Principal RF Hardware Engineer Verified today

About AnySignal

AnySignal is developing the next generation of RF products and services for space and defense missions. We build a flexible, high-performance platform enabling customers to deploy advanced radio technologies faster.

The Role

Principal RF Hardware Engineer is the most senior individual contributor role on the RF hardware team. You own RF hardware designs end to end: architecture and cascade budgets, schematic, layout direction, bring-up, characterization, and support through qualification and flight.

You will set the technical standard for RF hardware here: how designs are reviewed, what verification is expected before a board is released, and what documentation must exist after. Our radios fly, so the work is judged on what survives launch and performs on orbit.

What You Will Own

• Space radio RF hardware designs end to end: architecture and cascade budgets, schematic capture, layout direction, board bring-up, characterization, and support through qualification and flight.
• Design and analyze receive and transmit chains: LNAs, mixers, filters, amplifiers, frequency synthesis and PLLs, data converters, and high-speed interfaces into the digital section.
• Cascade performance: noise figure, gain and flatness, linearity and IM3, spurious, phase noise, EVM, and end-to-end sensitivity, with analysis you can defend against bench data.
• PCB stackup, controlled-impedance routing, RF layout, grounding and shielding strategy, and thermal considerations at the board level.
• Board bring-up and characterization on the bench: VNA, spectrum and signal analyzers, signal generators, noise figure meters, high-speed scopes, TDR.
• EEE parts selection and qualification for the space environment: derating, radiation tolerance and single-event effects mitigation, screening, upscreening, and reliability analysis.
• Environmental qualification support and failure analysis and anomaly resolution when hardware misbehaves on the bench or on orbit.
• Technical standards for RF hardware: simulation and verification expectations, design review rigor, and documentation that outlives the designer.
• Mentorship and technical interviewing; raise the bar through design reviews and demonstrated judgment rather than reporting lines.

Required Experience and Skills

• 10+ years designing RF and microwave hardware, with genuine depth rather than adjacency.
• Multiple programs with hardware you personally designed that has flown and operated on orbit.
• Demonstrated end-to-end ownership: architecture and budgets, schematic, layout direction, bring-up, and bench characterization on the same designs.
• Expert-level ECAD (Altium preferred) and RF/EM simulation tools such as ADS, Microwave Office, HFSS, or CST.
• Excellent first-principles command of RF fundamentals, with the ability to derive rather than look up.
• Strong bench skills, including soldering, rework, and methodical debug of boards that do not work yet.
• Working practice in space-grade parts selection, derating, and reliability.

Desired Skills

• Software-defined radio architectures, direct RF sampling, and wideband data converters.
• Integration experience with Xilinx MPSoC or RFSoC devices.
• Phased array, beamforming, or multi-channel coherent system experience.
• DSP and communications theory fluency to argue productively with the FPGA and waveform teams.
• Python or equivalent scripting for automated test and data analysis.
• Track record as the named technical authority on a program, holding a design position under schedule and customer pressure.

Compensation

Estimated base salary: $210,000-$260,000 per year, plus equity. Final base salary depends on qualifications, relevant experience, skills, and market considerations. Total compensation includes equity grant and full benefits package: Medical, Dental, Vision, HSA, and 401K program.

Employment Requirements

To comply with U.S. space technology export rules such as the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), you must be a U.S. citizen, a lawful U.S. permanent resident, a protected individual as specified by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or possess eligibility to secure the necessary authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.