Principal RF Design Engineer

Echodyne • Kirkland, WA

73d • $159,800 - $239,600

About The Position

Echodyne offers the world's first compact solid-state true beam-steering radar for a wide range of industries and applications. Our high-performance radars work in all weather and are designed for autonomous vehicles, uncrewed aircraft & drones, and security of borders, critical infrastructure, and smart cities. The company combines the patented technology of metamaterials with powerful software to create a radar sensor with unprecedented performance at commercial price points. Echodyne offers its radars to companies working in Automotive, Transportation, Critical Infrastructure Protection, Border Security, Smart Cities, Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS), and Airspace Management including Urban Air Mobility (UTM).

Requirements

• Demonstrated Technical Leadership and Ownership of Area of Responsibility (AOR).
• Ability to act as the primary technical authority for RF systems, subsystems, or components, with experience developing solutions, driving trade studies, and delivering designs across the full product lifecycle.
• Experience coordinating and facilitating multidisciplinary technical reviews, engaging cross-functional stakeholders to ensure alignment and rigor in design decisions.
• Experience defining, prioritizing, and communicating technical objectives and work plans in collaboration with program management and engineering leadership.
• Experience implementing designs with design-for-test (DFT), design-for-manufacturing (DFM), and design-for-assembly (DFA) principles to elevate product quality, reliability, and manufacturability.
• Capable of leading process improvement initiatives, such as root-cause analyses, driving corrective and preventative actions, and refining engineering processes to improve efficiency and outcomes.
• Background in the engineering of RF Printed Circuit Assemblies.
• Experience with RF transmitter and receiver module design and analysis including the bring-up, integration, design verification and qualification of RF printed circuit assemblies.
• Experience designing High-Reliability commercial or consumer RF hardware and managing high thermal density architectures.
• Experience developing RF hardware architectures for fielded products.
• Experience with the development of detailed RF transceiver designs including part selection trades, schematic development, and simulation.
• Expert in RF Chain/Cascade Development & Analysis for heterodyne receivers and multi-stage transmitter subsystems.

Nice To Haves

• Understanding of the significance of low phase noise synthesizer design, clock synthesis & distribution.
• Experience creating designs using components such as power amplifiers, driver amplifiers, digitally controlled phase-shifters & attenuators.
• Experience with design and analysis of RF circuits in a full-wave simulation suite such as HFSS/CST or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Lead the maturation and sustainment of RF subsystems for advanced radar systems, ensuring technical excellence and fostering strong cross-functional collaboration.
• Own design, verification, transition to manufacturing, and long-term sustainment of RF subsystems, serving as the primary technical point of contact for all related engineering activities.
• Drive design-shaping discussions and technical reviews with multidisciplinary teams to develop robust radar architectures, resolve complex technical challenges, and align work with program objectives and Design for Excellence (DFX) principles.
• Provide deep technical expertise in RF circuit design, simulation, and analysis to guide design execution, verification planning, and risk mitigation.
• Define and architect production test strategies and supporting infrastructure to enable efficient, reliable manufacturing and quality assurance.
• Lead root-cause investigations, trade studies, and continuous improvement initiatives to sustain and enhance subsystem performance.
• Fulfill other related tasks required to meet the needs of the business.

Benefits

• Incentive stock options
• Excellent medical, dental and vision coverage benefits for employee and family members
• Unlimited vacation, 12 paid sick days, and 9 paid holidays
• Company paid disability, life insurance, employee assistance program and travel insurance
• 401k Plan

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Industry: Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree
• Number of Employees: 101-250 employees