Contract Rf Design Engineer Jobs in Philadelphia, PA

POSITION DESCRIPTION:

• Coordinate electrical engineering designs and requirements within the Innovative Aerosystems Engineering (Systems, Mechanical, Software, etc.) and Certification team.
• Lead and contribute to the design, analysis, and simulation of analog and digital RF circuits, including RF front ends, mixers, oscillators, amplifiers, filters, and high-speed digital interfaces supporting radios and transponders.
• Perform hands-on circuit board bring-up, RF tuning, troubleshooting, and validation using laboratory test equipment (e.g., spectrum analyzers, network analyzers, signal generators, oscilloscopes).
• Provide hardware design support across the full product lifecycle—from concept, architecture, and design through verification, qualification, certification, and production.
• Apply sound RF engineering practices to support airborne communication and surveillance products, ensuring robust performance in harsh electromagnetic environments.
• Design for and evaluate EMI/EMC performance, including grounding, shielding, filtering, and layout techniques to meet aviation regulatory and customer requirements.
• Support environmental, EMI/EMC, and functional testing activities for airborne equipment, including analysis of test results and root-cause investigations.
• Contribute to technical documentation such as schematics, design analyses, test procedures, and reports in support of internal reviews and certification activities.
• Apply engineering creativity and discipline to advance the IA product line and support continuous improvement initiatives.

PROFESSIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent education.
• 4+ years of electronic design experience with a strong emphasis on analog and digital RF circuit design.
• Demonstrated understanding of RF fundamentals, including impedance matching, noise figure, gain, linearity, phase noise, frequency synthesis, modulation techniques, and signal integrity.
• Solid knowledge of EMI/EMC principles and mitigation techniques relevant to airborne and high-reliability systems.
• Experience with schematic capture and PCB layout tools such as Altium, PCAD, or equivalent (RF layout experience strongly preferred).
• Familiarity with RF simulation and analysis tools (e.g., ADS, HFSS, SPICE-based tools) is a plus.
• Familiarity with FPGA development and VHDL is desired, particularly as it relates to RF control, signal processing, or high-speed digital interfaces.
• Experience with IPC design standards and component derating practices is a plus.
• Strong competencies in circuit analysis, RF debugging, and board-level troubleshooting.
• Experience with RF component selection and sourcing, including evaluation of performance, availability, and lifecycle risk.
• Interpersonal skills: Collaborative, strong critical-thinking ability, and high technical competency

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Must be able to see and manipulate small parts.
• Must be able to sit, stand, walk, bend or stretch in keeping with the demands of a typical office role.
• Must be able to lift and carry components up to 30 lbs.
• Must be able to participate in aircraft survey and flight test activities.
• Must be able to operate computer equipment for both design and programming.

TRAINING REQUIREMENTS:

• Learn Company products within six (6) months.
• Learn Company procedures and processes within three (3) months.
• Acquire direct knowledge of the IA Quality System within three (3) months.
• Maintain and grow understanding of technologies relevant to IA product design, including aviation RF interfaces, antennas, electrical components, software protocols, and design tools.
• Gain working knowledge of aviation certification and regulatory standards applicable to airborne RF equipment (e.g., environmental, EMI/EMC, and performance requirements).?

U.S. PERSON REQUIREMENTS

Due to compliance with U.S. export control laws and regulations, candidate must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. permanent resident, or have asylum or refugee status in the U.S.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Veterans/Disabled.

IA is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.