Senior RF Test Engineer

Technology Service Corporation; Huntsville (AL); On-site; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

ESOP participation

401k Plan

Flexible work schedules

Tuition reimbursement

Co-Sponsored Health Plan

Paid leave

Job summary

Technology Service Corporation (TSC) in Huntsville, AL seeks a Senior RF Manufacturing Test Engineer to drive production readiness for advanced RF systems. You will own test strategy and troubleshoot complex RF issues affecting yield and reliability on the production floor.

The role requires hands-on leadership, deep RF expertise, and collaboration across Design Engineering, Quality, and Program Management to ensure mission-ready systems with robust calibration and repeatable tests.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of hands-on RF/microwave production experience.
• Troubleshooting complex RF systems in production environments, not just lab development.
• Strong understanding of RF system performance, including gain, noise, linearity, phase noise, and spurious mechanisms.
• Experience debugging RF issues tied to mechanical layout, grounding, shielding, and assembly variation.
• Experience developing automated RF test systems using Python, LabVIEW, TestStand, or similar frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Serve as technical authority for production RF performance, test strategy, and yield optimization.
• Own resolution of the most complex production issues including intermittent failures and calibration drift.
• Lead root cause investigations across RF signal chains (RF front-end to embedded interfaces).
• Diagnose noise, spurious signals, coupling, shielding, grounding, and system-level interactions.
• Drive transition of RF hardware from development into production with robust test coverage.

Skills

RF/microwave production experience

Production issue debugging

SPC and yield analysis

RF test equipment proficiency

Automated RF test systems with Python/

Education

Bachelors in Electrical Engineering or related field

Master's degree preferred

Tools

Spectrum analyzers

Vector network analyzers

Signal generators

Power meters/sensors

Job description

Senior RF Manufacturing Test Engineer

TSC is seeking a Senior RF Manufacturing Test Engineer in Huntsville, AL to support the Product Solutions Division. This role is critical to the transition and production of advanced RF systems including seekers, proximity sensors, and other mission‑critical electronics.

The ideal candidate is a hands-on engineer who thrives in a production environment and excels at solving complex, non-obvious RF issues impacting performance, yield, and reliability. This position is critical to ensuring production test robustness, yield performance, and mission‑ready system delivery.

TSC offers a professional working environment, competitive compensation, and a comprehensive benefits package. Join a team where technical excellence and real‑world problem solving drive mission success.

Responsibilities:

• Serves as the technical authority for production RF performance, test strategy, and yield optimization across defense RF systems including seekers, proximity sensors, height‑of‑burst sensors, antennas, and RF subsystems.
• Owns resolution of the most complex production issues, including intermittent failures, environmental sensitivities, calibration drift, and unit-to-unit performance variation.
• Leads deep-dive root cause investigations across full RF signal chains, including RF front-end, analog, mixed-signal, and embedded interfaces.
• Diagnoses and resolves issues related to noise, spurious signals, coupling, shielding, grounding, and system-level interactions.
• Drives transition of RF hardware from development into production, ensuring production-representative test coverage, calibration robustness, and repeatability across builds.
• Develops and deploys advanced RF production test solutions, including automated test systems, alignment/calibration routines, and system-level validation methods.
• Optimizes production test flows to balance test coverage, throughput, and false failure reduction, while maintaining mission-critical performance requirements.
• Drives reduction of test escapes and false failures through improved test coverage, limits, and methodologies.
• Applies statistical analysis to production data to identify trends in yield loss, drift, and performance variation across lots, builds, and environments.
• Partners with Design Engineering to close gaps in design for test (DFT), design for manufacturability (DFM), and design for calibration (DFC).
• Leads implementation of corrective and preventive actions (CAPA) for systemic production issues.
• Interfaces with Program Management, Quality, Supply Chain, and customers to communicate technical risk, readiness, and production performance.
• Provides hands-on technical leadership on the manufacturing floor and at the bench, supporting test stations, troubleshooting efforts, and engineering builds.
• Mentors engineers and technicians in RF debugging, measurement techniques, and production best practices.
• Expected to independently diagnose issues where RF performance deviates from design intent with no clear failure mode or repeatability.
• Other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related field with 8+ years of hands-on RF/microwave production experience (Master's preferred)
• Demonstrated expertise troubleshooting complex RF systems in production environments, not just lab development
• Deep understanding of RF system performance including: gain/loss/dynamic range, noise figure and sensitivity, linearity and compression, phase noise and stability, and spurious/interference mechanisms
• Strong experience debugging RF issues tied to mechanical layout, grounding, shielding, and assembly variation
• Extensive hands-on experience with RF test equipment: spectrum analyzers, vector network analyzers (VNA s), signal generators, power meters/sensors
• Experience developing automated RF test systems using Python, LabVIEW, TestStand, or similar frameworks
• Experience with production calibration, alignment, and tuning of RF systems
• Strong background in statistical process control (SPC), yield analysis, and failure investigation
• Proven ability to diagnose issues spanning RF, digital, embedded, and electromechanical domains
• Experience transitioning products from development to production with emphasis on test readiness, documentation completeness, and process repeatability
• Strong technical communication skills; able to lead technical reviews, failure investigations, and customer briefings
• U.S. citizenship required

TSC Benefits:

TSC offers a stable work environment, a competitive salary, and a comprehensive benefit package; including ESOP participation, 401k Plan, Flexible Work Schedules, Tuition Reimbursement, Co-Sponsored Health Plan, Paid Leave and much more.

Applying to TSC:

Only those candidates invited for an interview will be contacted. Employment at TSC is contingent upon the successful completion of a comprehensive background check, security investigation, and a drug screening.