Senior Systems Engineer I - RF Mission SolutionsActive$124K

Rocket Lab is the end-to-end space company building rockets, spacecraft, and critical subsystems that keep the world connected, protected, expand humanity’s reach to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. We move fast, build real hardware for meaningful missions, and make the impossible routine.

What you'll do

• Architect Clean-Sheet Payloads: Run early mission trades, define payload topologies, analog vs digital conversion boundary, waveform processing constraints, or integration of cryptographic requirement for optimal mission profiles.

• Drive Technical Capture: Work directly with customers and our leadership team to frame complex RF trade-offs, write the core technical architecture narratives for key proposals, and defend your design choices.

• Shape the Hardware Roadmap: Use insights from customer mission needs to directly influence our internal R&D, payload prototyping, and technology investments.

• Bridge Concept to Flight: Partner with payload hardware, software, and spacecraft teams to make sure the architectures you pitch are buildable and transition cleanly into flight development.

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, aerospace engineering, or other technical discipline

• + years of experience in aerospace or defense RF systems

What they're looking for

• Demonstrated track record architecting complex multi-function RF, SAR/radar,: or digital communication payloads from concept to proposal win
• Active TS/SCI security clearance
• Advanced degree in RF/microwave, electromagnetics, radar, or related field
• Experience in antennas, arrays, RF front‑end architectures, TR modules, DSP