What Cleared RF Engineers Actually Earn (2026)

We anchor on three kinds of source, because no single number tells the truth on its own.

• Government baseline. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). RF engineers fall under Electronics Engineers, Except Computer (SOC 17-2072), the code BLS maps to aerospace guidance, propulsion control, and military electronic systems. This is the most rigorous, least-hyped floor.
• Cleared-market data. ClearanceJobs' annual Security Clearance Compensation Report, which surveys tens of thousands of cleared candidates and isolates the clearance and polygraph premium.
• Live market signal. Current posted ranges from primes and cleared job boards (Lockheed Martin, ClearanceJobs postings), which show what industry leaders are actually paying right now.

Where a number is an aggregator estimate (Glassdoor, Indeed, ZipRecruiter, Payscale) we say so. Aggregator figures pull from self-reported and posted data and skew toward whoever reports, so we treat them as directional, not settled.

Per BLS OEWS (May 2023), Electronics Engineers, Except Computer (SOC 17-2072):

Employment: about 96,410 nationally. For context, the closely related Electrical Engineers (SOC 17-2071) posted a median of $111,910 in May 2024, with the top 10% above $175,460 (BLS).

Private aggregators land in the same neighborhood for 2026. Glassdoor puts the average RF engineer around $131,360 (25th to 75th: $106,035 to $164,323), Indeed around $133,634, and Payscale's base around $106,051. The spread across sources is the point: RF pay moves a lot depending on sub-specialty, seniority, and whether the work is cleared.

This is where cleared hiring parts ways with commercial. Per ClearanceJobs' 2026 Security Clearance Compensation Report:

• Average total compensation across all cleared candidates hit an all-time high of $126,125 in 2025, up nearly 6% year over year.
• Cleared engineers with a TS/SCI averaged over $147,000 in total compensation (2024 report).
• Candidates holding a full-scope or lifestyle polygraph averaged $149,875, nearly $30,000 more than cleared peers without a poly.
• 70% of cleared candidates got a base-pay increase last year, and 12% saw raises above 10%.
• 78% say they are at least somewhat likely to change jobs within a year.

For a hiring manager, the read is simple. An active clearance, and a poly on top of it, is a compensation event in itself. A candidate who already holds a full-scope poly is not priced like an uncleared engineer who can obtain one, because the clearance timeline, and the risk that it stalls, carries real dollar value.

Combining the cleared-market premium with RF-specific ranges (ZipRecruiter's "RF engineer with security clearance," June 2026, average $117,680, most $97,500 to $139,000) and live prime postings:

Real, current signal: a Lockheed Martin RF Engineer (Level V), Top Secret, Littleton CO posting lists a base range of $145,200 to $255,990 (June 2026). ClearanceJobs RF postings in mid-2026 span roughly $99,000 to $200,000 depending on level and location. Those are posted base ranges, and total comp runs higher once bonus and clearance-linked incentives are added.

Cleared compensation is geographically concentrated. Per ClearanceJobs (2026), the top-paying states for cleared candidates include Maryland (about $139,303 average total comp), Virginia (about $138,748), and Colorado among the leaders. Those are the same corridors where RF, radar, and EW work sits.

The salary data tells you what a cleared RF engineer costs. It does not tell you why the search is hard, and in this market the price is rarely the hard part.

The scarce asset is not the clearance. It is specific program experience. A clearance gets a resume through the door, but the candidate every company chases is the one who has already worked the exact system, waveform, or platform you are building. There are only so many of those candidates, every prime and every startup is going after the same short list, and a good share of them will not relocate. That is the real constraint. It is a supply-of-experience problem wearing a compensation problem’s clothes.

This is why you rarely win these candidates on base pay. When a search like this closes, it is almost never because someone outbid a prime. It closes on program stability and mission. The strongest cleared RF and EW candidates have options, so they choose the program they believe in and expect to still be funded in three years. A Series A defense company that cannot match a prime’s band can still win, as long as it is honest about the mission and the stability of the work instead of pretending it can win on money.

The most common mistake I see from founders and hiring managers is expecting this to move fast. It does not. You are recruiting from a small pool of cleared, program-specific candidates who are often location-locked and are not desperate to leave. Treat it like a standard req on a standard timeline and the search stalls. Treat it like the scarce, relationship-driven search it actually is, and it gets filled. The role is not hard to fill because the candidates do not exist. It is hard to fill because there are few of them, everyone wants them, and they do not move for the wrong reasons.

We built this report because the RF, radar, and EW searches we run come down to two things the salary sites do not measure: clearance reality, and how you position the whole offer instead of just the number. ALAC is a veteran-owned, deep tech and defense search firm, and we help scaling defense companies compete for cleared technical talent against primes with deeper pockets. On a recent set of nine RF and EE searches for a venture-backed defense company, every role was filled in under 45 days. Different, not better. If you are trying to land cleared RF talent in 2026, book a call and we will walk your actual role, not a keyword match.