Sr. Staff Radar Antenna Design Engineer

Rivian•Palo Alto, CA

About The Position

Rivian is seeking a Senior Staff Radar Antenna Design Engineer to lead the architecture, design, and production maturation of advanced waveguide antennas for high-performance imaging radar systems. This role is for a technical leader with deep expertise in electromagnetic design who can translate demanding radar performance requirements into robust, manufacturable antenna solutions. You will own antenna design from concept through vehicle integration, working across radar architecture, RF hardware, mechanical engineering, signal processing, manufacturing, validation, and suppliers. The ideal candidate combines first-principles electromagnetic insight with strong judgment in system tradeoffs, design-for-manufacturing, and execution of complex hardware programs.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related technical field, with significant industry experience; advanced degree preferred.
Typically 12+ years of relevant engineering experience, or equivalent demonstrated technical depth and impact.
Extensive professional experience designing antennas or microwave components for demanding radar, sensing, communications, aerospace, or automotive applications.
Deep expertise in waveguide antenna design, including aperture synthesis, slotted-waveguide arrays, feed networks, transitions, mode control, impedance matching, and broadband performance optimization.
Demonstrated ownership of antenna products from electromagnetic concept through prototype, measurement correlation, design verification, and production release.
Strong command of electromagnetic theory, antenna array theory, microwave engineering, scattering parameters, polarization, propagation, and RF measurement techniques.
Expert-level experience with 3D full-wave electromagnetic simulation and optimization tools, such as Ansys HFSS, CST Studio Suite, or equivalent.
Hands-on experience with antenna measurement systems, including near-field or far-field ranges, over-the-air testing, calibration, pattern characterization, and uncertainty analysis.
Experience performing tolerance analysis and designing antennas for manufacturability, repeatability, environmental robustness, and high-volume production.
Ability to interpret complex measurement data, identify root causes, and make technically rigorous design decisions under schedule and cost constraints.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to influence across disciplines without direct authority.

Nice To Haves

Experience with imaging radar architectures, electronically scanned arrays, MIMO radar, high-channel-count systems, or high-resolution automotive radar.
Experience designing antennas for millimeter-wave frequencies, particularly 76–81 GHz or adjacent bands.
Experience with waveguide manufacturing processes such as precision machining, metal injection molding, die casting, additive manufacturing, plating, metallization, or precision assembly.
Knowledge of automotive radar regulatory, EMC, environmental, and reliability requirements.
Experience with radome and fascia electromagnetic characterization, material stack-up modeling, and vehicle-level integration.
Familiarity with automated electromagnetic optimization, scripting, data reduction, and engineering workflows using Python, MATLAB, or similar tools.
Experience developing correlation fixtures, calibration methods, and production end-of-line antenna test strategies.
Track record of technical leadership on complex hardware programs and successful mentoring of senior engineers.
Published technical work, patents, conference contributions, or demonstrated thought leadership in antenna or microwave engineering.

Responsibilities

Define antenna architectures and performance targets for next-generation imaging radar systems, including field of view, angular resolution, gain, sidelobe levels, polarization, efficiency, bandwidth, scan performance, and calibration stability.
Lead the design and optimization of advanced waveguide antenna technologies, including slotted-waveguide arrays, waveguide feeds, corporate and series-fed networks, apertures, transitions, radomes, and RF packaging interfaces.
Develop electromagnetic models and design methods for complex antenna structures, accounting for mutual coupling, fabrication tolerances, thermal effects, dielectric loading, surface roughness, leakage, losses, and integration constraints.
Drive antenna concepts through electromagnetic simulation, prototype design, fabrication, near-field and far-field measurement, correlation, root-cause analysis, and design iteration.
Establish antenna-level budgets, verification plans, acceptance criteria, and correlation methodologies aligned with radar system performance.
Partner with radar architects and RF engineers to optimize antenna, transceiver, packaging, calibration, and signal-processing tradeoffs at the system level.
Lead integration of the antenna into automotive packaging, including radome effects, bumper and fascia materials, mounting constraints, environmental sealing, thermal management, and vehicle-level electromagnetic compatibility.
Own technical decisions and communicate tradeoffs clearly to senior leadership, cross-functional teams, and external suppliers.
Mentor antenna engineers and raise the technical bar through design reviews, reusable analysis methods, modeling standards, and measurement best practices.
Guide supplier technical development, including design reviews, process capability, tolerance analysis, test correlation, and corrective actions.
Support design release, validation, production launch, and field issue resolution for radar antenna hardware.