Reports To: Director of Engineering
Job Summary: The RF Design Engineer II position uses strong organizational and communication skills to efficiently complete assigned tasks. Primary responsibilities involve new product development, prototyping and tuning, working with the Engineering and Production teams to release new designs, supporting Production RF testing, and maintaining the company’s wide variety of currently active designs. This position requires technical expertise with antenna design, RF test equipment, microwave simulation software, and Solidworks. This position requires the ability to apply creative solutions to new antenna and RF component designs to achieve high performance in harsh conditions.
Responsibilities:
Research and design RF antennas and related radio system accessories to be manufactured in high and low volumes, primarily for military/LEO applications.
Perform electromagnetic simulations and measurements using commercial and in-house tools.
Develop and maintain design documentation, including engineering drawings, reports, and test plans.
Work with Engineering technicians to build, test, and tune prototypes on the bench.
Work with mechanical design team to ensure antenna designs meet system requirements and are properly documented for release to production.
Assure product quality meets SWA rugged standards by assisting in the design and review of qualification tests.
Communicate with internal and external customers and vendors as required to develop or maintain RF designs.
Work with Production staff to ensure new product is smoothly released, support Production RF testing as required, including troubleshooting and training Production staff in the use of RF measurement tools.
Collaborate with Manufacturing and Production, starting early in the process, to ensure new product releases are designed with manufacturability in mind.
Participate in product design and manufacturing reviews.
Specify and/or design RF tools and fixtures for R&D and Production testing as required.
Specify and/or assist in creating, reviewing, and approving engineering reports, drawings, SOPs, work instructions, ECOs, datasheets, and other engineering documentation as required.
Qualifications:
Bachelor's degree in Electrical or RF Engineering. Master's degree a plus.
7 years minimum experience in RF design or equivalent, with a focus antenna design and passive analog RF.
Strong knowledge of antenna design principles across a broad spectrum, particularly with a focus on HF/VHF/UHF and sub-10GHz design. Experience designing antennas for any of: handheld radios, base stations, manned or unmanned ground/air/sea/underwater/space vehicles a plus.
Experience with designing/tuning some or all of the following: half wave dipole, full wave dipole, collinear antenna, dual polarized antennas, vertical polarized omnis, horizonal polarized omnis, dual/multi-band antenna, patches, sectors/arrays, concealments, UAV antennas, hemispherical antennas, directional antennas, horn antennas, pcb antennas, microstrip antennas, slot antennas, circularly polarized antennas, quadrifilar, bifilar, GPS or other GNSS antennas.
Experience with EM-simulation tools, schematic capture software, microwave circuit simulation, CAD modeling etc, including Altair Feko, Altium, Keysight Genesys/PathWave Synthesis, and Solidworks.
Experience with antenna measurement techniques including Smith Chart, S-parameters, near-field and far-field pattern measurement.
Experience with RF test equipment including VNA, spectrum analyzer, signal generator, etc.
Comfortable with a hands-on approach.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, able to write clear written reports/design analysis.
Strong verbal and written communication and interpersonal skills, effective team player.
Experience with design for manufacturing and/or for Military/LEO applications a plus.
Due to the nature of work performed, U.S. Citizenship required, and employee can have no criminal record or warrants.
Physical Demands and Work Environment – The following physical demands and work environment characteristics are representative of those that must be met to successfully perform the essential
Functions of this job:
The following physical demands and work environment characteristics are representative of those that must be met to successfully perform the essential functions of this job:
The employee is regularly required to stand; walk; sit; use hands; reach with hands and arms; climb or balance; stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl; and talk or hear.
The employee may be required to lift and carry up to 20 pounds.
Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, ability to adjust focus and the ability to see color.
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally exposed to moving mechanical parts, work near ventilated and exhaust equipped soldering stations and some solvents and chemicals.
The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.