Lead Electrical & RF Engineer

Medium; Grand Rapids (MI); On-site; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Acron Aviation is seeking a Lead Electrical & RF Engineer – Surveillance to provide technical leadership across RF and electrical hardware for airborne avionics products. You will define architectures, allocate requirements, and guide multidisciplinary teams through design, testing, and certification activities.

The role emphasizes SWaP-C optimization, DO-160 qualification readiness, and collaboration with outsourced partners to deliver safe, compliant avionics solutions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or related field.
• 10+ years in aerospace, avionics, or safety-critical electronic product development.
• 5+ years of technical leadership in avionics RF and electrical hardware development.
• Experience overseeing external engineering partners or contract organizations.
• Strong understanding of RTCA DO-160 environmental qualification requirements.
• Experience developing and managing hardware requirements documentation with traceability.
• Experience with RF and EE integration across digital/analog domains.
• Familiarity with AI-enabled engineering workflows is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Lead electrical engineering activities for RF airborne avionics product development from concept to production.
• Define system architecture and allocate requirements across RF, analog, digital, mixed-signal, software, FPGA/firmware, mechanical, and systems engineering disciplines.
• Provide technical guidance and mentorship to multidisciplinary teams across EE and RF domains.
• Coordinate outsourced development and manage supplier technical risks.
• Drive SWaP-C optimization and design reviews across product portfolios.
• Oversee hardware verification, validation, and certification readiness activities.
• Lead design for manufacturability, testability, and reliability initiatives.

Skills

RF design

Electrical design

Systems engineering

Do-160 qualification

Requirements tracing

Hardware development

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering

Master's degree in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Altium design tools

DOORS requirements management

Job description

About Acron Aviation (Avionics – Surveillance):

Acron Aviation designs, engineers, and manufactures certified avionics systems that support safety-critical flight operations across commercial and military aviation. Within Avionics, the Surveillance product line develops and sustains systems that enable aircraft awareness, collision avoidance, and airspace interoperability. Our portfolio includes TCAS, Mode S transponders, ADS-B, and integrated surveillance solutions deployed across commercial, military, and rotorcraft platforms. This work is performed in highly regulated environments and demands deep expertise across systems, hardware, software, and RF throughout the full product lifecycle.

Job Title

Lead Electrical & RF Engineer – Surveillance

Position Summary

The Lead Electrical & RF Engineer is responsible for the technical leadership, architecture, development, certification support, and lifecycle management of advanced avionics systems spanning both electrical engineering and radio frequency (RF) domains.

This role leads electrical, RF, and hardware engineering activities for airborne products, including transponder, TCAS, surveillance, and communications systems, while ensuring compliance with aerospace standards and customer requirements.

The position serves as the primary technical authority for RF and electrical hardware development, requirements definition, and design execution, including oversight of external engineering partners and contract design organizations. The successful candidate will drive innovation in Size, Weight, Power, and Cost (SWaP-C) optimization, lead RF architecture and performance trade studies, leverage AI-enabled engineering tools to improve productivity and automation, and own the development of product hardware requirements and design documentation throughout the product lifecycle

Technical Leadership

• Lead electrical engineering activities for the development of RF airborne avionics products from concept through certification and production
• Define system architecture and allocate requirements across RF, analog, digital, mixed-signal, software, FPGA/firmware, mechanical, and systems engineering disciplines
• Serve as technical lead for surveillance, communications, and collision avoidance products, including Mode S transponders, ADS-B systems, and TCAS equipment
• Provide technical guidance, mentorship, and engineering oversight to multidisciplinary development teams across EE and RF domains
• Support strategic product roadmaps and technology initiatives, including next-generation RF and avionics platform capabilities

RF Leadership & Integration

• Lead RF architecture, design integration, and technical decision-making for avionics products
• Establish RF performance requirements and budgets for gain, noise figure, linearity, selectivity, isolation, spurious response, dynamic range, and coexistence requirements
• Drive RF trade studies and design reviews covering circuit design, layout, shielding, grounding, EMI/EMC, and environmental constraints
• Coordinate RF validation, laboratory characterization, and system integration activities
• Support certification readiness by ensuring RF-related design evidence, test coverage, and compliance artifacts are complete and defensible

Requirements Development & Ownership

• Develop, maintain, and own Hardware Requirements Documents (HRDs) and associated derived requirements
• Ensure traceability between customer, system, hardware, software, and certification requirements
• Lead requirements decomposition, validation, verification planning, and change management activities
• Establish acceptance criteria and verification methods for hardware requirements

Outsourced Development Oversight

• Manage and provide technical oversight of outsourced engineering partners responsible for RF, electrical, and hardware development activities
• Define statements of work, technical deliverables, schedules, design reviews, and acceptance criteria
• Conduct design audits and technical reviews to ensure compliance with company standards and certification requirements
• Coordinate technical communication between internal stakeholders and external development organizations
• Assess supplier technical risks and implement mitigation strategies

Hardware Design & Development

• Direct the design and development of complex digital, analog, mixed-signal, RF, and power electronics hardware
• Review schematics, RF signal chain implementation, PCB layouts, component selections, engineering analyses, and test results
• Ensure designs meet performance, reliability, manufacturability, maintainability, and certification objectives
• Support RF/hardware, hardware/software, FPGA, and system-level integration activities
• Drive design margins that support DO-160 environmental qualification and EMI/EMC robustness requirements

Product Optimization

• Lead initiatives to reduce Size, Weight, Power, and Cost (SWaP-C) across avionics product portfolios
• Drive design trade studies that balance performance, manufacturability, certification, and lifecycle objectives
• Promote Design for Manufacturability, Design for Cost, Design for Test, and Design for Reliability principles
• Establish engineering metrics and practices supporting next-generation avionics solutions

Artificial Intelligence & Engineering Automation

• Champion the adoption of AI technologies to improve engineering productivity, quality, and development efficiency
• Maintain a continuous improvement mindset and evaluate opportunities to streamline engineering workflows
• Evaluate emerging AI technologies and integrate effective practices into engineering processes to reduce repetitive and low-value work

Verification & Validation

• Lead hardware verification and validation activities throughout the product lifecycle, primarily through oversight of outsourced development partners
• Review and approve test plans, procedures, reports, and qualification data
• Support root cause analysis, troubleshooting, and corrective action investigations
• Ensure complete verification coverage and certification evidence generation

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or a related engineering discipline
• 10+ years of experience in aerospace, avionics, or safety-critical electronic product development
• 5+ years of technical leadership experience leading complex avionics RF and electrical hardware development programs
• Experience managing and overseeing external engineering design partners or contract development organizations
• Strong understanding of RTCA DO-160 environmental qualification requirements and RF/EE integration challenges in airborne systems
• Experience developing and managing hardware requirements documentation and requirements traceability
• Expertise in digital, analog, mixed-signal, RF, and power electronics design
• Experience supporting certification and regulatory compliance activities

Preferred Additional Skills

• Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering or related discipline
• Experience with FAA, EASA, TSO, ETSO, and military avionics programs
• Familiarity with DO-254, DO-178C, ARP4754A, and ARP4761 development processes
• Deep experience with RF systems and surveillance technologies including Mode S Transponders, ADS-B, IFF, DME, TCAS, or ACAS
• Experience implementing AI-assisted engineering workflows and automation solutions
• Experience with DOORS requirements management
• Experience with Altium design tools
• Project leadership or engineering management experience

Key Competencies

• Technical leadership
• RF and electrical systems thinking
• Requirements engineering
• Supplier management
• Product ownership
• Strategic planning
• Risk management
• Cross-functional collaboration
• AI-enabled engineering innovation
• Continuous improvement mindset
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to influence technical direction across organizations

Equal Opportunity Statement

Acron Aviation is proud to be an Aff… Action and Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to treating all employees and applicants with respect and dignity and to maintaining a workplace free from unlawful discrimination. All applicants will be considered for employment regardless of race, color, religion, age, national origin, ancestry, ethnicity, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or other related medical conditions), gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, disability, genetic information, citizenship status, or any other legally protected characteristic.

Additional Information:

Acron Aviation maintains a drug-free workplace and conducts pre-employment substance abuse testing and background checks, where allowed by law. Acron Aviation is an E-Verify employer.