Senior RF Front-End Architect for Autonomous Drone Systems

Namely; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Zipline is seeking a Senior RF Front-End Design Engineer to lead architecture, design, integration, and validation of highly integrated multi-radio front-end systems for its autonomous aircraft and ground infrastructure.

You will own RF front-end architecture from system definition through deployment, supporting LTE, 5G NR, GNSS, Wi‑Fi, ADS‑B, UAT, Bluetooth, ISM radios, and future V2V/air-to-ground communications.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related technical field.
• 7+ years of professional RF front-end hardware or wireless system design.
• Experience with multi-radio platforms and complex integration.
• Familiarity with RF PCB layout, transmission lines, grounding, EMI/EMC.
• Strong communication and project leadership skills.

Responsibilities

• Own RF front-end architecture, design, integration, validation, and production for Zipline platforms.
• Develop multi-radio architectures supporting LTE, 5G, GNSS, Wi‑Fi, Bluetooth, ADS‑B, UAT, ISM, and V2V.
• Define air-to-ground and vehicle-to-vehicle wireless architectures for autonomous operations.
• Evaluate chip-down solutions, RF front-end modules, modems, GNSS receivers, and RF SoCs.
• Translate requirements into RF front-end specs and verification plans.
• Design RF signal chains: power amplifiers, LNAs, filters, duplexers, matching networks.
• Ensure reliable multi-radio operation across airborne and ground platforms.
• Incorporate coexistence, interference management, and receiver desense into designs.
• Plan RF validation, testing, desense characterization, OTA and production testing.
• Collaborate with antenna, mechanical, software, and manufacturing teams; mentor junior engineers.

Skills

RF front-end architecture

Multi-radio integration

LTE

5G NR

GNSS

Wi‑Fi/Bluetooth/ISM

V2V / air-to-ground

RF coexistence

desense mitigation

RF testing (VNA/SA)

PCB layout awareness

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering

Master's degree in Electrical Engineering

PhD in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Keysight ADS

Cadence AWR

Ansys HFSS

CST Studio Suite

Vector network analyzers

Oscilloscopes / spectrum analyzers

Job description

Zipline is seeking a Senior RF Front-End Design Engineer to lead architecture, design, integration, and validation of highly integrated multi-radio front-end systems for its autonomous aircraft and ground infrastructure.

You will own RF front-end architecture from system definition through deployment, supporting LTE, 5G NR, GNSS, Wi‑Fi, ADS‑B, UAT, Bluetooth, ISM radios, and future V2V/air-to-ground communications.