Radio Frequency (RF) Systems Engineer

About the role

Battelle is seeking a Systems Engineer with a specialization in Radio Frequency (RF) systems to support the development of advanced communications, electronic warfare (EW), and sensing systems within the Advanced Microsystems Solutions (AMS) portfolio.

Responsibilities

• Define and develop end-to-end RF system architectures, including: Antennas and apertures, RF front-end components (Tx/Rx chains), IF/baseband and processing interfaces.
• Perform system-level trade studies to optimize performance, cost, and risk.
• Translate mission and customer needs into technical system architectures and design solutions.
• Contribute to system design reviews (SRR, PDR, CDR) and technical baselines.
• Lead or support design and development of complex RF systems across the lifecycle.
• Ensure system designs are scalable, testable, maintainable, and aligned with requirements.
• Support implementation of system-level functionality, including hardware/software integration points.
• Drive model-based systems engineering (MBSE) or structured system engineering methodologies.
• Plan and execute system integration activities across RF subsystems and components.
• Develop and support integration strategies, verification plans, and validation approaches.
• Lead or support laboratory integration, field testing and evaluation, system-level performance validation.
• Collaborate with RF, test, and software engineers to ensure end-to-end system functionality.
• Develop and implement automated test frameworks and procedures for RF system validation.
• Analyze system performance data to identify issues and failure modes, validate system requirements, inform design improvements, and support test instrumentation strategy and integration with system-level architectures.
• Identify, assess, and mitigate technical risks across RF system programs, conduct risk analyses, trade studies, and contingency planning, proactively address integration, performance, and schedule risks.
• Work closely with: RF engineers and designers, antenna engineers, software/embedded teams, test and integration teams, support proposal efforts, IRAD initiatives, and technical documentation, serve as a technical liaison between engineering teams, program leadership, and customers.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Physics, or related field and 5+ years relevant experience.
• Strong understanding of RF system design and signal flow, system integration and test methodologies, requirements management and systems engineering processes.
• Ability to work across multi-disciplinary engineering teams.
• U.S. Citizen with ability to obtain and maintain a DoD Top Secret security clearance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Electronic Warfare (EW) systems, phased array or beamforming systems, Software Defined Radio (SDR) platforms, Model-based systems engineering (MBSE).
• Familiarity with RF test equipment and lab environments, test automation tools and frameworks, MATLAB, Python, or similar for modeling and analysis.
• Experience supporting system lifecycle activities (concept → deployment → sustainment).
• Holds an active DoD Top Secret clearance.