Position Introduction:

The Advanced Radar Research Center (ARRC) is seeking experienced Hardware Engineers to join our growing engineering team. ARRC Hardware Engineers support the design, development, integration, testing, and deployment of advanced radar systems. Working across the full hardware lifecycle, they contribute to circuit design, system integration, troubleshooting, validation, and field support while helping develop next-generation radar technologies and supporting subsystems.

ARRC teammates work within multidisciplinary teams of hardware, software, signal processing, and systems engineers to develop innovative radar solutions for research and operational applications. This role offers opportunities to perform hands-on engineering across all phases of development.

Position Focus:

The Hardware Engineer serves in a senior technical role supporting the design, development, integration, and testing of advanced radar systems and associated sensing technologies. This position is responsible for the end-to-end development of mixed-signal hardware solutions, spanning RF front-end architectures through digitized baseband processing systems. The successful candidate will collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to develop innovative radar capabilities, evaluate system performance, and support field deployments in operational environments.

This role offers the opportunity to work on cutting-edge radar technologies, contribute to system architecture decisions, and see designs progress from concept through implementation and field validation.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Contribute to the analysis, design, development, integration, and testing of advanced radar systems and subsystems.
• Design and develop mixed-signal hardware architectures spanning RF front-end components through digitized baseband signal processing systems.
• Perform mixed-signal circuit design, analysis, simulation, and system-level evaluation to meet radar performance requirements.
• Design, develop, and validate radar hardware including communications, acquisition, monitoring, and control systems.
• Create PCB designs including schematic capture, layout review, integration, bring-up, and performance testing.
• Develop and execute hardware verification, validation, and acceptance test plans, procedures, and test scenarios.
• Analyze radar and subsystem performance, identify deficiencies, and implement improvements to optimize system capability, reliability, and maintainability.
• Integrate hardware, firmware, software, and signal processing components into operational radar platforms.
• Support real-time system integration, troubleshooting, and performance characterization in laboratory and field environments.
• Derive and document system requirements, interface specifications, implementation plans, and technical designs for radar systems and supporting hardware.
• Provide technical consultation and recommendations regarding system architectures, component selection, cost estimates, lead times, manufacturing considerations, and alternative technical solutions.
• Prepare and present technical reports, design reviews, test results, and engineering recommendations to project stakeholders.
• Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and engineering guidance to team members and project contributors.
• Stay current with emerging technologies, industry best practices, and advancements in radar, RF, and mixed-signal hardware development.

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Required Education:

• Bachelor's degree in a related field.
• 60 months of related experience with radar systems.

Equivalency/Substitution: Will accept 48 months of experience in lieu of the Bachelor's degree for a total of 108 months of related experience.

Department Preferences:

• This position requires the ability to obtain and maintain federal security clearance. Employment is contingent upon successful completion of the applicable background investigation and eligibility determination. 
• Experience designing radar, RF, microwave, or remote sensing systems.  
• Experience with mixed-signal circuit design including analog, digital, and RF subsystems.  
• Experience with PCB design tools and hardware development workflows.  
• Knowledge of data acquisition systems, high-speed digital interfaces, and embedded hardware architectures.  
• Experience integrating hardware with FPGA, embedded processors, or real-time control systems.  
• Familiarity with laboratory test equipment such as oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, vector network analyzers, and signal generators.  
• Experience supporting field testing, system deployment, and operational troubleshooting.  
• Ability to translate system requirements into practical hardware solutions while balancing performance, schedule, cost, and manufacturability.