Field Systems Engineer

Field Systems Engineer

Seattle, WA or Sunnyvale, CA or San Diego, CA or New York, NY

About Us

E-commerce got real-time data infrastructure decades ago. Physical stores still have not. RADAR is changing that. RADAR is building the data infrastructure layer for the physical world, starting with retail. Our hardware-enabled SaaS platform uses proprietary overhead sensors, software, and AI-powered analytics to locate every product in a store, continuously, down to the fixture. We are deployed across 1,400+ stores with retailers including American Eagle Outfitters and Old Navy, processing tens of billions of real-world events every day, delivering 99%+ accuracy in complex, noisy environments - at fleet scale. RADAR is one of the best-funded companies in retail technology, backed by a recent Series B financing at a $1 billion valuation. Inventory accuracy is only the beginning. We believe RADAR can become foundational infrastructure for the physical economy, powering new AI-driven commerce experiences across retail and beyond. Join us if you want to work on a large, unsolved, technically challenging problem with an ambitious team building category-defining technology.

Our Values

• Mission-Driven: We're transforming retail with cutting-edge technology and building something that truly matters.
• Collaborative Team: We thrive on curiosity, shared goals, and solving complex problems together.
• High Impact: You'll make meaningful contributions from day one and help shape the future of our product and company.
• Clear Communication: We value honesty, humility, and respectful dialogue—everyone's voice matters.
• Balanced Lives: We work hard, but not at the expense of well-being. We respect time, boundaries, and life outside of work.
• Diverse Perspectives: We believe better ideas come from diverse backgrounds, experiences, and viewpoints.
• Empathy-Driven Design: We build with deep respect for our end users, listening closely to their feedback and needs.

About The Job

We're looking for a hands-on senior technical generalist who can move fluidly across the full stack of a retail deployment — from reader antenna placement and RF environment debugging, to understanding how location fixes propagate through our cloud pipeline. You'll be embedded in the work, not above it.

The job is to unblock problems, make calls in the field, and keep the deployment moving forward. When RFID read rates are off, you're the person who figures out why and fixes it. You'll work closely with hardware engineers, firmware developers, backend and cloud engineers, and RADAR's own infrastructure team and you need to hold a real technical conversation with all of them.

You'll be operating across this stack on a daily basis: RFID (UHF Gen2) · Indoor positioning · Reader firmware · RF propagation · MAC / physical layer · Cloud pipelines · Mobile SDKs · Store network / IT Open to remote for exceptional candidates.

Responsibilities:

• Walk a store and diagnose why RFID read rates are off — antenna angle, reader config, interference, multipath, tag placement — and make the call on the fix
• Triage location performance issues end-to-end: from physical layer through the cloud pipelines
• Translate what you're seeing in the field into precise, actionable bug reports and configuration changes for hardware, firmware, and backend engineers
• Work directly with internal partner teams, as well as the retailer's IT, facilities, and operations teams to get things done on the ground — cabling, network access, reader mounting, rollout sequencing.
• Identify the real blockers, not the reported ones, and drive them to closure without waiting for perfect information
• Own the deployment plan for each store phase: what gets installed, in what order, how it gets validated, and what done looks like
• Build the institutional knowledge that makes the second and third store easier than the first — runbooks, failure modes, calibration playbooks
• Serve as the translation layer between Radar's full-stack engineering org and the retailer's technical teams

About You

Required:

• You have expertise with RFID systems — UHF Gen2, reader configuration, antenna selection and placement, tag behavior in complex RF environments
• You are familiar with physical layer and/or MAC layer fundamentals from wireless comms, base station work, or related RF systems
• You are familiar with indoor positioning — for example BLE, Wi-Fi, or sensor fusion at a working level
• You have experience in debugging and root cause analysis across hardware/firmware/software boundaries
• You have supported field deployments in real environments, not just labs
• You can work fluently across HW, FW, embedded, backend, and cloud engineering teams
• You are highly organized with exceptional attention to detail, able to maintain quality and thoroughness in environments that move fast
• You are a clear and confident communicator, comfortable translating technical details into actionable insights for both engineering teams and non-technical retail stakeholders
• You have hands-on experience coordinating project execution, handling competing priorities and ambiguity with composure and rigor

Preferred:

• You have retail or supply chain environment exposure
• You are familiar with cloud telemetry pipelines and observability tooling
• You can perform RF measurements — spectrum analyzers, site surveys, signal mapping
• You have familiarity with data analysis, algorithm tuning, or signal processing concepts that translate to improving system performance in the field
• You are experienced working at a fast-paced startup or high-growth technology company where agility, ownership, and resourcefulness are essential

What You'll Do

In your first 30 days, you will:

• Learn Radar's mission, technology stack and core values.
• Complete onboarding and security compliance training.
• Visit one of RADAR's lab stores to experience the end-to-end system in operation

In your first 60 days, you will:

• Visit a pilot store installation
• Use existing analysis tools to assess the performance of the pilot store installation
• Work with project management and customer experience teams to define a test plan for the pilot

In your first 90 days, you will:

• Identify system bottlenecks or performance deficiencies and work with engineering teams to resolve them
• Create performance test reports to share with stakeholders
• Develop new analysis tools for assessing system performance

At RADAR, your base pay is one part of your total compensation package. The expected base salary range for this position is $130,000 - $250,000. Individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience and relevant education or training. You will also be eligible to receive other benefits including: equity, comprehensive medical and dental coverage, life and disability benefits, 401k plan, flexible time off, and paid parental leave. The pay range listed for this position is a good faith and reasonable estimate of the range of possible base compensation at the time of posting.

Research has shown that women & underrepresented minorities are more likely to read lists of requirements and consider themselves unqualified if they don't meet every single one. This list represents what we're ideally looking for, but everyone has unique strengths & weaknesses, and we hire for strength & potential, not lack of weakness.