Discipline guide

RF, microwave & wireless internships

RF engineers work on circuits and systems at radio frequencies: antennas, transmitters, receivers, filters and amplifiers for radios, radar, satellites and wireless products. At these frequencies traces behave like transmission lines, so impedance matching and electromagnetic simulation are part of everyday work.

17 open roles right now: none say freshmen or sophomores can apply, 17 don't list a class year. Filter this discipline in the full list.

What interns do

  • Run electromagnetic simulations of antennas, filters and transitions (HFSS, Sonnet, openEMS).
  • Measure S-parameters with a vector network analyzer and tune matching networks.
  • Support antenna and radio testing for satellites, radar or consumer devices.
  • Write link-budget calculators and test-automation scripts.

Skills to show

  • Electromagnetics, transmission lines and the Smith chart.
  • S-parameters, gain, noise figure and linearity basics.
  • Instruments: VNA, spectrum analyzer and signal generator.
  • PCB layout for RF: controlled impedance, grounding and via fences.
  • Python or MATLAB for analysis.

Starter projects

  1. Design a 2.4 GHz patch antenna, simulate it with a free field solver such as openEMS, have it fabricated on FR-4, and measure its return loss with a low-cost VNA.
  2. Use an RTL-SDR and GNU Radio to receive and decode ADS-B or FM, and document how gain settings and filtering change what you can decode.
  3. Design a microstrip low-pass filter, then compare simulated and measured S21.

Open RF/wireless roles

Newest first. Labels are automatic; read each posting on the employer's site.

  1. Astranis · San Francisco

    Class year not stated RF/wireless Summer 2027 US person / PR ITAR / export

    Why these labels?
    U.S. Citizenship, Lawful Permanent Residency, or Refugee/Asylee Status Required

    Excerpt from the posting (at most 300 characters). Always read the full posting on the employer's site.

  2. Astranis · San Francisco

    Class year not stated RF/wireless Winter 2027 US person / PR ITAR / export

    Why these labels?
    U.S. Citizenship, Lawful Permanent Residency, or Refugee/Asylee Status Required

    Excerpt from the posting (at most 300 characters). Always read the full posting on the employer's site.

  3. Astranis · San Francisco

    Class year not stated RF/wireless Summer 2027 US person / PR ITAR / export

    Why these labels?
    U.S. Citizenship, Lawful Permanent Residency, or Refugee/Asylee Status Required

    Excerpt from the posting (at most 300 characters). Always read the full posting on the employer's site.

  4. Astranis · San Francisco

    Class year not stated RF/wireless Winter 2027 US person / PR ITAR / export

    Why these labels?
    U.S. Citizenship, Lawful Permanent Residency, or Refugee/Asylee Status Required

    Excerpt from the posting (at most 300 characters). Always read the full posting on the employer's site.

  5. Astranis · San Francisco

    Class year not stated Analog/mixed-signal RF/wireless PCB/hardware Summer 2027 US person / PR ITAR / export

    Why these labels?
    U.S. Citizenship, Lawful Permanent Residency, or Refugee/Asylee Status Required

    Excerpt from the posting (at most 300 characters). Always read the full posting on the employer's site.

  6. Astranis · San Francisco

    Class year not stated Analog/mixed-signal RF/wireless PCB/hardware Winter 2027 US person / PR ITAR / export

    Why these labels?
    U.S. Citizenship, Lawful Permanent Residency, or Refugee/Asylee Status Required

    Excerpt from the posting (at most 300 characters). Always read the full posting on the employer's site.

  7. Astranis · San Francisco

    Class year not stated Analog/mixed-signal RF/wireless PCB/hardware Summer 2027 US person / PR ITAR / export

    Why these labels?
    U.S. Citizenship, Lawful Permanent Residency, or Refugee/Asylee Status Required

    Excerpt from the posting (at most 300 characters). Always read the full posting on the employer's site.

  8. Astranis · San Francisco

    Class year not stated Analog/mixed-signal RF/wireless PCB/hardware Winter 2027 US person / PR ITAR / export

    Why these labels?
    U.S. Citizenship, Lawful Permanent Residency, or Refugee/Asylee Status Required

    Excerpt from the posting (at most 300 characters). Always read the full posting on the employer's site.

  9. HawkEye 360 · Herndon, VA

    Class year not stated Embedded/firmware RF/wireless PCB/hardware Summer 2027

  10. Rocket Lab · Long Beach, CA

    Class year not stated RF/wireless Summer 2027 US person / PR ITAR / export

    Why these labels?
    To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), Rocket Lab Employees must be a U.S. citizen, lawful U.S. permanent resident (i.e., current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or…

    Excerpt from the posting (at most 300 characters). Always read the full posting on the employer's site.

  11. CesiumAstro · Austin, TX; Westminster, CO · 1 more posting merged

    Class year not stated Co-op Analog/mixed-signal RF/wireless PCB/hardware Summer 2027 US person / PR ITAR / export

    Why these labels?
    Please Note: To conform with the United States Government Space Technology Export Regulations, the applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., conditional resident, asylee or refugee (protected individuals as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)), or eligible to obtain the…

    Excerpt from the posting (at most 300 characters). Always read the full posting on the employer's site.

  12. CesiumAstro · Westminster, CO; Austin, TX · 1 more posting merged

    Class year not stated Co-op RF/wireless Summer 2027 US person / PR ITAR / export

    Why these labels?
    Please Note: To conform with the United States Government Space Technology Export Regulations, the applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., conditional resident, asylee or refugee (protected individuals as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)), or eligible to obtain the…

    Excerpt from the posting (at most 300 characters). Always read the full posting on the employer's site.

  13. Lightmatter · Boston, MA

    Class year not stated RF/wireless Test/validation Photonics/optics ITAR / export

    Why these labels?
    Export Control

    Excerpt from the posting (at most 300 characters). Always read the full posting on the employer's site.

  14. Vast · Long Beach, CA

    Class year not stated RF/wireless US person / PR ITAR / export

    Why these labels?
    U.S. EXPORT CONTROL COMPLIANCE STATUS

    Excerpt from the posting (at most 300 characters). Always read the full posting on the employer's site.

  15. K2 Space · Los Angeles, CA

    Class year not stated RF/wireless Summer 2027 US person / PR ITAR / export

    Why these labels?
    As defined in the ITAR, “U.S. Persons” include U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents (i.e., Green Card holders), and certain protected individuals (e.g., refugees/asylees, American Samoans).

    Excerpt from the posting (at most 300 characters). Always read the full posting on the employer's site.

  16. Rocket Lab · Auckland, NZ

    Class year not stated RF/wireless Test/validation US person / PR ITAR / export

    Why these labels?
    To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), Rocket Lab Employees must be a U.S. citizen, lawful U.S. permanent resident (i.e., current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or…

    Excerpt from the posting (at most 300 characters). Always read the full posting on the employer's site.

  17. Anduril Industries · Costa Mesa, CA; Irvine, CA +1 more

    Class year not stated RF/wireless PCB/hardware Test/validation US person / PR ITAR / export

    Why these labels?
    U.S. Person status is required as this position needs to access export controlled data

    Excerpt from the posting (at most 300 characters). Always read the full posting on the employer's site.

Other disciplines

Embedded systems & firmware · FPGA, RTL & ASIC design and verification · Analog & mixed-signal · Power electronics · PCB & hardware design · Test, validation & reliability · Controls, robotics & GNC · Photonics & optics