Senior RF Communications & Sensing Systems Engineer

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab; Laurel (MD); On-site; USD 100,000 - 245,000; Full time

Job summary

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) seeks an RF Communications Systems Engineer to analyze wireless links, model RF propagation, and guide design choices for fielded sensing and communication systems. You’ll collaborate with embedded and FPGA teams to turn concepts into deployable capabilities.

Requirements include a Bachelor’s degree with 5+ years in electrical or related fields and experience in RF hardware, software for communications, and system-level analysis.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree with 5+ years of related experience.
• Experience in RF hardware, software for communications, or RF systems engineering.
• Strong understanding of signals, modulation, estimation, and detection.

Responsibilities

• Analyze wireless communication systems by developing link budgets and modeling RF propagation.
• Evaluate system performance to develop transmitter, receiver, and system requirements.
• Characterize documented and undocumented systems and protocols to guide new approaches.
• Contribute to algorithm, hardware, software, and SDR development from concept to test.
• Plan field evaluations to validate performance and improve designs.
• Collaborate with sponsors and engineering teams to translate needs into deployable solutions.

Skills

RF hardware design experience

Signal processing theory

RF systems engineering

Link budgets

RF propagation modeling

System requirements translation

Matlab/Python/C/C++

Independent problem solving

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or related field

Master’s or Ph.D. in communications/RF (advantage)

Tools

MATLAB

Python

C/C++

Job description

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) seeks an RF Communications Systems Engineer to analyze wireless links, model RF propagation, and guide design choices for fielded sensing and communication systems. You’ll collaborate with embedded and FPGA teams to turn concepts into deployable capabilities.

Requirements include a Bachelor’s degree with 5+ years in electrical or related fields and experience in RF hardware, software for communications, and system-level analysis.