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Salary: USD 160,000 - 220,000 / annual
CHAOS Industries is seeking a Senior RF Engineer to design, analyze, integrate, and verify high-reliability RF and microwave electronics for aerospace and defense applications. This is a hands-on hardware role spanning the full product lifecycle—from early architecture and component trade studies through detailed design, testing, production support, and post-production sustainment of mission-critical systems.
You will translate system requirements into robust RF implementations, integrate and troubleshoot prototype hardware, and validate performance through lab and field experimentation. The role emphasizes working with real hardware, real measurements, and real system tradeoffs, supported by simulation tools like HFSS, ADS, and AWR.
Key responsibilities include:
- Design, prototype, and tune RF circuit boards incorporating MMICs (LNAs, power amplifiers, baluns, filters, mixers) and associated bias/matching networks
- Perform architecture development and component trade studies to meet system-level RF performance requirements
- Plan and execute RF testing and characterization at board, module, and subsystem levels
- Contribute to RF test equipment, fixtures, and automation design and specification
- Collaborate cross-functionally with systems, power, digital, mechanical, and software engineers
- Serve as technical contributor from development through production and post-production, including failure analysis and field support
- Support linear, nonlinear, and electromagnetic simulations using industry-standard tools
- Support PCB layout (Altium) and RF stack-up definition, including impedance control, grounding, shielding, and isolation techniques
CHAOS Industries was founded in 2022 and has raised $1 billion in funding from 8VC, Accel, and Valor Equity Partners. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in Washington D.C., San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, and London. The company develops products powered by Coherent Distributed Networks (CDN™) for warfighters, commercial air operators, and border protection teams.
Requirements:
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering with 7+ years of progressively responsible RF engineering experience; OR Master's degree with 5+ years; OR PhD with 2+ years of relevant experience
- Experience developing RF hardware for aerospace, defense, avionics, radar, EW, communications, or space systems
- Strong understanding of RF fundamentals (gain, noise figure, linearity, phase noise, stability, impedance matching) and their system-level impact
- Hands-on experience with RF test equipment (VNAs, spectrum analyzers, signal generators, power meters)
- Demonstrated ability to analyze, troubleshoot, and resolve complex RF circuit performance issues
- Strong attention to detail and ability to operate effectively in fast-paced, development-focused environments
- Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance
Preferred qualifications include: radar/EW/remote sensing/communications subsystem experience; lab and field experiment planning and execution; RF front-end prototyping and integration experience; antenna/system integration and EMI/EMC familiarity; simulation-to-measurement correlation; design review and production transition support; active U.S. security clearance; power amplifier design experience; aerospace standards knowledge (DO-160, MIL-STD-461); mixed-signal/RF-digital interfaces; manufacturing considerations for RF hardware; production and fielded systems support; RF PCB layout best practices.
