Communications and payloads
Space Jobs for RF Engineers
, SpaceJobs.Now lists 389 open roles for RF and communications engineers on 54 space industry employers, including Muon Space, Array Labs and Hubble Network; typical pay across them is $150k to $261k a year (median $170k), topped by $336k a year advertised at Viasat.
Staff RF Engineer (opens the job details)
LeoLabs · RF & Payloads · Menlo Park, CA, United States· 1mo agoDetails
$180,000–$205,000/yr
Measured from 236 distinct posted rates, across 34 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 153 of the 389 listings open here post no pay at all.
Satellite and launch companies hire RF engineers to design the antennas, radios and communication links that connect spacecraft to the ground and to each other. Each listing here is re-verified on the employer's own job board once an hour.
Live roles for RF and communications engineers
Updated 30 Oct 2026, 09:18 UTCListed here: LeoLabs roles. See every employer
RF engineers
1 openRF design, integration and test across spacecraft, terminals and ground systems.
Staff RF Engineer (opens the job details)
LeoLabs · RF & Payloads · Menlo Park, CA, United States· 1mo agoDetails
$180,000–$205,000/yr
Before you apply
Space hardware is built, tested and flown in person, so many roles name a factory, a test site, a launch site or a control room, and each listing states its location. US roles that touch export-controlled technology (ITAR or EAR) can ask that you be a U.S. person, and some ask for a security clearance. A real employer never charges you to apply, never interviews you only by chat app and never asks you to buy equipment.
Pay by specialty
Every specialty gets its typical band from its own open roles, computed by the same method as the rest of the site (the 25th percentile of what roles pay (the middle of each posted range, as a year's pay: an hourly rate counts at 2,080 hours, 40 a week for 52 weeks) to the 90th-percentile posted top). A specialty is listed once three or more distinct rates have been posted.
What the roles ask for
Drawn from the requirement lines of 133 out of 389 open roles for RF and communications engineers, the same lines each role's pop-up quotes from its posting. Each role is counted once, at the lowest degree it will accept.
- Name years of experience116
- Name u.S. person status (ITAR or EAR)21
- Name a security clearance18
- Require programming (Python, C++, MATLAB and similar)14
- Set a residency or work-authorization condition10
- Ask for a professional license2
Where a posting states years of experience, the median ask is 5 years.
Who hires RF and communications engineers in the space industry
Sorted by the expected value of an application (acceptance odds times posted pay). A referral agreement, if an employer has one, can raise it in this order but never changes the salary it offers.
Where these roles are posted
The US states with the most open roles for RF and communications engineers, and the roles posted for a single country. A place name leads to its own page, and a country's count lists the matching roles.
In the US, by state
- California164
- Washington60
- Texas42
- Colorado29
- Virginia18
Space industry jobs by US state
The public record, in every industry: 98,200 electronics engineers, except computer work in the US (2025), projected to grow 4% by 2035, at a median $130k/yr (BLS, May 2025). Each state's page gives its own.
What our research measures about rf & payloads work
Read from the open postings on 2026-10-29 by our space industry research, rebuilt every day. Every figure opens the row of the report it comes from.
- Who is hiring256 open roles (3.1% of the space roles we read) at 28 employers, 46 of them posted in the last 30 days.
- Where the jobs are3.9% of these roles are remote; the rest are on-site or hybrid.
- Who can apply84.7% of the postings are open only to US persons or US citizens, and 21.1% name a security clearance.
- Skills and toolsThe skills its postings name most: Python (60%), MATLAB (47%) and C or C++ (33%).
- Degrees and experience0.4% of the postings take a high school diploma or an associate's degree, 56.2% name a master's or PhD, and they ask for a median of 5 years of experience at the least.
- Pay transparency58.6% of the postings state their pay, at a median $162,000 a year.
- Internships and entry level12 open roles are for someone starting out (4.7% of its open roles).
- Shifts, weekends and travel33.5% of the postings ask for weekend work, 33.9% for overtime or extended hours.
- What applications askThe application forms for this work ask your citizenship or U.S. person status (88.8% of them), about a security clearance (58.8% of them), your GPA (42.8% of them), SAT, ACT or GRE scores (42.2% of them), your salary expectations (26.7% of them) and whether you have worked or interviewed at the company before (49.7% of them).
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Frequently asked questions
How much do RF and communications engineers earn in the space industry?
Going by the 236 distinct salaries currently posted for roles for RF and communications engineers (each put on a full-time year), the typical range is $150k–$261k/yr and the median is $170k/yr. The top posted figure is $336k/yr, at Viasat. 153 of the 389 open roles for RF and communications engineers state no pay, so check each listing.
What do RF roles ask for?
Usually an electrical engineering degree, often a master's, and experience with RF design and test equipment. Each listing states the degree, the experience and the location it asks for. Of the 133 open roles for RF and communications engineers whose requirements we read, 6 a master's, 116 at least a bachelor's and 11 name no degree.
What does a RF or communications engineer do at a space company?
An RF engineer at a space company designs and tests the radio side of a mission: antennas and phased arrays, transmitters and receivers, the link budget and the signal processing, on the satellite, in the user terminal and at the ground station.
How do space companies hire RF and communications engineers?
Each employer runs its own hiring, and each listing says what it asks for: the degree or the hands-on experience, the location, and for export-controlled work in the US, often U.S. person status.
Are these jobs real?
Every role here is read from a space employer's own careers page or job board (Muon Space, Array Labs, Hubble Network and Cowboy Space among them), and each employer's page here covers who they are and how they hire. A real employer never charges you to apply, never asks you to buy equipment and never interviews you only by chat app.
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RF, Communications & Payloads
Every open rf & payloads role across space employers, with live pay.