SlipstreamJobs tracks this role from the company's public career site. Apply directly on the employer's site.
As Lead Antenna Engineer at Impulse, you will lead a team designing antenna systems for spacecraft communication and GNSS receivers. Your responsibilities span the full antenna design lifecycle—from initial concept through prototype development, characterization, and on-orbit support.
Key responsibilities include defining antenna and feed network systems for low, medium, and high-gain spacecraft antennas across LEO to deep-space missions. You will lead a team of engineers developing both passive and active antenna designs, architecting engineering processes to streamline antenna development and production workflows. You'll drive antenna designs across the 1–30 GHz frequency range from analysis through prototype and complete characterization.
You will collaborate closely with RF engineers, avionics hardware engineers, and mechanical engineers to integrate antenna designs into RF front ends and vehicle structures. Your work will optimize antenna performance for power handling, volume, mass constraints, and the radiation and thermal environments of orbit. You'll analyze real-world antenna performance, debug issues on completed vehicles, and investigate improvements to vehicle radiated performance. Additionally, you'll support RF and avionics teams by performing electromagnetic simulations of PCBs and vehicle structures for desense analysis.
Required qualifications include a Bachelor's degree in engineering or a related field, plus 5+ years of research or development experience with antennas. You must be proficient with 3D EM simulation tools such as CST, HFSS, COMSOL, or Cenos, and have hands-on experience analyzing antenna systems in the lab (S-parameters, isolation, radiation patterns, propagation effects). Strong foundations in RF concepts—impedance matching, S-parameters, microwave network analysis, and power handling—are essential.
