in electrical engineering with some research/thesis work on RF or antennas

• Experience with basic RF concepts such as impedance matching, linear and aperture antennas, smith chart, power handling metrics (IIP2, IMD), microwave network analysis, RF filter design

• 1+ years of programming e