Principal Research Scientist (RF Designer/Architect)

Qorvo • Richardson, TX

43d • $170,300 - $221,500 • Onsite

About The Position

Qorvo is seeking a talented RF Designer and Architect researcher to drive cutting-edge innovation within Qorvo's Advanced Research Group. The role is responsible for the design and development of mixed-signal integrated assemblies providing command, communications, control, and interface of radio electronics. This position reports directly to the Director of Systems Engineering in the Systems, Research & Technology Department. The individual will take a technical leadership role in developing RF, analog, and digital circuitry employed in a wide variety of product development projects. Responsibilities include driving technical definitions and specifications of next-generation products, making presentations and proposals to management and customers, performing linear and non-linear simulations, component selection, PCB design and fabrication, and testing and verification to design specifications. The candidate will collaborate with Electrical & Mechanical Design Engineering, Marketing, and the Product Line to develop products and technology for the next generation of RF systems.

Requirements

• MSEE minimum, PhD preferred
• 12+ years’ experience in infrastructure, military, communications and RF industry.
• Extensive background in analog circuit design using op amps and discrete devices
• Experienced in power management design including switching converters, regulators and load control
• Capable of basic digital logic design and logic “glue” commonly found in integrated assemblies
• Background in designing and building complex surface mount integrated assemblies
• Extensive knowledge of active and passive components available in the open market
• Experience applying semiconductor devices such as HBT and GaN in RF circuits & signal processing chains
• RF & microwave circuit design including amplifiers, control components and temperature compensation
• Design experience in data acquisition including ADC, DAC, multiplexing and signal processing chains
• Familiarity with modern and legacy radio architectures
• Ability to employ component specifications such as noise figure, phase noise, quantization error, ADC SNR, filter group delay, isolation, and amplifier linearity in the determination of dynamic range in RF line-ups
• Extensive background in time domain simulations (Spice) of mixed signal circuits
• Background in receiver and transmitter circuit designs, block diagram analysis, familiarity with up and down conversion, synthesizers and application of RF components
• Highly organized to handle multiple projects at once
• Proficiency with active and passive filter design
• Non-linear circuits simulation & experience
• Embedded controller hardware design
• Schematic capture, PCB layout, & BOM selection experience
• Demonstrated ability to work with cross-functional teams
• Experience working with basic thermal analysis of ICs, discrete devices and passives
• Skilled in the use of modern test equipment such as AWGs, signal analyzers and mixed signal oscilloscopes
• Ability to hand solder surface mount components & modify circuits on the bench
• Strong trouble shooting skills on the bench
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

Nice To Haves

• PhD preferred

Responsibilities

• Lead multiple cross-functional and cross-site engineering teams in the design and development of command, control, communications and interfacing electronics for RF components and signal chains.
• Develop requirements and specifications for assemblies used in products that are needed for next generation systems in infrastructure & defense markets.
• Perform analysis and simulations of various approaches including key challenges, tradeoffs, and approaches to verification and validation.
• Identify required circuit functions based on requirements performance parameters and all other requirements and constraints and allocate sub-system partitioning to each function.
• Provide technical inputs for PCB thermal analysis and analyze any resultant impact to the reliability of integrated assemblies.
• Define RF circuit interfaces and integration requirements based on this partitioning.
• Develop plans for integrated assembly and RF component integration, as well as plans for performance evaluation of assemblies and RF components.
• Integrate sensors, component controls and data acquisition blocks with embedded controllers & digital signal processing functions.
• Provide design documentation necessary to realize integrated assemblies and their interconnection with hosts.
• In conjunction with Test engineering, develop strategies and execution plans for automated test capability of integrated assemblies.
• Review customer’s requirements and technology proposals to identify potential applicable company products & technology.
• Work with engineering development groups and marketing during product development cycles to ensure products meet customer specifications and requirements.
• Develop specifications and generate proposals for mixed signal SMT assemblies employed in RF and microwave signal chains.
• Design command, communications, control and interface circuitry for RF integrated assemblies.
• Perform linear, non-linear & time domain simulations of active & passive circuits including but not limited to filters, amplifiers, digital & analog multiplexers, interface electronics, embedded controllers and power management.
• Employ time domain simulation methods to accurately predict electronic circuit performance and impact to overall assembly performance.
• Invent novel mixed signal circuit design solutions that provide robust performance relative to requirements and specifications.
• Develop & demonstrate temperature compensation techniques for RF components and line-ups.
• Design & develop signal processing line-ups and RF chains from ADC/DAC to RF input/output.
• Analyze dynamic range performance based on noise figure, phase noise, quantization error, ADC SNR, filter group delay, isolation, and amplifier linearity.
• Relate spectral mask of transmitters back to signal processing chain performance.
• Provide trade-offs, design options, design risks, cost analysis, benchmarking of known schemes, contingency plans for proposals and efforts to identify best possible technical path forward.
• Determine if there is an acceptable industry base for components being recommended for use in assemblies, and identify potential risks in the use of selected components and materials.
• Build hardware demonstrators/engineering models that along with simulations, will demonstrate feasibility of proposed technical approaches.
• Oversee schematic capture, BOM generation, and layout of PCBs.
• Provide hardware support for firmware development including responsibility for embedded controller hardware design and pin assignments.
• Conduct comprehensive design reviews of project work intended for deployment in products and technical solutions.
• Support component selection taking into account thermal, environmental, and reliability requirements.
• Understand environmental and reliability requirements for SMT assemblies and support analysis and potential test strategies to insure compliance.
• Generate assembly instructions, test plans, reports, presentations, and other support documentation.
• Test and modify surface mount circuits & assemblies to meet requirements.
• Provide improvements to circuit designs & block diagrams.
• Generate test reports, requirements and documentation for design verification and production testing.

Benefits

• Relocation Eligible: Yes
• Competitive base salary commensurate with experience: $170,300 - $221,500, relevant for the California Bay Area (subject to change dependent on physical location)

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal