Senior Antenna Design Engineer - Satellite User Terminals

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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

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.