Senior RF Engineer

Fortell; New York (NY); On-site; USD 160,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Fortell is seeking a Senior RF Engineer to join their hardware team in New York City. The ideal candidate will lead RF development for innovative hearing aid products, ensuring performance amid constraints.

This role involves hands-on prototyping, collaboration with global teams, and optimization of RF architecture including Bluetooth technologies. Compensation ranges from $160K to $200K.

Qualifications

• Deep expertise in Bluetooth Classic and BLE RF implementation.
• Background in hearing aid or ear-worn product development.
• Strong RF simulation skills using tools like CST Studio.

Responsibilities

• Drive RF development, testing, and troubleshooting for products.
• Collaborate with the Head of RF on strategy and development.
• Optimize RF front-end architecture including antenna design.

Skills

Bluetooth Classic implementation

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) implementation

RF simulation skills (CST Studio)

Electrical engineering skills

Hands-on prototyping skills

Tools

Spectrum analyzers

Network analyzers

Oscilloscopes

Altium

Job description

Fortell designs hearing aids using an AI chip that separates speech from noise in real time, amplifying speech and attenuating noise.

The Role

We are looking for a Senior RF Engineer to join our hardware team. Working closely with our Head of RF, you will drive RF development, bring‑up, testing, and support from early prototyping through production validation. You’ll need experience shipping products where RF was genuinely hard, constrained form factors and limited power budgets, and with tight packaging. You’ll be comfortable at the bench with a spectrum analyzer or at schematic review, with deep intuition for making RF work in small, power‑limited devices, and you move fast to solve problems and keep RF from delaying the schedule.

This role is on‑site at Fortell’s office in NYC. It requires travel up to 20% of the time, including domestic and/or international travel as needed.

What You’ll Do

• Drive RF development, bring‑up, testing, and troubleshooting for Fortell’s hearing aid products.
• Tightly collaborate with the Head of RF in Denmark to drive RF strategy, set development timelines, and make architectural decisions that keep the product moving forward.
• Define and optimize the RF front‑end architecture, including antenna design, matching networks and link budget optimization for Bluetooth Classic, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), and NFMI.
• Drive miniaturization and integration — finding ways to make the RF subsystem smaller, more tightly integrated, and more manufacturable without giving up performance.
• Read, review, and red‑line schematics; collaborate with the electrical engineering team on Altium layout to ensure RF‑critical placement, routing, and stackup decisions are correct.
• Build and run RF test and validation efforts — define test plans, operate bench equipment, collect chamber data, and close the loop between simulation and measured performance.
• Prototype and experiment hands‑on: solder, rework, probe, and iterate quickly to resolve issues and prove out ideas.
• Support production RF validation and troubleshooting as products move into manufacturing.

What We’re Looking For

• Deep expertise in Bluetooth Classic and BLE RF implementation.
• Background in hearing aid, earbud, or ear‑worn product development, with an understanding of the unique RF and form‑factor constraints these products impose.
• Strong RF simulation skills (ideally CST Studio) — you use these simulation tools to make informed design decisions before committing to hardware.
• Expert‑level electrical engineering skills: schematic capture, circuit analysis, component selection, and close collaboration with the electrical engineering team on PCB layout to minimize desense (Altium preferred).
• Hands‑on prototyping and lab skills — comfortable with spectrum analyzers, network analyzers, oscilloscopes, and the full RF bench toolkit.
• Experience taking complex RF designs through the full product lifecycle: from architecture through validation and into production.
• High urgency and bias toward action — you find ways to get answers fast, whether that means a quick bench experiment, a rough simulation, or a creative workaround, rather than waiting for perfect conditions.

Nice to Have

• Experience with regulatory testing and certification (FCC, CE, IC) for wireless devices.
• Familiarity with NFMI (Near‑Field Magnetic Induction) systems — ideally in hearing aids, earbuds, or similar ear‑worn devices.

Compensation Range: $160K - $200K