Digital Design Engineer - Wireless Communications

Multiple Access Communications Ltd; Southampton; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private medical insurance

Competitive pension

Flexible working around core hours

Employee ownership by EOT

Job summary

MAC Ltd is a Southampton-based engineering firm seeking electronics engineers with strong digital design and wireless/SDR experience. The role covers FPGA/HDL work, MATLAB/Simulink modelling, DSP, RF techniques, software development and waveforms.

You will own components, interact with clients, and guide projects end‑to‑end. Successful candidates will have an electronics degree, UK work eligibility and security clearance to SC level.

Qualifications

• Degree-qualified electronics engineers with experience in digital design, wireless tech, embedded systems or SDR.
• Significant experience in at least several listed areas: FPGA design, MATLAB/Simulink, DSP, SDR/RF, software development, waveforms, AI/ML.
• Ability to own project components and communicate status, risks and opportunities to stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Identify and develop engineering tasks across project lifecycles, including coding and component design.
• Prepare and review technical reports, drawings, calculations and risk reviews.
• Lead progress reporting to the customer and contribute to meetings with stakeholders.
• Mentor colleagues and contribute to quotes and bids.
• Act as primary customer contact and manage resource estimates and future work proposals.

Skills

Digital design

Wireless technology

Embedded systems

Software Defined Radio

Software development

Waveforms development

AI/ML

Education

Electronics degree

Tools

VHDL

Verilog

MATLAB

Simulink

Job description

Life at MAC Ltd

MAC Ltd’s success is based on finding, training, and mentoring exceptional electronic engineers, building a team that’s able to take on and solve the most difficult engineering problems. We require a wide range of engineering skills and with our expert support you will be able to develop these across a diverse range of projects.

You will be working as part of an elite team and you will actively participate in all phases of a project lifecycle from requirements capture through to implementation and presenting, interacting and developing ideas with the client. You can typically expect to work on a number of different projects during the course of a year in a well-established and dynamic company.

Your Skills & Experience

We are particularly looking for degree qualified electronics engineers with significant experience in digital design, wireless technology, embedded systems, or software defined radio.

You’ll have significant experience in some or all of the following areas:

• FPGA design, including experience in languages such as VHDL, Verilog and High-Level Synthesis
• Modelling tools such as MATLAB and Simulink
• Radio communications and Digital Signal Processing (DSP) techniques
• Software Defined Radio (SDR) and RF techniques
• Software Development
• Development of communication waveforms
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine learning (ML)

And, you’ll have a rounded skill set including:

• Able to identify and solve complex problems and ideas; considering all angles and implementation solutions. Excellent technical knowledge in a range of subjects
• Experience in owning project components, and whole projects; and self‑managed and disciplined to know, adjust and communicate own time and priorities across multiple tasks, and manage impact on others
• Confident in articulating problems and solutions to peers and customers in verbal and written form; and writing and presenting reports on project status, risks & opportunities, to a range of stakeholders.
• Being primary point of contact for customers
• Able to provide resource estimates; and engage with customers to discover future work and developing proposals and quotations
• Supporting colleague development through guidance, coaching and mentoring

Your typical week

Depending on your project lifecycle and milestones, you can usually expect some or all of:

• Being assigned, and identifying, engineering tasks including developing code and designing components;
• Preparing and reviewing technical reports and specifications, drawings, calculations and risk reviews
• Contributing to, and leading on, progress reporting to the customer
• Liaising, attending and contributing to customer meetings; delivering communications for variety of stakeholders
• Leading, designing and/or managing project components
• Mentoring colleagues through guidance and coaching
• Contributing to quote and bid documents

Requirements

• An electronics degree from a university with a strong reputation for the subject studied.
• Already have full eligibility to work in the UK.
• Eligible for UKSV (SC) security clearance.

Benefits

The benefits of working at MAC Ltd include:

• Opportunities to work on cutting edge technologies to make a real difference in a dynamic and agile environment.
• Mentoring from talented and experienced world‑leading industry experts.
• Employee ownership: MAC Ltd is 100% owned by its employees through an Employee Ownership Trust. When the company succeeds, you share in it through the EOT and our profit‑sharing scheme.
• Competitive salary that is linked to your performance.
• Private medical insurance.
• Competitive 10% contributory pension scheme.
• Opportunities for flexible working around core hours.
• Beautiful rural office setting at the University of Southampton Science Park | The Home of Tech and Science, a short drive or bus ride from Southampton City Centre.
• Discounted on‑site gym membership.
• Discounts and offers on fitness, leisure and lifestyle brands (through our ADS membership).
• Cycle to Work scheme to take advantage of savings on bikes and accessories.
• Additional paid annual leave for volunteering activities.

Security Clearance

Some of our work is in the security sector, so you must be eligible for security check (SC) clearance, including having been resident in the UK for over five years. For more information and guidance please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/united-kingdom-security-vetting-clearance-levels.

Company Background

MAC Ltd was founded in 1986 by Professor Raymond Steele, one of the Founding Fathers of modern‑day mobile communications, to tackle the engineering challenges of taking mobile communications from an expensive and luxury item, which was only accessible to business executives and professional users, to the smart phones that we see today that are accessible to everyone.

He achieved this by hand‑pick­ing, training and mentoring exceptional electronic engineers to build a world‑class team that were able to take on and solve the most difficult engineering problems. The current owners and senior leadership of MAC Ltd were part of this early team and we continue Professor Steele's successful approach today.

Everything we do at MAC Ltd is focussed on the radio interface between wireless devices. This has included developing improved modulation and radio access schemes, improving the ability of devices to cope with increasing interference, developing radio spectrum sharing approaches and providing products to test and validate radio communication systems. We have worked on every generation of mobile phone technology, from the early analogue devices to today’s 5G smart phones. We have also worked across many sectors including telecommunications, public safety, defence and security.

Our success is built on a culture of diversity and inclusion and bringing together people with different experiences, backgrounds, skills, perspectives and life experiences into a cohesive and supportive team. This is further demonstrated by converting to an Employee‑Owned Trust (EOT) in March 2025.