RF Antenna Engineer

At Vast, our mission is to contribute to a future where billions of people are living and thriving in space. Vast is developing next-generation space stations to ensure a continuous human presence in space for America and its allies, enabling advanced microgravity research and manufacturing, and unlocking a new space economy for government, corporate, and private customers. Using an incremental, hardware-rich and low-cost approach, Vast is rapidly developing its multi-module Haven Station.

Haven Demo’s 2025 success made Vast the only operational commercial space station company to fly and operate its own spacecraft. Next, Haven-1 is expected to become the world’s first commercial space station when it launches, followed by additional Haven modules to enable permanent human presence by 2030. Our team is all-in, committed to executing our mission safely and on time.

If you want to work with the most talented people on Earth furthering space exploration for humanity, come join us.

RF Antenna Engineer
, reporting to the Director, RF Engineering to support the development of the systems that will be required for the design and build of artificial‑gravity human‑rated space stations.

Location:

Long Beach
. This will be a full‑time
, exempt position.

• Develop RF Antenna telemetry and tracking systems for the next generation of crewed space stations, including hardware, software and operations for space station tracking, mission data, payload data, and communications with visiting vehicles.
• Design and test RF antenna hardware in VHF through Ka‑band – from concept to production.
• Perform architecture trade studies, requirements definition, component design, and manage development for various radios and/or laser systems (S‑band, X‑band, K‑Band, infrared/optical, TDRS, C2V2, etc.)
• Design, model and EM simulation of complex RF hardware (antenna, filters, passives).
• Fabricate and characterize prototypes of antennas, passives, and RF front ends.
• Design of advanced antenna and feed systems for on‑orbit spacecraft and ground systems.
• Full life‑cycle ownership for related systems, including development, testing, integration, operations and maintenance for related hardware (interfaces, modems, radios, antennas, etc.).
• Provide technical direction relating to RF systems and set top‑level requirements to hardware agile development teams, integration, and test personnel.
• Partner with manufacturing/integration engineers to develop work instructions and installation procedures for integrating and testing RF hardware.

• Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering or similar.
• 3+ years of experience with RF design, analysis, and/or unit level testing (significant academic projects, internships, and traditional professional experience all qualify).
• Experience with the design and integration of RF Antenna systems consisting of radio transmitters, antennas, receivers, LNAs, PAs, couplers, filters, etc.
• Experience with simulation tools such as SPICE, ADS, CST, HFSS, etc.
• Experience with RF test equipment such as Spectrum Analyzers, VNAs, Power Meters, Cable Analyzers, SDRs, etc.
• Experience with electrical schematic capture software (Altium, Orcad or similar).

• Master’s degree in electrical engineering or similar.
• Proficiency in working with GNU Radio and software‑defined radios (SDRs).
• Knowledge of space radiation effects on RF electronics and antennas.
• Prior experience with vehicle electrical bonding requirements.
• Good grasp of electronics and RF theory, and hands‑on experience with electronics hardware, including both analog and digital.
• Familiarity with antenna measurement techniques and tools such as anechoic/reverb chambers, near‑field EM measurements.
• Experience with software programming:
  Matlab, LabVIEW, Python, C/C++, JS, etc.
• Experience with full‑lifecycle product development.
• Experience with designing electronics for spaceflight environment, verifying workmanship and operability through environmental test (random vibration, shock, thermal, burn‑in, and TVAC).
• Knowledge of RF demodulation, decommutation, FEC and CRC decoding, IRIG or CCSDS decoding techniques,…