About Role

Urban Sky is seeking a Senior RF Systems Engineer to own the RF domain across the company – every emitter, receiver, antenna, and link, from the boards on our vehicles to the ground stations that talk to them.

Our flight vehicles are dense RF environments: SATCOM, stratospheric command links, GNSS, software-defined radios, and emitters operating within feet of each other on a single platform. You’ll own how all of that RF coexists, closes its links, and survives crowded & contested environments.

Key Responsibilities

Review and optimize every emitting and receiving system across our avionics and devices (SATCOM, stratospheric command links, GNSS, SDRs), including board-level RF review with our electrical engineers: layout, filtering, shielding, desense, and co-site interference

Review and optimize antenna selection, design, and placement across the fleet – LOS CSS radios, SDRs, SATCOM terminals, and GNSS

Own RF link budgets across all mission phases and geometries, and validate them with hardware-in-the-loop and field testing

Architect Urban Sky’s ground station systems and multi-node relay/bent-pipe topologies (balloon-to-balloon, balloon-to-ground, payload-to-ground)

Develop solutions for MIMO architectures, mesh data backhaul, and efficient routing topology

Harden RF systems for contested environments: jamming resilience, GPS protection, and graceful degradation

Develop secure, encrypted networking standards for RF-borne data across vehicle, ground, and customer interfaces

Lead RF integration and interference deconfliction for third-party payloads hosted on our platforms

Evaluate RF-sensing partners and payloads

Support spectrum planning, frequency coordination, and regulatory compliance (FCC, ITU)

Qualifications

B.S. or M.S. in Electrical Engineering, Communications Engineering, or a related field





7+ years of hands-on RF systems engineering across hardware and system levels, preferably in aerospace, satellite, tactical comms, or high-altitude platforms

Deep understanding of RF propagation, link budgets, modulation and coding, and antenna design principles

Board-level RF experience: able to find and fix desense and interference problems with a spectrum analyzer and a schematic

Hands-on test experience with spectrum analyzers, VNAs, signal generators, and antenna measurement

Experience with software-defined radios and mesh or relay network architectures

Working knowledge of secure communications (encryption, key management) as applied to RF links

Strong scripting/analysis skills for link modeling and test automation

Nice-to-Haves / Preferred Skills:

Experience with HABS, smallsat comms, or airborne relay architectures

Contested-setting or electronic warfare experience (jamming, GPS denial, LPI/LPD)

ISM, L-, or S-band systems and adaptive modulation/coding

RF payload experience: direction finding, TDOA/geolocation, SIGINT, or SAR

Antenna simulation tools An active US security clearance

Requirements

Must be US Citizen or Permanent Resident

Ability to obtain and maintain a US security clearance may be required for certain programs

Must be located near Denver, CO or willing to relocate; role is on-site at our Denver headquarters (4800 Race St)

Travel expected to support field campaigns, test flights, and customer integration

Benefits

Stock Options

Medical, Vision and Dental

Unlimited / Felxable Leave Policy

Cell Phone Bill Stipend

Urban Sky is an Equal Prospect 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.

📌 Senior RF Systems Engineer (Prince Edward Island)
🏢 Urban Sky
📍 Prince Edward Island