Principal Antenna Design Engineer

RTX•McKinney, TX

22h•Onsite

About The Position

Our Airborne Antennas, Radome & Apertures team is recognized across the defense community as one of the most capable antenna and low observable (LO) engineering groups in the United States. Our engineers tackle some of the world’s toughest RF, antenna, and aperture challenges. We design high performance, highly integrated, mission critical antennas, radomes, and active electronically scanned arrays (AESAs). We are seeking a Principal Antenna Design Engineer to drive the development of advanced LO antennas, ultra‑wideband phased arrays, and next‑generation survivability technologies for demanding systems. This role is ideal for senior engineers who want to work on programs with national‑level importance and who excel at both deep technical analysis and hands‑on engineering leadership. This position requires job duties to be performed onsite due to the sensitive nature of this work and the desire for in-person collaboration; however, we offer flexible in-office hours and the ability to perform some job duties remotely.

Requirements

Typically requires a Bachelor’s in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM) and minimum of eight (8) years of relevant RF engineering experience including any combination of the following: Radar Cross Section (RCS) modeling, prediction, measurement, or reduction
Design, fabrication, and test of conformal antennas, phased array apertures, or RF passive components (radiators, radomes, couplers, transitions, multi‑layer RF structures, FSS)
Ultra‑wideband phased array development (TCDA, Vivaldi, Sliced‑Notch, PUMA, or similar)
Experience with EM modeling tools such as HFSS, CST, FEKO, SENTRi, X‑Patch, or related CEM software.
Experience with leading technical tasks or project teams through design, analysis, build, and / or test.

Nice To Haves

Master’s or PhD in Electrical Engineering with a concentration in electromagnetics, antennas, survivability, or microwave engineering.
Experience presenting complex technical data to leadership, customers, and engineering review boards.
Experience preparing and leading technical proposal efforts.
Experience leading contract R&D (CRAD) or advanced development programs
Familiarity with structural, thermal, materials, or coatings relevant to LO apertures
Ability to mentor and guide multidisciplinary teams on high‑impact programs.

Responsibilities

Provide technical leadership on the design, modeling, realization, and verification of advanced Low Observable antennas, conformal apertures, ultra‑wideband phased arrays, and passive RF structures.
Provide technical solutions to a wide range of difficult problems involving antenna/sensor-based applications such as radar, electronic warfare, electronic attack, electronic support measures, communications, geolocation, direction finding, etc.
Lead design teams through architecture trades, detailed EM analysis, LO strategy development, and integration of antenna, RCS, structural, and thermal requirements.
Use full‑wave computational EM tools (HFSS, CST, FEKO, SENTRi, X‑Patch or equivalent) to model antenna performance, RCS signatures, aperture interactions, and airframe‑coupled electromagnetic effects.
Develop and refine antenna and LO design concepts considering gain, VSWR, bandwidth, field of view, scan performance, polarization purity, structural constraints, and signature objectives.
Guide the verification and validation of antenna and RF erformance, including gain/pattern testing, polarization, insertion loss, and RCS measurement campaigns.
Collaborate with systems engineering to define RF, RCS requirements; develop operational concepts; and support architecture‑level trade studies.
Translate system‑level needs into antenna level requirements, specifications, and verification plans with clear traceability.
Work hands on with Operations, Assembly, and Test personnel to fabricate prototypes, debug hardware, optimize builds, and support manufacturing and qualification.
Mentor both peers and early‑career engineers in advanced EM modeling, LO techniques, prototyping and range testing.
Present complex technical findings to internal leadership, external customers, and program stakeholders with clarity and authority.
Contribute to technical proposals, concept generation, and competitive strategy for new business pursuits.
Execute tasks requiring creativity, innovation, and independent technical judgment on high‑visibility programs.
Establish and maintain effective working relationships with internal and external customers.
Represent the organization in providing solutions to difficult technical issues associated with specific projects.