Senior Staff Antenna Engineer

CHAOS Industries is redefining modern defense with a multi-product portfolio that gives the ultimate advantage—domain dominance. The company's products are powered by Coherent Distributed Networks (CDN™), empowering warfighters, commercial air operators, and border protection teams to act faster, adapt rapidly, and stay ahead of evolving threats. 

CHAOS Industries was founded in 2022 and has raised a total of $1 billion in funding from leading investors, including 8VC, Accel, and Valor Equity Partners. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, San Diego, and London. For more information, please visit www.chaosinc.com.

Role Overview: 

CHAOS is seeking a Senior Staff Antenna Engineer to design, analyze, and test antennas and RF front ends for radar, electronic warfare, and sensing systems. You will own assigned antenna development efforts from architecture trades through qualification and production, working closely with RF, digital, mechanical, and thermal engineers to resolve challenges. 

This is a hands-on individual contributor role in a fast-moving engineering environment. You will provide antenna technical guidance to teammates, and your designs will reach the field. 

This is a full-time, on-site position in El Segundo, CA. 

Responsibilities:  

• Perform architecture and design trades and select antenna approaches based on mission performance, SWaP-C, reliability, producibility, and cost 

• Translate system requirements into antenna, aperture, RF front-end, and radome requirements 

• Design, analyze, integrate, and test antennas and phased arrays for active and passive RF systems, including wideband and narrowband architectures 

• Lead antenna and RF front-end development for AESA systems, from architecture through integration and qualification 

• Perform electromagnetic modeling and array analysis using tools such as HFSS, CST, MATLAB, and Python, including custom analysis scripts 

• Plan and conduct antenna verification and qualification, and correlate analytical predictions with measured performance 

• Build and integrate antenna prototypes, support test campaigns, and participate in field integration and support 

• Work directly with thermal, mechanical, RF, and digital engineers to deliver integrated, producible designs 

• Provide antenna technical guidance during design reviews, integration discussions, and requirements development 

• Identify technical risks and resolve them or escalate them as appropriate, engaging outside specialists when needed 

• Contribute to antenna design methods, analysis tools, and test approaches as the team matures 

• Contribute to sponsored research and university partnerships that advance antenna technologies and develop technical talent 

Minimum Requirements: 

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a related field, and 10+ years of antenna engineering experience in radar, EW, or related RF sensing applications 

• Deep expertise in antenna design in at least one frequency band, with working knowledge of antenna design across other frequency bands 

• Experience designing phased arrays and RF front ends, including element design, scan performance, mutual coupling, sidelobe control, polarization, calibration, and beamforming 

• Experience with narrowband and wideband architectures such as TCDA, Vivaldi, or log-periodic design 

• Hands-on experience with electromagnetic simulation, antenna measurement, and model-to-test correlation 

• Experience integrating antennas with beamforming electronics, radomes, structures, and thermal systems 

• Ability to work independently on assigned technical efforts and to collaborate effectively across disciplines 

Preferred Requirements: 

• Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related field 

• Experience with digital or adaptive beamforming, monopulse processing, multifunction arrays, or conformal arrays 

• Experience with ruggedized antennas, radomes, and installed-antenna performance 

• Experience with design for manufacturing, automated calibration, and production test 

• Technical contributions demonstrated through fielded systems or patents 

Why CHAOS 

You will work directly with the hardware you design by building and integrating prototypes, performing tests, and participating in field activities. Your work will stay connected to the hardware from development through test and field use. 

U.S. citizenship is required. Candidates must be able to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance; an active clearance is preferred. 

• Health Benefits: Medical, dental, and vision benefits 100% paid for by the company
• Additional benefits: 401k (+ 50% company match up to 6% of pay), FSA, HSA, life insurance, and more
• Our Perks: Free daily lunch while you're working onsite, fully-stocked kitchen, unlimited PTO, casual dress code
• Compensation Components: Competitive base salaries, generous pre-IPO stock option grants, relocation assistance, and (coming soon!) annual bonuses
• Team Growth: 500+ employees and counting across 5 global offices

$237k-264k

The stated compensation range reflects only the targeted base compensation range and excludes additional earnings such as bonus, equity, and benefits. If your compensation requirements fall outside of the range, we still encourage you to apply. The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary offer may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. 

Recruiting Agencies: CHAOS Industries does not accept unsolicited resumes or outreach. Unsolicited submissions will not be reviewed or compensated.

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