Lead RF Engineer — Radar Seeker for Next-Gen Interceptor

Approach Venture LLC; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Job summary

Approach Venture LLC in El Segundo, CA, seeks a Senior RF Engineer to own the radar seeker end-to-end—from RF front end to signal processing and target tracking that informs guidance. You will architect the system, drive make-vs-buy decisions, and build RF test infrastructure in collaboration with GNC, avionics, and mechanical teams.

You will lead a fast-growing seeker effort, hire when needed, and shape the architecture for future production.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, physics, aerospace engineering, or related field (master's preferred).
• 6+ years designing, integrating, or testing radar systems with subsystem ownership.
• Deep knowledge of radar physics, electromagnetics, noise figure, phase noise, and link budgets.
• Strong DSP background with real-time radar detection and tracking implementation.
• Proficiency in C++ and Python for real-time/embedded systems.
• Hands-on lab testing of FMCW, pulsed Doppler, or AESA architectures with suitable test gear.
• Experience sourcing RF components and making make-vs-buy decisions.
• U.S. Person status required (ITAR) and ability to obtain a U.S. security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Define the seeker architecture and lead make-vs-buy decisions on radar sensors, front-end components, and processing hardware.
• Own transmit and receive chain analysis, including link budgets, noise figure, and phase noise.
• Integrate antennas with the airframe and radome.
• Specify high-speed data interfaces between the seeker and avionics (ADCs, DACs, PCIe).
• Select and manage RF component and subsystem suppliers.
• Build low-latency detection and tracking pipelines (Doppler processing, range-Doppler mapping, CFAR).
• Develop clutter rejection and electronic countermeasure resilience.
• Implement and optimize processing on flight processor (FPGA, GPU, embedded CPU).
• Own the seeker-to-guidance interface and fuse radar tracks with IMU/GPS for terminal guidance.
• Design RF test rigs and run hardware-in-the-loop testing with anechoic chambers and flight dynamics models.
• Lead seeker testing from lab bench through qualification and flight.

Skills

Radar design

DSP

C++/Python

Embedded systems

RF testing

Security clearance

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering/Physics

Master's degree preferred

Tools

Spectrum analyzers

Vector Network Analyzers (VNA)

Oscilloscopes

VHDL/Verilog

Job description

Approach Venture LLC in El Segundo, CA, seeks a Senior RF Engineer to own the radar seeker end-to-end—from RF front end to signal processing and target tracking that informs guidance. You will architect the system, drive make-vs-buy decisions, and build RF test infrastructure in collaboration with GNC, avionics, and mechanical teams.

You will lead a fast-growing seeker effort, hire when needed, and shape the architecture for future production.