Team Lead - RF Ground Segment

About Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab is a comprehensive aerospace company that designs and builds rockets, spacecraft, and vital subsystems to keep the world connected and protected, while expanding humanity's reach into the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The company prides itself on rapid advancement, producing real hardware for significant missions and turning the extraordinary into routine.

Within Rocket Lab, the RF team is responsible for maintaining continuous, mission-critical communications between rockets, satellites, and Earth through global ground networks.

Role Overview

The role of RF Team Lead - Ground Segment offers an opportunity to manage and enhance the ground segment systems that are instrumental to mission success. The position entails leading a focused group of engineers and technicians in designing, developing, and operating ground-based RF communication and navigation systems including ground stations, network architecture, and mission support. This role requires agile problem-solving and decision-making that directly influence mission outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide leadership, set strategic direction, and cultivate skills within a team managing critical RF infrastructure.
• Serve as the subject matter expert and product owner for ground station systems, covering RF performance, network design, modems, and mission interface integration.
• Oversee the development, deployment, and enhancement of ground stations and global communication networks.
• Collaborate with Space Operations to prepare for missions, support operations, and validate system readiness.
• Work closely with engineering, operational teams, program managers, and external ground station providers to implement end-to-end solutions.
• Contribute expertise to strategic projects, drive the development roadmap, and assist business growth efforts with RF insights.

Required Qualifications

• Demonstrated leadership experience in RF engineering, capable of mentoring and leading teams to perform efficiently under dynamic and high-pressure conditions.
• Strong foundation in RF concepts including link budget analysis, cascade calculations, and modulation/coding techniques.
• Hands-on experience with RF testing and verification tools such as vector network analyzers (VNAs), spectrum analyzers, and system-level validations.
• Sound understanding of systems engineering principles encompassing requirements management, validation processes, and thorough documentation.
• Familiarity with IP networking and executing RF system deployments in operational environments.

Preferred Additional Skills

• Experience with Python or LabVIEW for automating test procedures.
• Relevant networking certifications like CCNA.
• Understanding of CCSDS standards or frequency licensing regulations.

Why Join Rocket Lab?

• Work on impactful systems supporting real space missions.
• Lead a cohesive team with significant responsibility and independence.
• Join a fast-moving company that builds rather than just designs technology.
• Engage with complex engineering challenges that have high mission impact daily.

What to Expect

The role demands resilience and determination, embracing innovation and teamwork to overcome challenges deemed impossible. The culture values supporting each other, humility, and hands-on involvement, thriving under tight timelines with a delivery-focused mindset.

Additional Important Information

For US-based positions: Compliance with US government space technology export regulations (ITAR) is mandatory. Eligible candidates must be US citizens, lawful permanent residents, or hold appropriate permissions per US Department of State and Commerce regulations.

For New Zealand-based positions: Pre-employment background checks including nationality verification will be conducted to comply with ITAR restrictions. Eligibility requires citizenship from Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, the EU, NATO countries, or qualified nationality without disqualifying dual citizenship.

Equal Opportunity Statement: Rocket Lab is an equal employment opportunity employer prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or other protected factors.