Senior RF Hardware Engineer

K2 Space • Los Angeles, CA

4d • $120,000 - $200,000

About The Position

K2 is building the largest and highest-power satellites ever flown, unlocking performance levels previously out of reach across every orbit. Backed by over $1 billion in total funding from leading investors and with over $1 billion in signed contracts across commercial and US government customers, K2 is mass-producing the highest-power satellite platforms ever built for missions from LEO to deep space. The rise of heavy-lift launch vehicles is shifting the industry from an era of mass constraint to one of mass abundance, and K2 believes this new era demands a fundamentally different class of spacecraft. Engineered to survive the harshest radiation environments and to fully capitalize on today's and tomorrow's massive rockets, K2 satellites deliver unmatched capability at constellation scale and across multiple orbits. With multiple launches in 2027 and plans to scale to 100 satellites a year, K2 is Building Bigger — helping develop the solar system and build toward a Kardashev Type II (K2) civilization. This role is for a motivated individual who thrives in a fast-paced environment and is excited about contributing to the success of a high-growth Series D-funded company.

You will be responsible for the design and development of radiofrequency (RF) and microwave electronics to be hosted on some of the largest, most powerful, rapidly designed and rapidly manufactured satellites ever deployed in space. In your first 6 months you will architect, develop, own, test, and integrate new RF electronics for use in software defined radio (SDR) systems for satellite communications and beyond. You will work with a multidisciplinary team of antenna, field programmable gate array (FPGA), digital signal processing (DSP), software, mechanical, and electrical engineers in order to prototype your systems and refine your designs. In your first two years you will have flown your system in space and developed cutting-edge radiofrequency systems.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering or related science, technology, engineering, or mathematics field
• 5+ years of experience in microwave and RF engineering
• Experience designing multilayer PCBAs and integrating commercial off-the-shelf integrated circuits for RF applications in Altium or similar PCB design tools
• Experience with RF circuit modeling and analysis software tools such as Cadence AWR Microwave Office and Keysight ADS
• Experience with RF test equipment such as vector network analyzers (VNA), spectrum analyzer, etc.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced and high velocity start-up atmosphere

Nice To Haves

• Experience with component selection for use in space radiation environments and flying hardware in space
• Experience with antenna and electromagnetic modeling and analysis software tools such as Ansys Electronics Desktop HFSS and Altair FEKO
• Experience with FPGA design, implementation, verification, and validation for RF applications
• Experience with software defined radio hardware development including high speed RF data converters (digital to analog and analog to digital converters), clock trees, and data converter interfaces
• Experience with phased arrays and digital beamforming
• Experience with signal intelligence (SIGINT), electronic warfare (EW), and/or satellite telecommunications
• Knowledge of RF digital communications and digital signal processing (DSP) concepts such as spread spectrum, forward error correction, and modulation types such as BPSK, QAM, etc

Responsibilities

• Design and development of radiofrequency and microwave hardware from UHF 200 MHz through Ka band 30 GHz, including phased array antennas, low noise amplifiers, power amplifiers, filters, RF mixers, up and downconverters, high speed data converters, and other RF electronics components
• Design printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs) for spacecraft including architecture, schematic capture, component selection, layout, bring up and debugging
• Qualify your designs through environmental testing including vibration, shock, thermal, and thermal vacuum (TVAC) testing
• Collaborate closely with internal and external stakeholders to integrate your designs into the spacecraft system
• Act as technical leader and subject-matter expert helping to teach, grow, and mentor others in the team

Benefits

• Base salary range for this role is $120,000 - $200,000 + equity in the company
• Comprehensive benefits package including paid time off, medical/dental/vision coverage, life insurance, paid parental leave, and many other perks

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior