RF Systems Engineer in Allington

Job Overview

RF Systems Engineer – Porton Down, position is Permanent On‑site.

• 25 days annual leave, inclusive of up to 3 days Christmas shutdown.
• Option to buy or sell up to 5 days annual leave.
• Annual Wellbeing allowance.
• Two pension schemes to choose from.
• Private Medical Insurance with discounts for additional family members.
• Life Assurance scheme up to 4x salary.
• Share Save scheme.
• Electric/Hybrid Car leasing scheme.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Retail discounts.
• Career development support.

Come and join our expanding Electronic Warfare Operations Support Group (EWOS) which is made up of 60+ electronic warfare specialists. From all manner of backgrounds, our engineers, scientists, and ex‑military personnel combine their experience to help our customers achieve the true operational potential and keep their people and platforms safe. We are continuing to grow our team at Porton Down, Salisbury, working on key state‑of‑the‑art research, development, and delivery projects, led by our technical customer, Dstl.

• Support testing and optimisation of RF receiver hardware in a new synthetic range (laboratory).
• Provide additional support to over‑air testing (anechoic chamber) and field trials.
• Perform digital and analogue injection testing within synthetic EW scenarios using a range of RF test equipment.
• Explore ways to optimise RF receiver performance through configurable memory (mission data) to improve real‑world operation of the system when deployed to target platforms.
• Develop tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP) for the RF receiver in increasingly congested and contested electromagnetic environments.
• Collate validation data and liaise with military, academia, industry and international stakeholders to complete the validation process.
• Become an expert in configuring and calibrating the latest commercial‑off‑the‑shelf (COTS) development Radio Frequency System on Chip (RFSoC) boards.
• Influence future development work by driving requirements through analysis of current EW systems.
• Work autonomously with unprecedented access to the customer and ensure success of key projects while being supported by on‑site and home‑site MASS teams.

• Ability to work autonomously to optimise complex EW system performance.
• Understanding of RF sensor systems and Test & Evaluation (T&E) practices.
• Proficient with RF test equipment (signal generators, oscilloscopes, and spectrum analysers).
• Experience calibrating hardware and software models into a laboratory environment.
• STEM degree or extensive experience with RF electronics.
• Experience creating scripts/programmes (MATLAB, Python, or similar) (desirable).
• Strong background in EW systems and concepts, including radar systems.
• Experience across the engineering lifecycle (Requirements, V&V, Acceptance).
• Understanding of Analogue & Digital Signal Processing techniques.

Due to the highly secure nature of the projects you will be involved with, you must be:

• A UK citizen and eligible to work in the UK.
• Eligible to obtain and maintain a UK Government SC-level security clearance.

Our people are important to us, and we take pride in our wellbeing programmes and policies that support individuals including mental health first aiders and readily available support through our extensive employee assistance programme.