Senior RF Engineer

Palo Alto Networks•Santa Clara, CA

20h•$170,400 - $275,725•Onsite

About The Position

We are hiring a Principal RF Hardware Engineer to serve as a technical leader for the design and architecture of our wireless products. In this role, you will own the RF architecture of a product family — spanning cellular (4G LTE, 5G NR Sub-6), GPS/GNSS , Antenna and cable selection for FWA, Industrial and Vehicular applications. Highly desirable: Wi-Fi (6/6E/7), and Bluetooth — Experience with end to end product design and NPI. production. You will participate in the 2–3 year RF roadmap for your wireless products/product family, lead the most challenging technical work yourself, mentor Staff and Senior engineers, and partner closely with antenna vendors, systems, firmware, regulatory, and product teams to deliver best-in-class wireless performance. This is a hands-on senior IC role for an engineer who enjoys deep technical work as much as architectural leadership — and who wants meaningful scope and influence without stepping fully out of design execution.

Requirements

BS in Electrical Engineering (MS preferred) with emphasis on RF/microwave, communications, or wireless systems.
10+ years of RF hardware design experience, leading multi-radio products from concept to mass production.
Deep, hands-on expertise across multiple of the following domains: Cellular: 4G LTE, 5G NR Sub-6, Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be, MU-MIMO, OFDMA, 6 GHz operation, multi-band concurrent designs.
GNSS: Multi-constellation, multi-band (L1/L5), active/passive antenna integration, assisted GNSS.
Proven track record of shipping wireless products at scale through carrier and regulatory certification.
Expert proficiency with RF lab instrumentation: VNA, SA, VSA, VSG, noise figure analyzer, power meter, cellular/Wi-Fi/GNSS testers, anechoic chambers.
Strong command of RF simulation and EM tools: ADS, AWR Microwave Office, HFSS, CST, Sonnet, Cadence Allegro/OrCAD or equivalent.
Solid understanding of PCB stack-up design, controlled impedance, EMI/EMC, and high-speed digital interfaces adjacent to RF (PCIe, USB 3.x, MIPI, DDR).
Demonstrated ability to lead coexistence and desense engineering in dense, multi-radio platforms.
Working knowledge of 3GPP specifications (TS 36.xxx / 38.xxx series) and IEEE 802.11 specifications

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with NTN / satellite IoT, UWB, or RedCap.
A track record of technical contribution — for example, a few issued or pending patents, conference papers, internal technical publications, or standards-body participation.
Background in automotive (AEC-Q), industrial, and vehicular IoT form factors.
CTIA test plan execution, or carrier lab campaign management.

Responsibilities

Own the RF Integration of RF modules for a product family that integrates cellular (4G LTE / 5G NR FR1), Wi-Fi (2.4 / 5 / 6 GHz), GNSS (multi-constellation, multi-band — L1/L5), and Bluetooth radios.
Ensure Co-exitance between integrated radio technologies.
Lead module, cable, and antenna selection for multiple radios and matching network design across all supported bands.
Own Module integration performance maintaining 3GPP and regulatory compliance.
Perform coexistence/desense studies for multi-radio platforms (LTE–WLAN, NR–GNSS, Wi-Fi–BT coexistence; harmonic and intermod analysis).
Drive antenna integration strategy in partnership with major antenna Vendors and validate antennas
Specify and review schematics and RF PCB stack-ups/layouts, including impedance-controlled routing, grounding, shielding, and isolation strategies.
Verify any RF Circuit for S-Parameteers via modeling and measurements.
Investigate sources of noise and mitigate.
Own EMC regulatory compliance of systems with radio modules.
Work with external EMC test labs to achieve regulatory certifications like FCC, CE and industry specific certifications like IEEE1613 and IEC-61850-3.
Serve as the RF Technical Authority for wireless products, own resolution of the toughest desense, coexistence, and certification issues.
Mentor Staff, Senior Staff, and other engineers on RF related topics; help calibrate technical leveling and contribute to interviewing and hiring.
Experience integrating high performance cellular data modules in large host platforms.
Drive DFM/DFT for RF enabled products and subsystems
Lead prototype bring-up and RF 3GPP Validation using Keysight UXM Cal box, Amari Network Emulator, VNAs, spectrum analyzers, signal generators, cellular/Wi-Fi testers (CMW500/CMX500, IQxel, Litepoint), and GNSS simulators (Spirent, Keysight).
Define and execute RF compliance and performance test plans — conducted and radiated TRP/TIS/OTA, TX/RX characterization, EVM, ACLR, spurious emissions, blocking, and selectivity.
Guide regulatory and operator certification programs: FCC, ISED, CE/RED, MIC, PTCRB, GCF, Wi-Fi Alliance, Bluetooth SIG, and Tier-1 carrier (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile,, NTT, etc.) approvals.
Own field performance debug — RSRP/RSRQ/SINR analysis, throughput optimization, GNSS C/N₀ and TTFF tuning, and root-cause investigation.