Principal RF Designer and Architect (Richardson)

Senior Design Engineer – Mixed Signal Integrated Assemblies

Qorvo, Inc is currently seeking a Senior Design Engineer responsible for the design and development of mixed signal integrated assemblies providing command, communications, control and interface of radio electronics. In this position you will report directly to the Director of Systems Engineering in the Systems, Research & Technology Department and will take a technical leadership role in developing RF, analog and digital circuitry employed in a wide variety of product development projects.

You will address all aspects of circuit design & development, including but not limited to:

• Driving technical definitions & specifications of next generation products
• Presentations & proposals to management and customers
• Linear & non‑linear simulations and component selection
• PCB design, fabrication, testing and verification to design specifications

You will be working with Electrical & Mechanical Design Engineering, Marketing, and the Product Line to develop products & technology for next generation of RF systems. The ideal candidate will hold a MSEE with PhD preferred, and relevant experience in electronic design in the wireless communications industry including RF & microwave circuit design, analog design with discrete devices & ICs, digital logic, active & passive filter design, interface electronics, data acquisition, embedded controller hardware design and power management.

Job Summary

• Lead multiple cross‑functional and cross‑site engineering teams in the design and development of command, control, communications and interfacing electronics for RF components and signal chains.
• Develop requirements and specifications for assemblies used in products needed for next generation systems in infrastructure & defense markets.
• Perform analysis and simulations of various approaches, tradeoffs and approaches to verification and validation.
• Identify required circuit functions based on requirements performance parameters and allocate sub‑system partitioning to each function.
• Provide technical inputs for PCB thermal analysis and analyze any resultant impact on reliability.
• Define RF circuit interfaces and integration requirements based on partitioning.
• Develop plans for integrated assembly and RF component integration, and for performance evaluation.
• Integrate sensors, component controls and data acquisition blocks with embedded controllers & digital signal processing functions.
• Provide design documentation necessary to realize integrated assemblies and their interconnection with hosts.
• In conjunction with Test engineering, develop strategies and execution plans for automated test capability of integrated assemblies.
• Review customer’s requirements and technology proposals to identify potential applicable company products & technology.
• Work with engineering development groups and marketing during product development cycles to ensure products meet customer specifications and requirements.
• Travel within US to visit customers, company design centers and industry partners – up to 25%.

Specific Job Duties

• Develop specifications and generate proposals for mixed signal SMT assemblies employed in RF and microwave signal chains.
• Design command, communications, control and interface circuitry for RF integrated assemblies.
• Perform linear, non‑linear & time domain simulations of active & passive circuits including filters, amplifiers, digital & analog multiplexers, interface electronics, embedded controllers and power management.
• Employ time domain simulation methods to accurately predict electronic circuit performance and impact on overall assembly performance.
• Invent novel mixed signal circuit design solutions that provide robust performance relative to requirements and specifications.
• Develop & demonstrate temperature compensation techniques for RF components and line‑ups.
• Design & develop signal processing line‑ups and RF chains from ADC/DAC to RF input/output.
• Analyze dynamic range performance based on noise figure, phase noise, quantization error, ADC SNR, filter group delay, isolation, and amplifier linearity.
• Relate spectral mask of transmitters back to signal processing chain performance.
• Provide trade‑offs, design options, risks, cost analysis, benchmarking of known schemes, and contingency plans to identify the best possible technical path forward.
• Determine if there is an acceptable industry base for components being recommended for use in assemblies and identify potential risks.
• Build hardware demonstrators/engineering models to demonstrate feasibility of proposed technical approaches.
• Oversee schematic capture, BOM generation and layout of PCBs.
• Provide hardware support for firmware development including responsibility for embedded controller hardware design and pin assignments.
• Conduct comprehensive design reviews of project work intended for deployment in products and technical solutions.
• Support component selection taking into account thermal, environmental and reliability requirements.
• Generate assembly instructions, test plans, reports, presentations and other support documentation.
• Test and modify surface mount circuits & assemblies to meet requirements.
• Provide improvements to circuit designs & block diagrams.
• Generate test reports, requirements and documentation for design verification and production testing.
• Travel within USA to visit customers and suppliers as required.

Qualifications

• MSEE minimum, PhD preferred.
• 6+ years’ experience in infrastructure, military, communications and RF industry.
• Extensive background in analog circuit design using op amps and discrete devices.
• Experience in power management design including switching converters, regulators and load control.
• Basic digital logic design and logic “glue” expertise.
• Background in designing and building complex surface mount integrated assemblies.
• Extensive knowledge of active and passive components available in the open market.
• Experience applying semiconductor devices such as HBT and GaN in RF circuits & signal processing chains.
• RF & microwave circuit design including amplifiers, control components and temperature compensation.
• Design experience in data acquisition including ADC, DAC, multiplexing and signal processing chains.
• Familiarity with modern and legacy radio architectures.
• Ability to employ component specifications such as noise figure, phase noise, quantization error, ADC SNR, filter group delay, isolation, and amplifier linearity in determining dynamic range.
• Extensive background in time domain simulations (Spice) of mixed signal circuits.
• Background in receiver and transmitter circuit designs, block diagram analysis, up/down conversion, synthesizers and application of RF components.
• Highly organized to handle multiple projects simultaneously.
• Proficiency in active and passive filter design.
• Experience in non‑linear circuit simulation.
• Embedded controller hardware design expertise.
• Schematic capture, PCB layout, & BOM selection experience.
• Demonstrated ability to work with cross‑functional teams.
• Experience with basic thermal analysis of ICs, discrete devices and passives.
• Skilled in using modern test equipment such as AWGs, signal analyzers and mixed‑signal oscilloscopes.
• Ability to hand solder surface mount components & modify circuits on the bench.
• Strong bench troubleshooting skills.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

Work Location

Richardson, TX (preferred), San Jose, CA

Competitive base salary commensurate with experience: $170,300 - $221,500, relevant for the California Bay Area (subject to change depending on physical location).

Posted salary ranges are made in good faith. Qorvo reserves the right to adjust ranges depending on the experience/qualification of the selected candidate as well as external competitiveness and internal comparability.

Base compensation is one element of Total Rewards offered at Qorvo. More information on the Total Rewards package can be shared upon request.

Equity Employment Opportunity Statement

We are an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer and welcome all qualified applicants. Applicants will receive fair and impartial consideration without regard to any characteristics protected by applicable law, including race, color, religion, sex (as defined by law), national origin, age, military or veteran status, genetic information, or disability.

Nearest Major Market

Dallas

Nearest Secondary Market

Fort Worth