Communications Engineer

RED CAT HOLDINGS•Fort Pierce, FL

About The Position

Blue Ops designs, builds, and fields autonomous unmanned surface vessels (USVs) for defense and national security customers. The Communications Engineer is a hands-on, mid-level role supporting the design, integration, troubleshooting, testing, and fielding of vessel and ground-control communications systems. The engineer works across wireless links, IP networks, embedded computers, and physical hardware, including RF radios, antennas, satellite terminals, cellular modems, routers, managed switches, and onboard communications equipment. The position focuses on reliable connectivity between vessels, ground-control stations, and supporting infrastructure. It configures and validates communications paths for command and control, telemetry, video, radar, and other payload data; diagnoses failures across RF links and network interfaces; and drives issues through verification and resolution. The role involves both configuration and analysis work and hands-on inspection and testing, including aboard vessels during integration and sea trials. The engineer independently executes assigned integration and troubleshooting tasks while collaborating with senior engineers on architecture, requirements, and design decisions. The role includes up to 50% travel to customer sites, test ranges, partner locations, and potentially overseas locations. Early starts, extended days, and occasional weekend work may be required around test events. Work combines office and laboratory activities with vessel integration and outdoor testing in marine environments. Candidates must complete a post-offer background check. The position requires access to ITAR/EAR-controlled items and requires proof of U.S. citizenship or permanent residence; sponsorship for export-restricted work authorization is not available.

Requirements

3–7 years of experience in communications engineering, RF systems, network engineering, systems integration, or a related technical role.
Hands-on experience integrating and troubleshooting RF or wireless communications equipment and IP networks.
Working knowledge of RF fundamentals, including link budgets, antenna gain, polarization, cable loss, line of sight, and interference.
Working knowledge of TCP/IP, UDP, Ethernet, subnetting, VLANs, routing, DHCP, VPNs, and network security fundamentals.
Experience configuring routers, managed switches, and wireless communications equipment.
Familiarity with Linux, SSH, command-line utilities, logs, and basic system services.
Experience using Wireshark, tcpdump, iperf, or equivalent network diagnostic tools.
Ability to use a multimeter and appropriate RF test equipment to troubleshoot installed communications systems.
Ability to read and produce network diagrams, wiring diagrams, test procedures, and technical documentation.
Ability to independently troubleshoot assigned problems, communicate findings clearly, and coordinate corrective actions across engineering teams.
U.S. citizenship and ability to obtain and maintain a DoD security clearance.
Ability to travel up to 50%.
Ability to manually lift and carry equipment and materials weighing up to 50 pounds.
Ability to crawl, kneel, crouch, bend, climb, and work in confined or awkward spaces while installing, inspecting, and servicing equipment on and around vessels.
Ability to safely board and move around boats, docks, and uneven or wet surfaces.
Comfort working outdoors and in marine environments, including dockside activities and on-water testing.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Telecommunications, Systems Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
Experience with USVs, UAS, UGVs, robotics, marine electronics, defense, aerospace, or other complex integrated systems.
Experience with Peplink routers, SpeedFusion, SD-WAN, satellite communications, Starlink, or cellular networking.
Experience with tactical or industrial mesh radios.
Experience with spectrum analyzers, vector network analyzers, RF power meters, or cable and antenna analyzers.
Familiarity with NVIDIA Jetson or other embedded Linux computers.
Familiarity with MAVLink, NMEA 2000, CAN, serial interfaces, or maritime sensor integration.
Experience transporting video, radar, or telemetry across bandwidth-constrained or intermittent links.
Experience with Python or shell scripting for diagnostics, monitoring, configuration, or test automation.
Experience with field testing, sea trials, commissioning, or deployed communications systems.

Responsibilities

Integrate, configure, and troubleshoot vessel and ground-control communications systems, including RF radios, satellite terminals, cellular connections, routers, switches, and antennas.
Configure and validate IP addressing, subnets, VLANs, routing, DHCP, firewall rules, VPNs, and multicast or broadcast traffic handling.
Support implementation and testing of multi-WAN connectivity, link failover, traffic prioritization, and bandwidth aggregation.
Evaluate communications performance using throughput, latency, jitter, packet loss, signal quality, and link availability measurements.
Develop and review RF link budgets, antenna placement, cable-loss estimates, and installation considerations such as polarization, isolation, and interference.
Diagnose connectivity and performance issues using packet captures, router diagnostics, Linux tools, RF test equipment, and system logs.
Integrate communications paths for command and control, telemetry, video, radar, and other onboard payload interfaces.
Support dockside checkout, sea trials, demonstrations, deliveries, and customer events; verify communications readiness before deployment.
Execute test procedures to validate coverage, failover behavior, recovery after outages, and performance under representative operating conditions.
Inspect and troubleshoot communications wiring, Ethernet and RF cabling, connectors, grounding, and equipment power.
Maintain network diagrams, IP address plans, equipment configurations, test results, and installation and troubleshooting procedures.
Identify recurring issues and work with autonomy, software, electrical, and systems engineering teams to implement durable corrective actions.