Senior RF Test Engineer

ABOUT THE JOB

RADAR is searching for a high-energy individual who enjoys working in a small business environment in the High-Tech Industry. The Senior RF Test Engineer will be responsible for the ownership and operation of automated test systems for characterizing and testing of wireless radio products.

The primary focus of this role is RF Design Verification Testing (DVT): developing new tests within our existing Python test automation infrastructure to characterize the low-level RF performance of our radios, including transmitter, receiver and frequency synthesizer parameters. You will work with Ethernet-controlled RF test equipment, communicate with the device under test (DUT) through its APIs, and design and calibrate the RF test setups these measurements depend on.

Successful candidates must be self-directed with the ability to handle and complete multiple tasks of varying complexity with a minimum of supervision in a timely manner.  Efficient interaction with Engineering and Operations personnel of various disciplines is a critical element of the job.

Responsibilities:

• Develop new automated RF DVT tests within RADAR’s existing Python test automation framework, extending the framework as needed to support state-of-the-art wireless communication products.
• Control and configure the device under test over Ethernet to set radio modes, channels, power levels and other parameters during automated tests.
• Design RF test setups, including switch matrices which allow automated testing of transmitters and receivers.
• Own RF measurement accuracy: measure and calibrate out cable, switch and fixture path loss across frequency for every Tx and Rx path, maintain the resulting calibration data, and quantify measurement uncertainty and repeatability.
• Perform full RF characterization of the radio design across channel, power level, temperature and supply voltage; create and publish the Design Verification Test (DVT) report. 
• Analyze DVT data against product specifications and across a population of DUTs to identify trends, outliers and unit-to-unit variation; root-cause RF performance issues together with hardware, firmware and systems engineers, and verify fixes.
• Work with a Compliance Engineer to guide the product through regulatory testing at external labs, including preparing DUTs and test configurations, traveling with DUTs to support on-site testing, and debugging failures. Perform in-house pre-compliance measurements (e.g., FCC Part 15, ETSI) before lab testing.
• Work with Operations to transition RF DVT tests into a manufacturing test plan and support deployment of automated test systems for factory production testing.

ABOUT YOU

Required:

• You have a B.S. in Electrical Engineering or a relevant field.
• You have 5+ years of experience in RF test, characterization and design verification.
• You have expert understanding of, and demonstrable skills measuring, power, voltage, gain, EVM, SNR, P1dB, IIP3/OIP3, noise figure, phase noise, spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR), image and LO suppression, THD, SINAD, I/Q balance, and S-parameters of single-ended and differential (balanced) ports.
• You have expertise in measuring ADC/DAC mixed signal performance (DNL, INL, monotonicity) and relevant digital signal processing (FFTs, DAC reconstruction filters, ADC image filters, Nyquist sampling)
• You have experience with RF lab equipment, including spectrum analyzer, network analyzer, oscilloscope, power meter, vector signal generator/analyzer, programmable power supply, RF switch matrix, etc.
• You have experience coding individual test procedures into automated test systems, using Python.
• You have hands-on experience measuring and calibrating out cable, switch and fixture loss in an RF test setup across frequency (e.g., with a signal generator and power meter, or a VNA), and verifying that calibration.
• You have experience designing RF test setups with external RF switches, attenuators, couplers and combiners, including switching between transmitter and receiver test paths and managing isolation and power handling.
• You have a strong grasp of RF measurement fundamentals, including measurement uncertainty and the effect of instrument settings (RBW, detector, averaging, attenuation) on results.
• You have demonstrable skills measuring mixed-mode circuits: RF <-> Analog, Analog <-> Analog, Digital <-> Analog, as well as demonstrable skills measuring mixed-mode systems: RF <-> Digital.
• You have experience with temperature chamber and environmental characterization.
• You have experience with software engineering best practices for test code, such as Git, code review, and structured test data logging and analysis.
• You have excellent critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
• You have strong leadership skills with the ability to work both independently as well as part of a team.
• You have strong communication skills, both verbal and written.

Preferred:

• You have an M.S. in Electrical Engineering with an RF focus.
• You have hands-on experience controlling test equipment programmatically with SCPI commands over Ethernet, including instrument synchronization, error queue handling and timeouts.
• You have experience with Siglent, Keysight, Rohde & Schwarz or Anritsu instruments controlled over LAN.
• You have experience characterizing RF transceiver ICs.
• You have experience streaming sample data to and from RF transceivers and data converters using Linux Industrial I/O (IIO) buffers
• You have experience testing UHF RFID readers or other sub-GHz ISM-band radios, and familiarity with the EPC Gen2 air interface.
• You have experience transitioning DVT tests into production test, including setting test limits and using statistical analysis (Cpk, GR&R).

WHAT YOU'LL DO

In your first 30 days, you will:

• Learn RADAR’s mission, technology stack and core values.
• Complete onboarding and security compliance training.
• Learn the existing test automation, RF test equipment and DUT control interfaces, set up an RF DVT test bench, and reproduce existing DVT measurements on a reference unit.

In your first 60 days, you will:

• Document existing test capabilities and identify gaps vs the requirements.
• Validate accuracy and repeatability of existing test measurements.
• Develop, validate and check in your first new RF DVT test within the existing EVT/DVT automation suite.

In your first 90 days, you will:

• Independently develop new RF DVT tests within the existing EVT/DVT automation suite to close identified gaps, and contribute results to a DVT report.
• Deliver a trend analysis of key RF parameters across a set of DUTs and present findings and recommendations to the hardware engineering team.
• Identify test automation infrastructure improvements and propose a prioritized roadmap.

At RADAR, your base pay is one part of your total compensation package. The expected base salary range for this position is $165,000-$195,000. Individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors,  including job-related skills, experience and relevant education or training.You will also be eligible to receive other benefits including: equity, comprehensive medical and dental coverage, life and disability benefits, 401k plan,  flexible time off, and paid parental leave. The pay range listed for this position is a good faith and reasonable estimate of the range of possible base compensation at the time of posting. 

Research has shown that women & underrepresented minorities are more likely to read lists of requirements and consider themselves unqualified if they don't meet every single one. This list represents what we're ideally looking for, but everyone has unique strengths & weaknesses, and we hire for strength & potential, not lack of weakness.