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9 Mothers is a defense technology startup building AI-powered counter-drone systems to intercept and neutralize Group 1/sUAS threats in real-time. The company develops low-power, edge-deployable systems for vehicles, bases, and field use, backed by top-tier investors.
As a Radar Engineer, you will own the radar sensing layer of the counter-sUAS platform, integrating and tuning radars from multiple vendors to feed detections and tracks into the system alongside passive acoustic and visual detection stacks. You will work across the full radar lifecycle: characterizing sensors, writing software to ingest and process radar data, tuning configurations for small, fast, low-RCS targets in cluttered environments, and validating performance on the range.
Key responsibilities include:
- Radar Characterization: Bench and range testing of FMCW, pulse-Doppler, and electronically scanned array radars to verify vendor claims and establish tuning baselines.
- Radar Integration: Integrate multiple radar models into the platform, handling mechanical/electrical interfaces, timing, synchronization, coordinate-frame alignment, and vendor SDKs/APIs.
- Software Development: Design and maintain production-quality software for radar configuration, data ingestion, filtering, and publishing detections/tracks with low-latency reliability.
- Performance Tuning: Optimize radar parameters (waveform, detection thresholds, CFAR, clutter maps, Doppler filtering, track initiation) to maximize detection probability and minimize false alarms against small sUAS.
- Sensor Fusion Support: Collaborate with perception and controls teams to fuse radar tracks with acoustic and EO/IR data, and cue visual tracking and effectors.
- Testing & Validation: Build and execute test plans including simulation, hardware-in-the-loop, and live-flight range testing; establish metrics for detection range, track quality, latency, and false-alarm rate.
- Field & Customer Support: Support radar setup, site surveys, and tuning during customer demonstrations, pilots, and field deployments.
- Documentation: Produce integration documentation, interface control documents, tuning guides, and test reports.
The role sits at the intersection of RF engineering, embedded/real-time software, and systems integration in a fast-moving defense startup. You will have direct influence on product roadmap, work in a fully equipped lab with high-end test equipment, and see your work deployed to the field rapidly.
REQUIREMENTS:
- 5+ years hands-on experience as a radar engineer or radar systems engineer, including work with multiple radar types/vendors.
- Demonstrated experience integrating radars into larger systems (vehicles, fixed sites, C-UAS, air defense, autonomy) and taking integration through to fielded use.
- Proven experience tuning radar configuration and processing parameters to improve detection, tracking, and false-alarm performance in real-world clutter and interference.
- Strong working knowledge of radar principles: radar range equation, RCS, Doppler processing, CFAR, clutter, multipath, multi-target tracking (Kalman filtering, data association).
- Proficient in C++ and Python; ability to write production-quality code for radar data ingestion and processing on Linux.
- Comfortable diagnosing issues across RF hardware, networking (TCP/UDP), timing, and software layers; experienced with spectrum analyzers and oscilloscopes.
- Resourceful self-starter comfortable owning ambiguous sensor problems end-to-end and spending meaningful time on the range.
- U.S. citizenship required (ITAR compliance); must be willing to submit to background check.
NICE-TO-HAVE:
- Hands-on experience with C-UAS radars (Echodyne, Robin Radar, Blighter, RADA, or comparable).
- Experience detecting and classifying Group 1 sUAS, including micro-Doppler signatures and drone/bird/clutter discrimination.
- MATLAB or NumPy/SciPy for radar signal and data analysis.
- Multi-modal sensor fusion (radar with EO/IR, acoustic, RF).
- ROS/ROS 2, NVIDIA Jetson, FPGAs, or real-time signal processing pipelines.
- Familiarity with ASTERIX, Cursor-on-Target, or SAPIENT formats.
- Defense industry background, ITAR/compliance experience, or prior defense contractor/DoD work.
- BS/MS in Electrical Engineering, Physics, or related field with RF/signal processing/radar focus.
- Active security clearance or eligibility to obtain one.
- Passion for robotics or engineering projects as hobby.
