Job brief: Principal RF Engineer (Starshield)

What JoRoute checked · Checked by JoRoute

• Listed on SpaceX's own job board. JoRoute does not take listings from job ads or recruiters.
• First seen by JoRoute 2026-11-14 (today); last confirmed on the board 2026-11-14.
• The apply link opens boards.greenhouse.io, the address SpaceX's board gives for this job.
• The same title for the same place was listed 1 other time on this board in the last 90 days: several openings, or a re-posted job.
• No layoff notices (WARN) under this name in the state files JoRoute reads.

What the listing says · Employer's own words, not checked

• Pay: $210,000 to $340,000 a year
• Job type: Not stated
• Where: Hawthorne, CA
• Posted: 2026-11-13

What the job asks · Employer's own words, not checked

Level: Lead / staff. The title says "Principal".

Must have

• Bachelor’s degree in computer engineering, or electrical engineering
• 8+ years of experience RF engineering
• Master’s degree in electrical engineering with emphasis in microwave/RF engineering
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret SCI clearance
• An active clearance may provide the opportunity for you to work on sensitive SpaceX missions; if so, you will be subject to pre-employment drug and random drug and alcohol testing
• Must be willing to work extended hours and weekends as needed

Conditions

• You may also accrue 3 weeks of paid vacation and will be eligible for 10 or more paid holidays per year.
• employment with SpaceX is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/…

Main duties

• Drive program-level decisions on RF system designs
• Research novel solutions for unique large-scale satellite RF systems
• Work in close collaboration with hardware, FPGA, DSP, and software engineers to design and validate RF systems
• Responsible for development and full life cycle support of RF hardware spanning PCBA board testing and defect detection, full functional testing of an assemb…
• Create electromagnetic simulation models of hardware (antennas, filters, PCB layout) to design and evaluate performance

Lines copied from the posting, not rewritten. "Preferred" or "nice to have" items are not listed as must-haves.

How it compares · Compared by JoRoute from listings

• Typical listed pay for engineer jobs in California: $198k a year (1,811 listings, 56 employers). This listing is 39% higher.
• Across SpaceX's 2,758 open listings, 56% of those with a posting date were first posted more than 60 days ago. How SpaceX hires

What nobody outside the employer knows · Not known

• Whether the role is already filled or on hold: employers often leave listings up.
• How many people applied, and who reads the applications.
• Where in the published range an offer would land.

Ask before you apply

1. How many people are you hiring for this role, and is it a new opening or a re-posted one?
2. What are the interview steps, and when should I expect to hear back?

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