Senior RF Engineer

Who We Are:
Venus Aerospace is revolutionizing rocket engine propulsion. With the first generational leap in rocket engine technology since Apollo, our proprietary Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine and Venus Detonation Ramjets deliver historic efficiency and performance across aerospace applications. We are building the next generation of propulsion platforms that enable breakthrough capabilities in space, defense, and commercial high-speed flight. Our team thrives on solving the toughest engineering challenges and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in aerospace. At Venus, we’re looking for bold engineers and innovators who want to make history and redefine the future of propulsion.

The Role: Principal RF Engineer 
Join us as an RF Telemetry Engineer and help design, build and flight test revolutionary propulsion technology. You’ll lead assessment of link budgets, design of both ground stations and onboard radio and antenna systems, and system testing to ensure we gather critical test data. This role blends analysis, mission planning, hands‑on engineering, hardware‑in‑the‑loop testing, and cross‑disciplinary collaboration to deliver reliable, flight‑ready systems. If you excel at systems thinking, flight systems implementations and solving hard problems, you’ll thrive here. 

What You'll Get To Do

Design, build and fly your systems
Lead the architecture, design, and selection of telemetry hardware, radios, antennas and ground stations
Conduct link analysis on a range of flight regimes as we rapidly improve our vehicle capabilities 
Design ground stations and ground station networks to capture flight data and send commands 
Deconflict frequency plans in different launch environments 
Define requirements, conduct trade studies and select radios and antennas to complete the mission 
Develop and maintain hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) test environments to support software development, integration, and verification
Support system integration, ground testing, and flight testing, including troubleshooting and root cause analysis
Assess system risks and recommend mitigations
Collaborate with external vendors and suppliers to define requirements, evaluate components, manage technical trade studies, and support procurement
Author and review technical documentation, including requirements, interface control documents (ICDs), schematics, test plans, and verification reports
Collaborate with Flight Software, Avionics, IT, GN&C, Aerodynamics, and Structures engineering disciplines to ascertain system requirements and meet technical program needs
Collaborate with Manufacturing and Quality to ensure your systems are ready to fly

What You Have

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical, Mechanical, Mechatronics Engineering, or a related field. Alternatively, Radar Systems or Data Science experience, with a strong quantitative and mechanical measurements foundation 
5+ years of experience in RF telemetry in rocket, missile or space applications
Experience conducting link analysis for flight vehicles in the supersonic and hypersonic flight regimes 
Experience writing requirements, conducting trade studies, selecting onboard antennas, and radios 
Experience placing and designing ground systems to receive data from and send commands 
Experience implementing and troubleshooting grounding, bonding, and shielding solutions for analog-to-digital instrumentation signals in multi-band RF environments 
Strong background in hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) testing and integration
Experience working with and managing outside vendors, including technical evaluations and supplier coordination
Strong troubleshooting and systems-level thinking skills
Experience with environmental testing and qualification
Key Competencies: systems-level avionics expertise; cross-functional collaboration; vendor and supplier management; clear technical communication 

What Will Set You Apart

Strong experience with small vehicle avionics teams 
Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to collaborate with diverse teams 
Familiarity with embedded systems, buses and protocols (CAN, UART, SPI, I2C, Ethernet, MIL-STD-1553, etc.). 
Experience managing contractors for consulting or hardware production 
Multiple launch campaigns under your belt 
Experience contributing to design reviews and flight safety reviews with range stakeholders