Engineering Manager, RF Hardware

Please Note: To conform with the United States Government Space Technology Export Regulations, the applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., conditional resident, asylee or refugee (protected individuals as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

At CesiumAstro, we are developers and pioneers of out-of-the-box communication systems for satellites, UAVs, launch vehicles, and other space and airborne platforms. We take pride in our dynamic and cross-functional work environment, which allows us to learn, develop, and engage across our organization. If you are looking for hands-on, interactive, and autonomous work, CesiumAstro is the place for you. We are actively seeking passionate, collaborative, energetic, and forward-thinking individuals to join our team.

We are seeking an Engineering Manager, RF Hardware to lead and coordinate our RF teams across multiple sites and product lines. This leadership role is critical to ensuring design consistency, best practices, and high-quality deliverables across a broad portfolio of hardware platforms.

This position is a highly technical leadership role responsible for delivering well-engineered RF hardware-on schedule-across all product lines. This role provides technical ownership for board- and box-level RF hardware development while leading team execution, staffing, and engineering process maturity in a fast-growing aerospace and defense startup environment.

In addition to people and process leadership, this role contributes hands-on technical expertise to critical RF hardware designs, reviews, and debug efforts, ensuring products are scalable, manufacturable, and testable at production volumes.

JOB DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Maintain technical integrity and engineering excellence for RF electronics development across the company.
• Establish, mature, scale, and enforce engineer-friendly RF hardware development processes, including analysis and simulation templates, schematic design standards, layout best practices, and design and review checklists.
• Lead and participate in rigorous design reviews, ensuring appropriate subject matter expert (SME) engagement.
• Apply strong working knowledge of adjacent disciplines-power electronics, digital electronics, mechanical engineering, and firmware/software-to ensure board- and system-level success.
• Contribute directly to board-level and unit-level RF hardware designs as needed.
• Lead or support critical debug efforts across development and production phases.
• Ensure RF hardware designs are buildable and testable at scale using DFM and DFT best practices.
• Drive disciplined handoff from engineering to manufacturing through close collaboration with manufacturing engineering, supply chain, and production test engineering.
• Ensure designs meet quality, reliability, and scalability requirements for production environments.
• Lead RF component selection strategies aligned with product requirements, customer needs, and industry trends.
• Manage RF supplier relationships and technology roadmaps to support long-term product evolution.
• Partner with Supply Chain to ensure component availability, risk mitigation, and cost awareness.

TEAM LEADERSHIP, STAFFING & PERFORMANCE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Build, scale, and lead a high-performing RF hardware engineering team.
• Advocate for realistic schedules, then hold the team accountable to delivery commitments.
• Lead hiring activities, including writing job descriptions, conducting interviews, and making hire/no-hire decisions.
• Establish clear development paths and growth opportunities for high-performing engineers.
• Address performance issues promptly and constructively.
• Actively close skill gaps through hands-on contribution or targeted hiring.
• Provide one-on-one coaching, mentoring, and technical guidance.
• Serve as a key contributor to early-stage engineering execution planning, including collaboration with Business Development.
• Drive design commonality and reuse across products to accelerate execution and reduce risk.
• Plan and manage budgets related to staffing, capital equipment, and design/analysis software.
• Maintain strong working relationships across Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Quality, and Operations.

JOB REQUIREMENTS AND MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related field required.
• Minimum of 7-9 years of progressive RF hardware engineering experience, preferably in aerospace, defense, or regulated manufacturing, including 1-3 years in leadership/management experience.
• Demonstrated deep expertise in RF hardware design at the board and system levels.
• Strong understanding of RF components, system architectures, and signal integrity principles.
• Working knowledge of power electronics, digital electronics, mechanical integration, and firmware interactions.
• Experience supporting design for manufacturability (DFM), design for test (DFT), and transition from development to production.
• Proven ability to conduct rigorous technical reviews, mentor engineers, and communicate effectively across disciplines.
• Ability to balance technical rigor with execution speed in a fast-paced development environment.
• Proficiency with RF simulation and analysis tools such as ADS, HFSS, CST, or equivalent.
• Experience using schematic capture and PCB layout tools.
• Familiarity with product lifecycle management (PLM) systems.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office tools, including Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.
• Experience using collaboration and documentation platforms for cross-functional engineering teams.

$164,000 - $205,000 a year

CesiumAstro considers several factors when extending an offer, including but not limited to, the role and associated responsibilities, a candidate's work experience, education/training, and key skills. Full-time employment offers include company stock options and a generous benefits package including health, dental, vision, HSA, FSA, life, disability and retirement plans.

CesiumAstro is an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected Veteran Status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

Please note: CesiumAstro does not accept unsolicited resumes from contract agencies or search firms. Any unsolicited resumes submitted to our website or to CesiumAstro team members will be considered property of CesiumAstro, and we will not be obligated to pay any referral fees.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.