Principal Radio Frequency Engineer

Canyon Aeroconnect•Prescott, AZ

2d•Onsite

About The Position

Canyon AeroConnect is hiring a Principal Radio Frequency Engineer for a paid internship. The candidate must be currently enrolled in an accredited industry trade certification, college, or university program. The role is based onsite at the company’s facility in Prescott, Arizona, and is not eligible for remote work. Because the position has export-control requirements, candidates must qualify as a “US Person” under 22 C.F.R. § 120.15. The engineer will lead RF architecture, design evaluation, integration, verification, and sustaining engineering for VHF/UHF and wideband airborne radio platforms, as applicable to assigned programs. The role involves assessing radio performance against requirements, diagnosing circuit- and system-level RF issues, leading interference investigations, and developing and executing verification plans. The engineer will also provide technical direction on calibration and production testing, support environmental and EMC/EMI qualification, lead failure analysis and corrective actions, review technical and configuration decisions, and mentor less experienced engineers. Canyon AeroConnect supplies avionics-standard aircraft communications, navigation, and audio/intercom systems used in civilian, paramilitary, and military fixed-wing and rotorcraft applications. Its products serve Air Ambulance, Law Enforcement, SAR, EMS, Electronic News Gathering, Military, and Marine applications.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or a related field and typically 8 or more years of relevant RF design, integration, verification, or sustaining-engineering experience; comparable expertise may be considered.
Deep practical knowledge of RF communication systems and troubleshooting at circuit, module, transceiver, and installed-system levels.
Demonstrated proficiency with spectrum analyzers, vector network analyzers, signal generators, power meters, noise-figure and sensitivity methods, and relevant RF test automation.
Strong understanding of RF measurements, uncertainty, calibration, link budgets, system-level interference mechanisms, and systematic root-cause investigations.
Ability to independently lead technical reviews and produce clear, defensible analysis and verification documentation.
Must be currently enrolled in an accredited industry trade certification, college, or university program.
Must qualify as a “US Person” as defined by 22 C.F.R. § 120.15: a US citizen, lawful permanent resident, refugee, or asylee.
Must work onsite at the facility in Prescott, Arizona; remote work is not available.

Nice To Haves

Experience with airborne communications, public-safety radio, mission-critical transceivers, wideband receivers, or avionics integration.
Working knowledge of DO-160, MIL-STD-461, TIA-603, AS9100, and controlled certification or qualification evidence processes.
Experience with RF simulation and design tools such as ADS, AWR, HFSS, or equivalent, as well as scripting, test automation, and statistical performance analysis.
Experience investigating cosite interference, receiver desense, antenna coupling, RF filters or preselectors, synthesizer behavior, and transmitter-receiver interactions.
Proven success leading design improvements through qualification, manufacturing transfer, field reliability recovery, or product sustainment.

Responsibilities

Lead RF architecture, design evaluation, integration, verification, and sustaining engineering for VHF/UHF and wideband airborne radio platforms, as applicable to assigned programs.
Evaluate receiver sensitivity, selectivity, blocking, intermodulation, desensitization, squelch, phase noise, spurious responses, spectral purity, transmitter power, modulation quality, and frequency stability against allocated requirements.
Develop, review, and execute RF test plans, acceptance criteria, characterization methods, and requirement-to-evidence matrices; reconcile component-, module-, LRU-, and system-level verification results.
Diagnose RF issues involving front-end filtering, preselectors, switching, synthesizers, mixers, amplifiers, power amplifiers, impedance matching, and RF/control interfaces.
Lead cosite and interference investigations, including antenna isolation, adjacent-channel effects, filter-bank behavior, and installation-level interactions, and provide evidence-based recommendations.
Provide technical direction on RF calibration, alignment, automated production testing, test limits, and measurement-system integrity; partner with Test and Manufacturing Engineering on repeatability and yield.
Plan and interpret RF environmental and EMC/EMI qualification, as applicable to program baselines, including DO-160, MIL-STD-461, and relevant radio-performance standards such as TIA-603.
Own or lead failure analysis and corrective-action activities for field returns, production escapes, and reliability trends; define experiments and validate permanent fixes.
Serve as an RF technical reviewer for design reviews, customer discussions, supplier assessments, engineering changes, qualification reports, and configuration-control decisions.
Mentor less experienced engineers, coach requirements-driven problem solving, and communicate technical tradeoffs, cost and schedule risks, and evidence gaps to leadership.
Collaborate across engineering, manufacturing, test, quality, supply chain, program management, and external technical stakeholders.
Follow site safety, ESD, quality, document-control, and information-security procedures.