RF Design Engineer

* direct-hire only for now, no recruiters please.

vigilant .engineering is a fast-growing technical services firm specializing in dual-use hardware innovation—serving both defense and commercial sectors. We partner with startups and OEMs to accelerate product development, deliver engineering excellence, and unlock strategic growth opportunities.

We are seeking an experienced Senior RF Design Engineer (3-24 GHz) to support and lead fast-paced product development projects while working closely with a small group of scientists, engineers, and business leaders in a rapid development environment. The candidate will be responsible for the design and analysis of RF systems including advanced prototyping, product engineering, and supporting production transition. In addition, the candidate should be skilled in project planning budget & schedule management, and written and verbal communication.

The successful candidate will demonstrate the ability to think creatively and to operate within a flexible, fast-paced program dedicated to advancing the state of the art in Electronic Warfare.

• Lead design, verification and test projects for radio frequency, microwave, and millimeter wave electronics for wireless power transfer systems, including frequency converters, rectification diodes, and other active & passive components
• Apply scientific techniques toward design of mmWave and microwave circuits and systems. Use full-wave solvers (such as HFSS or CST), semi-analytical approaches, and numerical models to validate theory. Prove out models with experiments that mitigate technical risk. Propose components and novel design approaches
• Design, develop and qualify mmWave, microwave, and RF subsystems for beamforming antenna systems. Review adjacent subsystem designs and quantify RF impacts. Support RF PCB layout including generation of RF artwork for integration into mixed signal boards. Conduct design reviews. Revise designs as required to achieve product performance and product goals
• Develop test plans for microwave and millimeter wave designs. Analyze data alongside test engineers that provides clarity around KPIs. Diagnose problems found in EV/DV/PV development phases, direct mitigations, and resolve emergent issues from deployments
• Perform analyses to optimize total system architecture for affordability, safety, reliability, maintainability, testability, regulatory, and certification
• Teach/mentor junior engineers and technicians on making millimeter wave test measurements and review test results
• Collaborate closely and drive the resolution of technical issues by working with cross-functional teams such as industrial design, mechanical, EE, architecture, product design, NPI, and supply chain
• Perform collaborative design reviews of RF and EE designs to ensure systems function as-designed prior to prototype fabrication
• Ensure product compliance with all industry specific certifications/regulations
• Collaborate with Program management, Systems Engineering, and other cross functional teams to drive product definition, design decisions, team alignment, and day to day program execution.
• Support resolution of technical issues by working with the cross-functional teams, such as, Mechanical, SW, Technology teams, Quality/Reliability, CM, and vendors.

• BS in Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, or Physics or equivalent experience
• 5+ years of technical experience (post academic) in the field of RF/Millimeter wave electronics, antenna design and RF/Millimeter wave electronics test
• 3+ years of experience using one of the 3D EM simulation tools such as CST, HFSS, FEKO, SEMCAD, EMPro, TICRA or XFDTD
• Familiarity with PCB design capture tools such as Altium, Cadence, etc.
• Familiarity with solid-state device characteristics, dynamic impedance matching, and RF power characterization
• Expertise in the RF domain including understanding of advanced transmitter designs, including RF performance parameters such as sensitivity, dynamic range, gain and noise analysis, bandwidth, and digital parameters such as Analog-to-Digital conversion, ENOB, SFDR, timing and…