Skip to content

Communications and payloads in the Washington, DC area

Space Jobs for RF Engineers in the Washington, DC Area

41 open roles for RF and communications engineers at 14 space companies name a site in the Washington, DC area, most of them in Chantilly, VA and Laurel, MD; typical pay runs $153k–$274k/yr. Listed straight from each employer's careers site, checked every hour.

Space companies hiring RF and communications engineers in the Washington, DC area

EmployerOpen roles hereMedian posted pay
The Aerospace Corporation11not stated
Elveo Mobile6not stated
Johns Hopkins APL4$99.2k/yr
AST SpaceMobile3not stated
HawkEye 3603$153k/yr
KBR3$229k/yr
BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems2too few figures
SpaceX2too few figures
Viasat2too few figures
Amazon Leo1too few figures
Blue Origin1too few figures
Booz Allen Hamilton1too few figures
Leidos1too few figures
Northrop Grumman1too few figures

Where the roles are

  • Chantilly, VA23
  • Laurel, MD4
  • Herndon, VA3
  • Lanham, MD3
  • Dulles, VA2
  • Germantown, MD2
  • Washington, DC2
  • Arlington, VA1
  • Reston, VA1

Kinds of work

Open space roles for RF and communications engineers in the Washington, DC area, newest first

Updated 31 Oct 2026, 02:02 UTC

rf & payloads alerts

rf & payloads openings, sent to your inbox

Once a week, the rf & payloads openings that appeared across every space company we follow, each with its posted salary. No cost, and one click stops it.

Only job openings, never promotions. Stop it from any email.

What people ask about RF and communications engineers' work in the Washington, DC area

Which space companies hire RF and communications engineers in the Washington, DC area?

Today, The Aerospace Corporation (11 roles), Elveo Mobile (6 roles), Johns Hopkins APL (4 roles), AST SpaceMobile (3 roles), HawkEye 360 (3 roles), KBR (3 roles), and 8 more. The table above lists every employer with a role open in the Washington, DC area.

Where in the Washington, DC area are the roles for RF and communications engineers?

Most are in Chantilly, VA (23), Laurel, MD (4), Herndon, VA (3), Lanham, MD (3), as the postings name their sites. A role that names several sites counts at each.

How much do space roles for RF and communications engineers in the Washington, DC area pay?

The roles here that state pay post a median $162k/yr, with typical pay from $153k–$274k/yr. For reference, the 2,690 electronics engineers, except computer working in the Washington, DC area, in any industry, earn a median $140k/yr (BLS, May 2025). The space roles for RF and communications engineers here post a median $162k/yr today, 15.7% above that; our research on levels and pay sets every profession and area side by side, once a day.

Do roles for RF and communications engineers in the Washington, DC area require US citizenship?

Many do: rocket, spacecraft and satellite work is often export-controlled under ITAR or the EAR, so most roles at US space employers are open only to US citizens or US persons, as each posting states. Our research on who can apply measures it employer by employer.

How is this list made?

We read each employer's own job board every hour. A role is listed here when it is a US role and its own location line names a place in the Washington, DC area (the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metropolitan statistical area as the Census Bureau draws it: Alexandria city, Arlington County, Charles County, Clarke County, Culpeper County, District of Columbia, Fairfax city, Fairfax County, Falls Church city, Fauquier County, Frederick County, Fredericksburg city, Jefferson County, Loudoun County, Manassas city, Manassas Park city, Montgomery County, Prince George's County, Prince William County, Rappahannock County, Spotsylvania County, Stafford County and Warren County), by the same reading as our research on where space jobs are, and its title names the profession by the same rule as the page for RF and communications engineers; remote roles that name no state are on the remote jobs page.