Senior Staff Engineer, RF Power Amplifier Design

pSemi Corporation, a Murata company, builds on Peregrine Semiconductor’s 30-year legacy of technology advancements and strong IP portfolio to enhance Murata’s world-class capabilities with high-performance semiconductors. With a foundation in RF integration, pSemi’s product portfolio spans power management, connected sensors, optical transceivers, antenna tuning, and RF frontends, enabling advanced modules for smartphones, base stations, personal computers, electric vehicles, data centers, IoT devices, and healthcare.

About the Role

This position is responsible for technical leadership, architecture definition, and end-to-end design direction for advanced RF power amplifier platforms supporting cellular and Wi-Fi front-end applications. The individual will serve as a recognized subject matter expert in the development and optimization of RF power amplifiers across multiple frequency bands and semiconductor processes, including SOI and GaAs, guiding complex technical tradeoff decisions across performance, cost, manufacturability, and time-to-market. The role involves defining and advancing power amplifier techniques and architectures for high-performance, cost-optimized APT and ET front-end solutions, while acting as a key technical advisor to pSemi and Murata management on RF power amplifier design decisions, capability development, and roadmap tradeoffs.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development and technical evaluation of novel architectures, circuits, devices, and methods for high-performance RF power amplifiers and transmit chains using co-design and co-simulation of active and passive circuitry.
• Provide technical leadership for advanced RF power amplifier platforms for cellular and Wi-Fi front-end applications, including design reviews, architecture tradeoff decisions, and technical risk resolution across multiple programs.
• Drive advanced power amplifier design across multiple process technologies and supply modulation approaches, including envelope tracking, while determining design methodologies and evaluation criteria for complex or non-standard assignments.
• Lead cross-functional technical collaboration with engineering teams across pSemi and Murata on PA technologies, aligning design decisions, resolving escalated technical issues, and driving adoption of best practices.
• Partner with key stakeholders and suppliers to influence, refine, and execute the long-term architectural roadmap for PA platforms, ensuring technical decisions align with product, process, and manufacturing strategy.
• Lead technical execution of PA proof-of-concept prototypes and transition successful technologies into high-volume products, with accountability for design maturity, manufacturability, and performance outcomes.
• Serve as a recognized technical expert in advancing pSemi and Murata RF PA capabilities, directing future efforts regarding tools, technology, performance, cost optimization, and design methodology improvements across the function.
• Mentor and provide technical guidance to junior and peer engineers; review complex designs, elevate team capability, and disseminate advanced design practices across the RF development organization.
• Document all relevant product and design information to educate others on novel design techniques and provide guidance on product usage.
• Work with Characterization and Test Engineers to define, conduct, and analyze data from product performance characterization.
• Work with Test Engineers to define, develop, and ramp production ATE solutions.
• Provide expert technical leadership with Product, Test, and Manufacturing Engineering to resolve complex field failures, improve yield, drive corrective actions, and establish design learnings that improve future product robustness.

Requirements

• Typically requires 12 or more years of RF FEM product development, with demonstrated expert-level technical capability in the design, development, and commercialization of advanced RF power amplifier products.
• More than 5 years of direct experience with GaAs-based power amplifier product development.
• At least 5 years of advanced development experience directly related to mobile power amplifier and/or transmitter design, including responsibility for resolving novel or non-standard technical challenges.
• Detailed knowledge and experience with design of envelope tracking (ET) PA for mobile applications.
• Direct hands-on experience with the design of highly efficient and linear power amplifiers operating between 600 MHz and 20 GHz.
• Deep understanding of technical principles of power amplifier operation and design.
• Experience with transistor-level IC design and layout in multiple technology nodes including: GaAs HBT, CMOS-SOI, SiGe, GaN.
• Understanding of the comparative advantage and tradeoffs between different semiconductor processes.
• Good Wi-Fi and/or cellular standard system knowledge and key performance metrics.
• Knowledge of IC fabrication and its impact on circuit performance.
• Good understanding of non-linear effects in transistors.
• Knowledge of basic analog bias and control circuits and their impact on overall RF system.
• Experience with EM (Electromagnetic) modeling of high-frequency RFICs and PCBs.
• Familiarity with analog & RF IC layout techniques.
• Multiple successful IC tape-outs and demonstrated contribution across the full product life cycle from concept definition through validation, release, and production ramp.
• Experience in design, debug, and optimization of RFICs in the lab using standard lab equipment.
• Hands-on use of RF measurement equipment to validate and correlate performance metrics such as ACP/ACLR, EVM, IP3, NF, and gain.
• Proficiency with software tools: Virtuoso, Cadence Spectre, Keysight ADS, EM software, Matlab, JMP.
• Strength in documentation clarity and completeness.
• Ability to clearly assess and manage risk.
• Strong ability to influence cross-functional technical decisions in a collaborative environment, align diverse stakeholders on complex tradeoffs, and deliver high-impact outcomes on schedule.
• Recognized subject matter expertise in RF power amplifier design with the ability to determine methods, techniques, and evaluation criteria for highly complex or unique assignments.

Qualifications

Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering (or equivalent field).

Work Environment

This job operates in a professional office environment and routinely uses standard office equipment.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. The employee is regularly required to talk or hear, stand, walk, use hands to finger, handle or feel, and reach with hands and arms. Specific vision abilities required include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus. This position requires the ability to occasionally lift office products and supplies, up to 20 pounds.

Pay

USD 195,563.22 - 254,246.27 per year