Senior Antenna Design Engineer - Satellite User Terminals

Team: Antenna Systems

Location: Arlington, TX

Commitment: Full-Time

Workplace Type: onsite

Salary:

Your mission

Deliver compact, reliable terminal antennas that meet system coverage, gain, bandwidth, polarization, and efficiency requirements in the real product environment and are ready for repeatable production.

What you will own

Antenna design. Develop low-profile, embedded, electrically small, multiband, dual-band, or wideband antennas for satellite communication terminals. Design radiators, feeds, matching networks, baluns, hybrids, and polarization networks.
Requirements and trade studies. Translate link-budget and system needs into antenna requirements for frequency coverage, realized gain, efficiency, polarization, axial ratio, pattern, return loss, bandwidth, and terminal coverage. Balance size, performance, orientation, installation, and cost.
Simulation and optimization. Perform full-wave electromagnetic simulations using Ansys HFSS, CST, FEKO, or equivalent tools. Evaluate detuning, ground-plane dependence, blockage, cable coupling, enclosure effects, nearby electronics, material variation, and manufacturing tolerances.
Product integration. Integrate antenna designs with terminal enclosures, PCBs, radomes, cables, batteries, displays, processors, and other electronics. Work with RF front-end, modem, baseband, firmware, mechanical, thermal, regulatory, and systems teams.
Prototype and measurement. Plan and perform antenna characterization using VNAs, anechoic chambers, near-field or far-field ranges, and OTA systems. Measure and analyze impedance, gain, efficiency, patterns, and polarization.
Simulation-to-test correlation. Compare predicted and measured performance, identify root causes of differences, and drive design changes based on evidence.
Production readiness. Support tuning, design-for-manufacturing reviews, tolerance analysis, supplier engagement, production validation, and transfer to medium- or high-volume manufacturing.
Environmental verification. Develop and support verification for applicable terminal conditions, including temperature, humidity, vibration, shock, and outdoor exposure. Document requirements, analyses, test results, decisions, and technical risks.

How you lead

Ownership through results. Set clear technical targets, define what constitutes a successful design, and follow issues through measured closure.
Practical engineering judgment. Use structured trade studies and test data to balance antenna performance with size, product integration, schedule, and manufacturability.
Early communication. Make dependencies, risks, and design decisions visible to partner teams and recommend next steps clearly.
Repeatable practice. Document methods and lessons learned, and mentor engineers in antenna design and verification where appropriate.

What you bring

Master’s or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related field with a focus on antennas or electromagnetics; equivalent experience may be considered.
Typically 7+ years of hands-on antenna design experience, including phased arrays or other multi-band antenna systems.
Strong understanding of antenna theory, electromagnetics, array theory, beamforming, polarization, mutual coupling, and link-budget concepts.
Demonstrated experience designing compact or electrically small antennas for size-constrained products.
Strong understanding of antenna theory, impedance matching, radiation patterns, polarization, efficiency, bandwidth, and near-field coupling.
Hands-on experience with at least one full-wave EM simulation tool, such as HFSS, CST, or FEKO, and taking designs through prototype and measured validation.
Experience operating VNAs and performing antenna-pattern, gain, efficiency, polarization, and return-loss measurements.
Ability to diagnose differences between predicted and measured performance and integrate antennas into mechanically and electrically complex products.
Strong technical communication and cross-functional collaboration skills; satellite terminal or other compact wireless product experience is preferred.
Preferred: circularly polarized, dual-band, multiband, broadband, spiral, crossed-dipole, patch, helix, monopole, or inverted-F antenna experience; production tuning and phased-array/RFFE experience.

What success looks like

The antenna meets terminal-level requirements across the intended use conditions, works as integrated in the enclosure and electronics, correlates with test results, and can be manufactured and verified consistently at production scale.

Additional Requirements

This is a fast-paced, high-impact environment - flexibility to occasionally work extended hours or weekends during critical periods is expected.