Principal RF/DSP Engineer

About the role

The Principal RF/DSP Engineer will take on the hardest RF detection and classification problems in our Counter-UAS products. This role involves owning the most difficult and least-documented RF targets end-to-end, designing experiments, developing algorithms, and validating performance.

Responsibilities

• Generate hypotheses and design experiments for new RF targets, analyzing wideband complex-IQ recordings and characterizing signal properties.
• Develop and implement algorithms for burst detection, synchronization, demodulation, signal characterization, protocol recovery, classification, and tracking.
• Design and own reusable signal-processing components such as synchronization libraries, synthetic-waveform and impairment-injection frameworks, replay fixtures, and validation harnesses.
• Own and improve line-of-bearing performance, including array signal processing, bearing estimation, array calibration, and mitigating real-world errors like mutual coupling and multipath.
• Implement and optimize production DSP capabilities in modern C++, validate algorithms using synthetic, conducted, over-the-air, and field-recorded data, and lead field validation campaigns.
• Unblock stalled investigations, review and de-risk other engineers' work, and lead laboratory and field validation campaigns.
• Identify emerging target classes and systemic bottlenecks, and recommend technical investments to leadership.

Requirements

Substantial professional experience developing RF, communications, radar, electronic-warfare, or related signal-processing systems. Strong DSP and digital-communications fundamentals, including sampling and aliasing, digital downconversion, FIR/IIR and multirate filtering, FFT and time-frequency analysis, matched filtering, detection and estimation, carrier, phase, symbol-timing, and frame synchronization, modulation and demodulation, channel coding and error detection. Hands-on experience implementing, testing, and debugging DSP algorithms. Proficiency writing production-quality C++ in a Linux environment. Experience analyzing real complex-IQ data, designing and implementing reusable DSP libraries, frameworks, or test infrastructure, and working with RF, FPGA, embedded software, data science, test, and mission teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related technical field.
• Track record of independently reverse-engineering an undocumented or partially documented wireless waveform or protocol through to a fielded or productized capability.
• Experience with Software Defined Radios, RF laboratory equipment, and conducted or over-the-air testing.
• Experience with frequency-hopping, spread-spectrum, OFDM, cellular, telemetry, command-and-control, or other modern communication systems.
• Experience building detectors that operate in congested RF environments with measurable false-alarm requirements.
• Experience with FPGA-based DSP, fixed-point implementation, hardware/software partitioning, or high-rate sample transport.
• Experience optimizing real-time C++ DSP pipelines using profiling, SIMD, threading, bounded queues, and reusable buffers.
• Experience generating synthetic waveforms and injecting controlled impairments such as noise, CFO, clock offset, fading, and interference.
• RF antenna design experience: element or array design, simulation, pattern and impedance measurement, or working directly with antenna engineers on array geometry and platform integration trades.
• Deeper array-processing experience: wideband DF, DF on frequency-hopping or short-burst emitters, coherent multichannel receiver architectures, or emitter geolocation (TDOA/AOA fusion, multi-sensor triangulation).
• Familiarity with statistical classification or machine learning applied to RF data.
• Experience with Counter-UAS, electronic warfare, SIGINT, radar, or related mission systems.

Skills

Exceptional fundamentals, demonstrated technical leadership, and a proven track record of taking undocumented wireless systems from first contact to fielded capability, largely on their own initiative.

Benefits

AeroVironment offers an excellent benefits package including medical, dental, vision, 401K with company matching, a 9/80 work schedule, and a paid holiday shutdown. For more information about our company benefit offerings, please visit: http://www.avinc.com/myavbenefits. We also encourage you to review our company website at http://www.avinc.com to learn more about us. Principals only need apply. NO agencies please.