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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. While you'll use simulation tools to guide decisions, your strength lies in working with real hardware, real measurements, and real system tradeoffs.
Key responsibilities include:
- Design, analyze, prototype, and tune RF circuit boards incorporating catalog MMICs (LNAs, power amplifiers, baluns, filters, mixers, and associated bias and 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 design and specification of RF test equipment, fixtures, and automation
- Collaborate with systems, power, digital, mechanical, and software engineers to ensure clean RF integration
- 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 (HFSS, ADS, AWR, or equivalent)
- 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 leading investors including 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.
Benefits include 100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision; 401(k) with 50% match up to 6% of pay; FSA, HSA, life insurance; free daily lunch; no-meeting Fridays; unlimited PTO; and casual dress code. The company offers competitive base salaries, generous pre-IPO stock option grants, and relocation assistance.
**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 and their system-level impact (gain, noise figure, linearity, phase noise, stability, impedance matching)
- 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:**
- Experience with radar, EW, remote sensing, or communications subsystem architecture and performance analysis
- Experience planning and executing lab and field experiments, including test planning, data collection, and measurement correlation
- Experience with RF front-end prototyping and integration (LNAs, PAs, filters, mixers, frequency conversion chains, antenna interfaces)
- Familiarity with antenna/system integration, EMI/EMC, environmental constraints, and aerospace/defense standards
- Experience correlating simulation, analysis, and measured data to refine designs and retire technical risk
- Experience supporting design reviews, customer interactions, verification planning, and production transition
- Active U.S. security clearance
- Experience with power amplifier design, analysis, and integration
- Familiarity with EMI/EMC considerations for RF systems and aerospace standards compliance
- Experience with mixed-signal or RF/digital interfaces
- Knowledge of manufacturing considerations for RF hardware (tolerance analysis, yield drivers)
- Experience supporting production hardware and fielded systems
- Experience with RF PCB layout best practices and design-for-manufacturing considerations
- Familiarity with DO-160, MIL-STD-461, or similar aerospace/defense standards
