RF Design Test Engineer

RF Design for Test Engineer (PCB / Microwave)

Location:

Maldon, Essex

Salary:
Flexible for the right candidate

A technology business designing and manufacturing semiconductor ICs and RF PCB assemblies for global communications markets is seeking an engineer to join the team focusing on design-for-test at RF PCB level. This is not a "production test operator" role - you'll work closely with engineering to ensure RF boards and assemblies are testable, measurable and manufacturable, and you'll develop the supporting test approach and hardware alongside that.

The role

You'll sit at the intersection of RF board-level engineering and test development, supporting products from early design through to production. Key elements include:

• Working with engineers on RF PCB-level design-for-test, including measurement access, calibration approaches and test strategy
• Supporting or contributing to PCB-level design activities (layout review, stack-up considerations, transmission line structures, connectorisation, test points, etc.)
• Developing and refining RF test approaches and methodologies to validate boards/subsystems
• Designing/supporting test hardware (e.g., DUT/load boards, fixtures, adapters)
• Using RF measurements to debug and improve designs (e.g., S-parameters, matching, stability)
• Supporting production and engineering with structured investigations where test results indicate design or process issues
• Creating clear documentation (test methods, procedures, reports) and supporting continuous improvement

Essential skills / experience

• Strong board-level RF/microwave engineering background (not just system-level test)
• Confident understanding of RF fundamentals including:
  Smith Chart, S-Parameters, Microstrip/Stripline
• Practical lab capability with VNA / Vector Network Analyzer and spectrum analyser measurements
• Comfortable working across development validation production support
• Strong communication and documentation skills

Desirable

• PCB design exposure (ideally Altium)
• Test automation / scripting (Python, C/C#/LabVIEW etc.)
• Bench instrumentation control (GPIB/LXI/PXI)
• RF simulation/design tools (e.g., Keysight ADS)
• Version control (Git/SVN)

Benefits

• 25 days holiday + bank holidays
• Pension scheme
• Healthcare scheme
• Death in service (x4 salary)
• Free on-site parking
• A genuinely great place to work with real autonomy - you'll have the freedom to use your imagination and initiative to test, integrate and solve problems, rather than being boxed into rigid processes