Principal Radio Systems Engineer

LeoLabs•Denver, CO

8d•Hybrid

About The Position

At LeoLabs, we’re building the living map of activity in space. Through our proprietary global radar network and AI-enabled analytics platform, we collect millions of measurements daily on more than 25,000 objects in low Earth orbit (LEO). Our radar-powered intelligence protects billions in assets, monitors adversarial behavior, and ensures safe operations for commercial and government missions. We’re not just building technology, we are redefining global security, safety, and transparency in space. As orbital activity accelerates and threats grow more complex, LeoLabs is a trusted partner for Space Domain Awareness, Space Traffic Management, and Satellite Operations for top-tier space operators and allied defense organizations. If you're looking to work on mission-critical challenges at the forefront of aerospace, national security, and AI, your impact starts here. The Opportunity At LeoLabs, the Hardware Engineering Team designs, builds, manufactures, and deploys advanced radar systems that provide persistent orbital intelligence to customers around the world. LeoLabs is at the forefront of this technology, a recognized space-domain awareness leader and seen as a disruptor in conventional radar systems. As a Principal Radio Systems Engineer, you will lead the design and architecture of the electronics that power our next-generation radar systems. You will own complex system -level hardware designs across multiple programs, guiding hardware designs from concept through validation, manufacturing, and deployment. This is a hands-on technical leadership role for an experienced engineer who enjoys solving difficult problems, mentoring other engineers, working in dynamic teams, interfacing with external partners and customers, and building reliable hardware that performs in demanding environments. In this role, you will work closely with our partners in supporting end-use customers through regular on-site visits in the Denver, Colorado region. As such, work would dictate either living in this region or the ability to frequently travel to it. Occasional travel to our headquarters in Menlo Park, California is also expected. You will work closely with RF, mechanical, embedded software, manufacturing, and systems engineers to develop both requirements and high-performance radar hardware from concept through deployment.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or a related discipline
10+ years of experience designing radio systems
Demonstrated proficiency in modeling and simulation
Understanding of core systems engineering principles
Ability to define, analyze, and manage requirements at all levels from customer facing to component level.
Competence in developing validation test plans.
RF system design fundamentals, including noise, linearity, filtering, amplification, timing and signal synthesis/analysis.
Hands-on experience with RF Hardware development
Experience developing engineering tools and automation using Python
Must be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. personnel security clearance

Nice To Haves

Master's degree in Electrical Engineering
Experience designing radar, aerospace, communications, defense, or other mission-critical electronics systems
Thorough understanding of radar performance metrics, and how hardware, software and operational techniques affect them.
Experience supporting hardware through manufacturing and deployment
Experience leading technical teams and mentoring engineers
Working knowledge of state-of-the-art RF electronics and digital system integration
Experience with Altium Designer or equivalent PCB design software

Responsibilities

Negotiate with end-use customers and own the RF system architecture and specifications across multiple programs.
Evaluate technical tradeoffs and guide architectural decisions across multiple hardware programs.
Own radar sensor performance analysis and subsequent hardware requirements.
Lead the architecture & development of novel RF, mixed-signal, power, control, timing, and high-performance digital circuitry
Define system-level, sub-system components, and board-level architectures, working alongside RF, EE, ME, Software and other systems engineers to arrive at functional designs.
Drive design optimization in simulations, and drive hardware development to achieve it in the laboratory
Conduct technical design reviews and mentor engineers across the Hardware Engineering Team
Support manufacturing, field deployments, and root-cause investigations as products transition into production