RF Silicon Software Engineer

SpaceX

Confirmed live yesterday High trust

Quick summary

Work type
On-site
Location
Redmond, WA
Salary
$125,000–$165,000 / yr
Posted
3 days ago
Freshness
Confirmed live yesterday

Market check

Salary context

Below market

How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $194k
This role $145k
$113k most similar roles pay here $237k

This role pays less than 86% of similar roles. Most pay $162,559–$224,650 — the shaded band above. At the midpoint, this role pays about $145k versus about $194k for comparable roles.

Based on 240 similar postings.

Employer

About SpaceX

SpaceX designs, manufactures, and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft with the mission of enabling humans to become a multi-planetary species. It operates the Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and Starship launch vehicles, as well as the Starlink satellite internet constellation.

SpaceX currently has 654 open roles on FindRole.

Listed pay typically runs $130,000–$165,000 across 468 roles with salary data.

Most-posted roles

View all roles at SpaceX

At a glance

TL;DR · RF Silicon Software Engineer

The RF Silicon Software Engineer (RFIC Engineering) joins a multidisciplinary team focused on developing low-level software infrastructure for custom RF silicon used in high-performance wireless digital communication systems. This role involves bringing up new silicon, designing modular production-ready driver libraries with a focus on timing and performance, and building hardware test platforms like HIL or FPGA emulators to validate software on physical hardware. The engineer will also support integration into flight software teams for satellite phased-arrays and user terminals. Candidates must possess proficiency in C, C++, or Python, along with knowledge of basic electronics, math, physics, and RF communication systems. Additional technical competencies include debugging using logic analyzers and oscilloscopes, reading schematics, and familiarity with FPGA design, HDLs like SystemVerilog, and low-level register access to solve complex problems within the terrestrial and space-based infrastructure.

What you'll do

  • Perform initial bring-up of new RF silicon as the first engineer to power up chips.
  • Develop modular, production-ready software driver libraries for low-level silicon control.
  • Optimize software for timing, throughput, performance, and simplicity.
  • Build hardware test platforms including hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) systems.
  • Create automated integration and regression tests to validate silicon driver software.
  • Validate software on physical hardware or FPGA emulators.
  • Support the integration of software into satellite phased-arrays and user terminal production.

What we're looking for

  • Bachelor's degree in an engineering discipline, mathematics, or physics.
  • 1+ years of professional development experience in C, C++, or Python.
  • Experience developing, debugging, and deploying software for real-world applications (preferred).
  • Knowledge of basic electronics, math, physics, and RF communication systems (preferred).
  • Skills in debugging, performance optimization, and unit testing (preferred).
  • Experience troubleshooting embedded software using power supplies, logic analyzers, and oscilloscopes (preferred).
  • Familiarity with reading schematics, PCB layouts, FPGA design, HDLs, and low-level register access (preferred).
  • Must be a U.S. citizen, national, lawful permanent resident, or eligible for required export control authorizations.

More like this

Similar roles

RF/Microwave Engineer, RFIC Engineering

SpaceX

Redmond, WA 74 days ago $125,000–$165,000
RFIC ADS HFSS AWR Altium Designer Python Matlab C++ LabVIEW Spectrum Analyzers Vector Signal Analyzers Network Analyzers PCB Design Digital Communication Systems Antenna Systems Automated Test Equipment
2+ yrs exp

Senior RFIC Design Engineer

SpaceX

Redmond, WA 74 days ago $165,000–$270,000
RFIC Analog IC Mixed-Signal SiGe CMOS Spectre ADS HFSS Momentum Phase-Locked Loops Vector Modulators Oscillators Mixers Filters Power Amplifiers QPSK APSK QAM Spectrum Analyzers Network Analyzers
5+ yrs exp

RFIC Engineer

SpaceX

Hawthorne, CA 142 days ago $125,000–$145,000
RFIC Mixed-Signal SiGe GaAs GaN CMOS Spectre ADS HFSS Momentum DSP QPSK APSK QAM Spectrum Analyzers Network Analyzers
1+ yrs exp

Silicon Photonics Design Engineer

SpaceX

Redmond, WA 74 days ago $125,000–$165,000
Silicon Photonics PIC Lumerical COMSOL HFSS Spectre ADS RFIC SerDes PAM4 NRZ DSP mixed signal CPO CTLE Spectrum Analyzers
2+ yrs exp

Senior Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC) Design Engineer

Qualcomm

San Diego, CA 16 days ago $133,900–$200,900
RFIC Design ASIC Design Cadence Virtuoso ADS Transistor-level Design RF/Analog circuits Digital Predistortion Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence Signal Processing Electro Magnetic simulation Physical Verification 6G WLAN IoT
2+ yrs exp