Antenna Design Intern: X-band Antenna Array Design for DOA applications

Wanna join the adventure?

The RF team at Loft Orbital designs and integrates antennas across frequency bands, from VHF to X-band, onto satellite platforms. Besides single antenna elements, the team also designs arrays for DOA-based RF emitter geolocation from LEO. Loft has already designed and manufactured L/S and S/C antenna arrays and now wants to support X-band. This is where you come in!

You will work closely with senior engineers from the RF team and propose new antenna designs for future missions. Based on papers available in the scientific literature and commercial EM simulation tools, you will have the mission to simulate and validate those antenna concepts. These tasks are critical to saving valuable engineering time for the RF team, and your contributions will directly impact the future of upcoming RF payloads.

Location: Toulouse office, city center (Jeanne d’Arc metro station) Duration: 6-month, end-of-studies internship, target start date: early 2027.

About this role:

• Conduct technology watch, market survey and state-of-the-art research X-band antenna (9-12 GHz) adapted to DOA applications
• Design and synthesize innovative structures using tools such as CST.
• Work with the RF team, the mechanicla team and the System Engineering team to develop new X-band antenna arrays.
• Contribute to the integration of these antennas on Loft Orbital’s satellite platforms.
• Learn and apply principles of RF and antenna engineering.
• Help optimize antenna performance/placement with simulation software.
• Write technical reports.
• Actively collaborate with the team by sharing ideas and knowledge.

Must Haves:

• Pursuing a master's level degree in electrical engineering with an emphasis on antenna and RF design.
• Commercial electromagnetic simulation tools, such as CST (or HFSS).
• Scientific programming, particularly in Python or MATLAB.
• Writing technical and scientific documents.
• Fluent English communication skills, both written and verbal, to work effectively in our international team.

Nice to Haves:

• Good understanding of passive RF circuits and impedance matching.
• Basic understanding of link budgets.
• Experience with ADS.
• Knowledge of RF measurement equipment (VNA, spectrum analyzer, signal generator, etc.).
• Interest in the space industry.

What Can We Offer? You will join a stimulating environment, surrounded by passionate engineers, conducive to learning, innovation, and personal and professional development, and help build the future of space infrastructure. With a growing fleet on track to reach 30 satellites by 2027, we are scaling up quickly across our offices in San Francisco, USA | Golden, USA | and Toulouse, France.

Some of our awesome internship benefits:

• Gratification: €1,300 gross/month.
• Lunch vouchers (tickets restaurant), because let's be honest, we love food! (we even have a Slack channel about it: #loft-gourmand)
• Sustainable mobility package (forfait mobilité durable).
• A genuinely international environment comprising 20+ different nationalities.
• A genuine mentoring program to support you on a daily basis throughout the internship.

 *Research shows that while men apply to jobs where they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, women and other underrepresented people tend to only apply when they meet 100% of the qualifications. At Loft, we value respectful debate and people who aren’t afraid to challenge assumptions.  We strongly encourage you to apply, even if you don’t check all the boxes. Who We Are Loft: Space Made Simple.  Founded in 2017, Loft provides governments, companies, and research institutions with a fast, reliable, and simple way to deploy missions in orbit. We integrate, launch, and operate spacecraft, offering end-to-end missions as a service across Earth observation, IoT connectivity, on-orbit AI, national security missions, and more. Leveraging our existing space infrastructure and an extensive inventory of satellite buses, Loft is reducing years-long integration and launch timelines to months. With more than 30 missions flown, Loft’s flight heritage and proven technologies enable customers to focus on their mission objectives. With a growing fleet on track to reach 30 satellites by 2027, we are scaling up quickly across our offices in San Francisco, CA | Golden, CO | and Toulouse, France to meet accelerating demand for space infrastructure. As an international company your resume will be reviewed by people across our offices so please attach a copy in English.

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