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 its hardware team in New York City. You will drive RF development, bring-up, and validation from prototype through production. Expect hands-on lab work, schematic reviews, and close collaboration with a Denmark-based RF lead to shape strategy and timelines.

The role requires deep Bluetooth Classic and BLE RF experience, plus strong simulation skills and a background in small, power-conscious hearing-aid-like devices. Travel up to 20% is possible.

Qualifications

• Deep expertise in Bluetooth Classic and BLE RF implementation.
• Background in hearing aid, earbud, or ear-worn product development with constraints on form-factor and RF.
• Strong RF simulation skills (ideally CST Studio).
• Expert-level EE skills: schematic capture, circuit analysis, component selection, and close PCB layout collaboration to minimize desense (Altium preferred).
• Hands-on prototyping and lab skills — spectrum/analyzers, network analyzers, oscilloscopes and full RF bench tools.
• Experience taking complex RF designs through full product lifecycle: architecture to production.
• High urgency and bias toward action—fast bench experiments, rough simulations, or creative workarounds.

Responsibilities

• Drive RF development, bring-up, testing, and troubleshooting for Fortell's hearing aid products.
• Collaborate with Head of RF in Denmark to set development timelines and architectural decisions.
• Define and optimize the RF front-end architecture, including antenna design and link budget for Bluetooth Classic, BLE, and NFMI.
• Drive miniaturization and integration of the RF subsystem while maintaining performance.
• Review schematics; coordinate Altium layout to ensure RF-critical placement and routing.
• Build and run RF test and validation efforts—define test plans and collect chamber data.
• Prototype hands-on: solder, rework, probe, and iterate quickly to resolve issues.
• Support production RF validation and troubleshooting as products go to manufacturing.

Skills

Bluetooth Classic

BLE

RF Design

Antenna Design

CST Studio

Altium

Schematic Review

Test & Measurement

Tools

Altium

CST Studio

Spectrum Analyzer

Job description

Fortell is designing better hearing aids for life as it's meant to be heard. Traditional hearing aids make everything louder but they don't do enough to help the brain separate conversation from noise. Fortell uses a custom AI chip to separate speech from noise in real time, amplifying the important speech and attenuating the noise.

We are backed by Thrive Capital, Valor Equity Partners, Founders Fund, Optum Ventures, Lux Capital, Vast Ventures, Good Friends, Positive Sum, Stonecroft, and Atreides Management. Our debut product is available now at Fortell Audiology on Park Avenue and 61st Street.

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, and support from early prototyping through production validation. You've shipped products where RF was genuinely hard, constrained form factors, limited power budgets, tightly packaged electronics, and you came out the other side with something that actually works. You're as comfortable at the bench with a spectrum analyzer as you are in a schematic review, and you bring deep intuition for what it takes to make RF work in these small, power-limited devices. You also move fast. We intend to iterate faster than any other hardware startup, and we need RF engineers who are creative problem-solvers committed to making sure RF is never the long pole in the schedule. This role is on-site at Fortell’s office in NYC. This position 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