Senior RF Hardware Engineer, Wideband Receivers - Design Custom RF Systems from the Component Level

Tampa, FL | On-site

Opportunity Summary

Join an early-stage defense technology company developing advanced RF sensing and wireless systems for demanding operational environments. The team designs its RF hardware at the component level, building custom circuit boards around discrete commercial components rather than assembling systems from packaged RF modules.

You will own the receive hardware for a passive sensing platform built to detect wireless activity across a wide range of frequencies in dense RF environments. The challenge is not simply sensitivity. The system must maintain enough dynamic range to detect weak signals next to powerful interferers while preserving phase coherence across multiple channels for direction-finding and geolocation applications. You will take designs from architecture and simulation through layout, bring-up, characterization, and production release.

About Us

We are a venture-backed defense technology startup founded by former military operators who experienced firsthand the limitations of existing electronic warfare and sensing systems. The engineering team develops custom RF electronics, embedded hardware, firmware, and software internally, with systems already being evaluated and deployed in operational environments. Engineers joining now have significant influence over both the technical architecture and the processes used to move new hardware into production.

Job Duties

• Own the architecture and development of a wideband, multichannel RF receive system
• Design RF front ends covering approximately 300 MHz through 6 GHz within a highly integrated architecture
• Develop switched preselection networks, filter banks, LNAs, RF switches, gain stages, mixers, and conversion architectures
• Design systems that maintain sensitivity and usable dynamic range in heavily congested spectrum
• Analyze and optimize noise figure, linearity, IP3, compression, blocker performance, spurious response, and gain distribution
• Develop automatic and programmable gain strategies that preserve weak-signal detection next to strong nearby emitters
• Architect phase-coherent receive channels suitable for angle-of-arrival and other localization techniques
• Design clock, reference, and local oscillator distribution while controlling channel-to-channel phase and amplitude variation
• Develop calibration approaches for multichannel RF paths
• Own board-level power architecture and power delivery for RF, mixed-signal, converter, and supporting circuitry
• Select and integrate discrete RF components rather than relying primarily on connectorized or prepackaged RF modules
• Lead schematic capture, component selection, simulation, and design reviews
• Drive RF and mixed-signal PCB layout with close attention to grounding, isolation, impedance control, return paths, and coupling
• Bring up new hardware in the lab and characterize performance against system requirements
• Interface receiver hardware with high-speed ADCs, RFSoCs, FPGA platforms, and other digital processing hardware
• Integrate existing internally developed RF transmit hardware mechanically and electrically where required
• Support DFM and DFT reviews as hardware transitions from engineering builds into pilot production
• Develop production test approaches and fixtures for RF board validation
• Support EMI/EMC troubleshooting and pre-compliance testing
• Work closely with FPGA, signal-processing, antenna, mechanical, and systems engineers during integration

Qualifications

• BS in Electrical Engineering or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience
• 5+ years of hands-on RF or microwave hardware design experience
• Experience designing at least one wideband RF receiver through working, fielded, or customer-tested hardware
• Hands-on experience with multichannel or phase-coherent receiver architectures
• Strong understanding of channel-to-channel amplitude and phase calibration
• Deep knowledge of RF system performance including noise figure, dynamic range, IP3, compression, spurious response, gain distribution, and blocker tolerance
• Demonstrated component-level RF board design experience using discrete LNAs, filters, switches, mixers, amplifiers, and related circuitry
• Experience designing custom RF hardware rather than primarily integrating commercial RF modules
• Experience with direct-sampling ADC architectures, high-speed converters, or RFSoC-based systems
• Strong understanding of RF and mixed-signal PCB design
• Experience with tools such as Keysight ADS, AWR Microwave Office, Ansys HFSS, or similar RF simulation environments
• PCB design experience using Altium, Cadence Allegro, or comparable tools
• Strong lab skills using VNAs, spectrum analyzers, signal analyzers, signal generators, oscilloscopes, and related RF instrumentation
• Experience measuring and debugging noise figure, gain, linearity, spurious performance, and receiver sensitivity
• Ability to move a PCB from schematic through working hardware with limited design spins and an aggressive development schedule

Preferred Experience

• Experience with SIGINT, electronic warfare, direction finding, spectrum monitoring, or wireless sensing systems
• Background in cellular RF systems including LTE, 2G, 3G, or 5G
• Experience with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GNSS, or other commercial wireless technologies
• Antenna array experience or close collaboration with antenna engineers on direction-finding systems
• Familiarity with angle-of-arrival, coherent array processing, or TDOA-based localization
• Experience designing custom RF front ends or frequency converters for SDR platforms
• Familiarity with AMD/Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC architectures
• Experience with high-speed mixed-signal interfaces and converter clocking
• RF power distribution and board-level power integrity experience
• EMI/EMC design and troubleshooting experience
• Experience taking custom electronics through DFM, production test development, and pilot manufacturing
• MSEE with an RF, microwave, electromagnetics, or communications focus
• Background in consumer wireless, telecom, medical devices, test and measurement, or other industries developing high-performance RF electronics

Why Join Us

• Own a critical RF subsystem from first principles through production-ready hardware
• Design custom receiver electronics at the component level rather than integrating packaged RF modules
• Work on wideband, multichannel systems with demanding dynamic-range and phase-coherence requirements
• Collaborate directly with FPGA, DSP, geolocation, antenna, firmware, and mechanical engineers
• Take hardware from schematic through bench characterization and operational testing
• Join a small technical team where individual engineers have substantial influence over system architecture
• Help mature advanced RF technology from prototype into repeatable customer deployments
• Join at an early stage with meaningful technical ownership and long-term growth opportunity

Compensation Details

$120,000 - $150,000

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