Entry Level - Wireless EF Design & Validation Engineer

General Motors; Warren (MI); On-site; USD 75,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

General Motors in Michigan seeks a Wireless RF Design & Validation Engineer to contribute to automotive connectivity hardware across cellular, Wi-Fi, GNSS, and UWB technologies.

You will work with RF, antenna, hardware, software, mechanical, and systems engineers to apply RF fundamentals in circuits, electromagnetics, and antenna design, driving validation from prototype to vehicle integration.

Qualifications

• Earned or graduating in a related engineering field with strong RF fundamentals.
• Graduating between December 2026 - June 2027 (new graduate).
• Willingness to work in Southeast Michigan and full-time 40 hours/week.

Responsibilities

• Assist design, analysis, simulation, prototyping, and validation of RF circuits and antennas for automotive connectivity modules.
• Develop RF circuits with transmission lines, impedance matching, filters, amplifiers, and switches under senior guidance.
• Create antenna models for embedded vehicle wireless systems, considering gain, coverage, and packaging.
• Use simulation tools for design trades, optimization, and design-test correlation.
• Support schematic development, PCB layout review, and design reviews with attention to signal integrity and grounding.
• Build prototypes and support board bring-up from PCB to vehicle level.
• Perform RF measurements with vector network analyzers, spectrum analyzers, and RF test systems.
• Analyze results, identify trends, and propose design changes or extra experiments.

Skills

RF design

Antenna design

Electromagnetic simulation

Prototype development

Laboratory measurements

Vehicle-level integration

Test automation scripting

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related field

Tools

Keysight ADS

Ansys HFSS

CST Studio Suite

FEKO

MATLAB/Simulink

SPICE

Job description

Job Description

Join our Vehicle Software and Electronics Engineering organization as a Wireless RF Design & Validation Engineer, where you will contribute to the development and deployment of wireless connectivity hardware for next-generation vehicles. Working with experienced RF, antenna, hardware, software, mechanical, and systems engineers, you will apply fundamentals in radio frequency circuits, electromagnetics, antenna design, and wireless communications to help deliver reliable cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GNSS, UWB, and other connected-vehicle technologies.

The Role

This is an opportunity for a new graduate to build practical experience across RF design, electromagnetic simulation, prototype development, laboratory measurement, and vehicle-level integration. You will participate in an iterative engineering process that connects requirements, simulation, hardware, testing, troubleshooting, and design improvement.

What You'll Do

• Assist with the design, analysis, simulation, prototyping, and validation of RF circuits and antenna subsystems for automotive connectivity modules.
• Develop and evaluate RF circuit designs involving transmission lines, impedance matching, filters, amplifiers, low-noise amplifiers, power amplifiers, switches, couplers, and other RF front-end components under the guidance of senior engineers.
• Create and refine antenna models for embedded and vehicle-integrated wireless systems, considering frequency coverage, bandwidth, impedance match, gain, efficiency, radiation patterns, polarization, coupling, isolation, packaging, and manufacturability.
• Use circuit, system, and electromagnetic simulation tools to perform design trade studies, parametric sweeps, optimization, and simulation-to-test correlation. Tools may include Keysight ADS, Ansys HFSS, CST Studio Suite, FEKO, MATLAB/Simulink, SPICE, or equivalent platforms.
• Support RF schematic development, component selection, PCB layout reviews, and design reviews, with attention to grounding, shielding, isolation, signal integrity, decoupling, return-current paths, and minimizing unwanted coupling or crosstalk.
• Build and modify prototypes, fixtures, cables, and RF signal paths; support board bring-up and subsystem integration from the PCB through enclosure and vehicle levels.
• Perform conducted and over-the-air RF measurements using equipment such as vector network analyzers, spectrum analyzers, signal generators, power meters, oscilloscopes, near-field probes, and wireless test systems.
• Execute sensitivity, antenna performance, coexistence, isolation, desense, emissions, and other RF validation activities for cellular, 5G/LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GNSS, UWB, and related technologies.
• Analyze measurement data, identify performance trends and failure modes, compare results with simulations and requirements, and recommend design changes or additional experiments.
• Support root-cause investigations for RF issues caused by antennas, PCB layout, processors, memory devices, power converters, displays, clocking circuits, communication interfaces, shielding, grounding, or mechanical integration.
• Develop or maintain Python, MATLAB, or similar scripts for test automation, data reduction, visualization, calibration checks, and repeatability analysis.
• Develop, execute, and document test plans, procedures, configurations, results, technical recommendations, and lessons learned.
• Support EMC/EMI, FCC, CE, OEM, and other applicable regulatory or pre-compliance activities.
• Collaborate with hardware, RF, antenna, PCB layout, mechanical, software, systems, manufacturing, supplier, and test-partner teams to resolve issues and deliver robust designs.

Required Qualifications

• Pursuit of a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering , Computer Engineering, RF/Microwave Engineering, Telecommunications Engineering, Physics or related degree
• Must be graduating between December 2026 - June 2027
• Must be able to work in Southeast Michigan
• Must Ability to work full time, 40 hours per week

Preferred Qualifications

• Completion of, or demonstrated academic experience in, courses such as electromagnetics, RF/microwave engineering, analog and digital circuits, antenna theory, wireless communications, signal processing, transmission lines, or semiconductor devices.
• Internship, co-op, research, laboratory, senior-design, capstone, or personal project experience involving RF, wireless communications, antennas, electromagnetics, analog circuits, or hardware validation.
• Familiarity with RF circuit design concepts such as S-parameters, impedance matching, return loss, insertion loss, gain, noise figure, linearity, compression, intermodulation, filtering, and link budgets.
• Academic or project experience designing or characterizing antennas, including monopoles, dipoles, patches, printed antennas, embedded antennas, MIMO antennas, or antenna arrays.
• Exposure to electromagnetic or RF simulation tools such as Ansys HFSS, CST Studio Suite, FEKO, Keysight