RF Microwave Design Engineer/FPGA - Level 2 or 3 - Top Secret Clearance

Northrop Grumman•Dulles, VA

57d

About The Position

At Northrop Grumman, our employees have incredible opportunities to work on revolutionary systems that impact people's lives around the world today, and for generations to come. Our pioneering and inventive spirit has enabled us to be at the forefront of many technological advancements in our nation's history - from the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean, to stealth bombers, to landing on the moon. We look for people who have bold new ideas, courage and a pioneering spirit to join forces to invent the future, and have fun along the way. Our culture thrives on intellectual curiosity, cognitive diversity and bringing your whole self to work — and we have an insatiable drive to do what others think is impossible. Our employees are not only part of history, they're making history. Northrop Grumman's Space Sector is seeking a RF Microwave Design/FPGA - Level 2 or 3 to join our team in Dulles, VA. This position can be filled at either a Level 2 or Level 3 (Principal). This position will work a 9/80 schedule, with every other Friday off. The candidate will work as an engineer designing RF subsystems and components for satellite communications applications. The candidate will define and design robust RF solutions while working within system constraints on mass, power, and volume. The successful candidate will have strong technical skills coupled with the ability to operate within a fast-paced environment both independently and as part of a team. Candidate must be well organized and able to keep track of and make progress on multiple simultaneous tasks. Job responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following: Develop pseudo-code architectures and write FPGA code to implement Software Defined Radio (SDR) software, and firmware. Define RF system requirements in collaboration with customer, ensuring clear functional and performance goals. Derive RF component specifications based on system needs. Preparation and presentation of design reviews for internal and external customers. Requirements verification based on customer's top-level requirements compared to subcontractor and prime contractor actual implementation. The candidate will be able to concisely summarize findings and present them to the end customer. Support integration and test including unit-level functional and environmental testing, spacecraft level testing, and in-orbit checkout. (Some travel and occasional short-term shift work required) Design and analysis of communications systems for satellite and interplanetary applications. The candidate must be familiar with RF analyses such as link budgets, digital modulation/coding, gain/loss budgets, noise figure, etc. Other duties as assigned If this job description reads like it was written specifically for you, consider joining our team!

Requirements

Requires an active U.S. Government DoD Top-Secret security clearance at time of application, current and within scope
Good oral presentation skills and comfort with customer interaction.
Ability to write technical documents clearly and concisely.
Experience with one or more of the following FPGA chipsets: XilinX Versal, ProASIC, RTAX, RTG4, Ultrascale, Ultrascale+
FPGA design and development for SDRs (interface and system design including DSP, FEC, various waveforms, precision time systems and experience with NSA process and design rules)
Bachelor's degree in a STEM field with 2 years of professional experience (excluding internships, research projects, etc.) - OR - Master's degree
Bachelor's degree in a STEM field with 5 years of professional experience - OR - Master's degree with 3 years of professional experience - OR - PhD with 1 year of professional experience) (excluding internships, research projects, etc.)

Nice To Haves

Experience with analog design of various circuits such as Opamps, regulators, feedback loops, power supply, etc.
Experience with RF circuit card design of software defined Radios
Channelization/digital processor design
Communications Digital Signal Processing / waveform development
Developing, debugging, testing/verifying, and documenting SDR hardware components and features
Experience with entire product development life cycle (cradle to grave)
Architecting communications systems and components/SDRs (HW, SW, FW, scripting) through design and test
Experience leading small engineering teams in development or production of RF systems, including cost and schedule
Experience with cost account management for engineering portion of multi-year program, including cost and labor hour estimating, task scheduling and earned value tracking
Hands on experience with RF test equipment such as spectrum analyzers, signal generators, oscilloscopes, digital multimeters, arbitrary waveform generators, etc.
Experience with performing RF analysis and trade studies to meet RF performance parameters including (Gain, noise figure, Intercept point, stability, power consumption, etc).
Knowledge of digital waveforms such as WCDMA, BPSK, QPSK, and DVB-SX.

Responsibilities

Develop pseudo-code architectures and write FPGA code to implement Software Defined Radio (SDR) software, and firmware.
Define RF system requirements in collaboration with customer, ensuring clear functional and performance goals.
Derive RF component specifications based on system needs.
Preparation and presentation of design reviews for internal and external customers.
Requirements verification based on customer's top-level requirements compared to subcontractor and prime contractor actual implementation.
Support integration and test including unit-level functional and environmental testing, spacecraft level testing, and in-orbit checkout.
Design and analysis of communications systems for satellite and interplanetary applications.