RF System Design Engineer

RSKD Labs; Navi Mumbai; On-site; INR 3,500,000 - 7,000,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Own architecture

Sea-proof testing

Fast deployment to fleet

Job summary

RSKD Labs in India builds unmanned surface vessels and the rugged links that keep them alive at sea. You will own the RF chain from antenna to digitized samples, prototype on SDRs, and roll improvements to the entire fleet.

From frequency planning and link budgets to phase noise, antennas, and software-defined waveforms, you’ll work hands-on in a harsh, adversarial environment, with lab-to-sea test campaigns.

Qualifications

• Hands-on RF system design in defence electronics or tactical datalinks.
• Implemented complete RF systems from architecture to field.
• Deep understanding of modulation, coding, synchronization and RF impairments.
• Antenna design at element level; arrays or steerable systems a plus.
• Proficient with EM and circuit/system simulations.
• Experience with SDR platforms.
• Willingness to learn new domains; start where you haven't done this before.

Responsibilities

• Own RF architecture for USV datalinks.
• Handle LO generation, synthesizers, PAs, LNAs, and filtering.
• Develop software-defined stack with reconfigurable waveforms.
• Plan for contested spectrum; frequency hopping and anti-jam.
• Design antennas for mobile platforms with omni/directive options.
• Master over-sea propagation concepts.
• Build multi-node mesh networks.
• Run test campaigns from lab to open sea.
• Document hardware to production-grade standards.

Skills

RF system design

Antenna design

EM simulation

VNA analysis

MATLAB/Python

SDR platforms

Tools

HFSS

CST

FEKO

ADS

SystemVue

USRP

Job description

India has a coastline of more than 11,000 km, and the systems that watch over it shouldn't depend on anyone else. At RSKD Labs, we're building unmanned surface vessels (USVs) and the communications that make them useful: links that hold at sea, under pressure, when it matters most.

A USV is only as capable as its link. If the link drops, the vessel is blind, deaf, and alone. The sea works against you constantly through multipath off the water, a platform that never stops moving, salt, spray, and an adversary who wants your spectrum. Our job is to make the link unbreakable anyway, carrying video, telemetry, and command traffic between vessels, shore, and command without flinching.

That's the problem we're handing you. You'll own the RF chain from antenna to digitized samples. You'll prototype on SDRs, so an idea on Monday is transmitting over water by Friday. And because our architecture is software-defined, every improvement you make ships to the whole fleet as new capability.

What You'll Do

• The entire RF architecture for our USV datalinks, including frequency planning, link and power budgets, cascade, dynamic range, and spurious analysis. It's yours to design, defend, and prove at sea.
• Transmit and receive chains built to hold up in hard conditions: LO generation, synthesizers, PAs, LNAs, and filtering, with phase noise, linearity, and isolation driven down to component level
• A software-defined communications stack with reconfigurable waveforms, sampling-friendly front-ends, and clean RF-digital partitioning, so the system keeps getting better long after it leaves the dock
• Links that survive contested spectrum, using frequency hopping, anti-jam techniques, interference mitigation, and adaptive modulation. Plan for the worst day.
• Antennas and RF front-ends for platforms that pitch, roll, and heave, including omni, directional, and steerable or stabilized designs
• Mastery of over-sea propagation: multipath fading, sea-state variation, ducting, and horizon limits. You'll understand them well enough to turn them to our advantage.
• Multi-node and mesh networks that tie USVs, relays, and shore stations into one resilient system
• The loop that matters: simulate, build, measure, correlate, iterate. Hardware has the final say.
• Test campaigns from the lab to the harbour to open sea, ending in live multi-vessel trials
• Hardware that survives the ocean's abuse (thermal, vibration, shock, water ingress, salt fog, EMI/EMC), documented to production-grade standards

Who You Are

• You've done hands-on RF system design in defence electronics, tactical communications, or datalinks. Experience limited to commercial telecom or 5G won't be enough on its own; we need people who've designed for adversarial conditions.
• You've taken at least one complete RF system from architecture through hardware to the field, and you know the gap between a simulation and reality.
• You understand wireless links deeply: modulation, coding, synchronization, and every RF impairment that tries to break them.
• You design antennas at element level, ideally arrays or steerable systems too, and you're fluent in UHF, L, S, or C band (X/Ku a plus).
• Link budgets, cascades, frequency plans, spur charts, and phase-noise budgets are second nature to you.
• You work confidently in EM simulation (HFSS, CST, FEKO, AWR) and circuit or system simulation (ADS, Microwave Office, SystemVue).
• You're at home in the lab with a VNA, spectrum analyzer, signal generators, phase-noise analyzers, and power meters.
• You've built with SDR platforms (e.g., USRP, AD9361/AD9371-class transceivers).
• You script your analysis and automation in MATLAB or Python.
• Bonus points for SATCOM or BLOS links, mesh networking, anti-jam or LPI/LPD waveforms, or marine and naval hardware qualification.
• Most importantly, "I haven't done this before" is where you start, not where you stop.

Why RSKD Labs?

• Build what the nation needs. Sovereign maritime defence technology, designed and built in India from first principles.
• Own it from day one. This is a core team role with real authority over real architecture.
• See it at sea. Your work leaves the lab and proves itself on the water, fast.

The sea doesn't care how good your slides are. If you want to build links that hold when everything else is trying to break them, we want to hear from you.