Multifunction EW RF Engineer

About Forterra

Forterra is a leading provider of autonomous systems for ground-based movement in the working world. Amongst some of the earliest innovators in the field of driverless technology, Forterra is focused on building systems that protect front-line soldiers and enable civilian workers in our industrial base. Forterra is the go-to provider of ground autonomy solutions for the U.S. Department of Defense, which harnesses the technology for asymmetric warfare in critical conditions.

As an extension of our core products in Command, Control, and Communications (C3) we are diving deeper into the EW space to make the systems and platforms we integrate more survivable. We are developing an Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations (EMSO) capability that will provide broad spectrum awareness that can aid national government off-the-shelf assets in the EMS. For communication, this will provide a real time database of inference and unoccupied spectrum to aid maneuver.

For Electromagnetic Warfare (EW), this will, in parallel, provide a tip and queue interface to enable current EW and Signals Intelligence systems to more rapidly identify signals of interest driving toward an open “plug-and-play” approach with national government off-the-shelf assets.

We are seeking an RF Systems Engineer to design, integrate, and field RF sensing capabilities that provide wideband spectrum awareness, agility, and direction finding aboard autonomous vehicles. This role will focus on bringing practical RF expertise to a small, cross-functional team building real systems for operational use.

You will own RF engineering end-to-end, from antenna concepts to RF front-end design for our EMSO products. This will not be limited to bespoke designs aimed solely at Forterra’s systems, but work more broadly to design RF systems that can host partner capabilities and support rapid integration of a plurality of sensor, effectors and communication systems. This is a hands-on role for an engineer who thrives in ambiguous problem spaces and can move quickly from concept to over-the-air performance.

• Design, integrate, and test RF front end design & subsystems supporting EMSO and EW sensing, including antennas, RF front-end components, and software-defined radios (SDRs).
• Develop RF architectures that enable wideband spectrum awareness, direction finding, and spectrum agility across VHF, UHF, and lower SHF bands.
• Work with external vendors and partners to specify, evaluate, and validate custom RF components or subsystems when required to ensure Forterra’s systems can support a wide array for tasks.
• Rapidly prototype RF systems using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) or government off-the-shelf (GOTS) components, balancing speed, performance, and system maturity.
• Perform RF field testing, system demonstrations, experimentation, and validation.
• Collaborate with electrical and mechanical engineers to integrate RF hardware into autonomous vehicle platforms, considering antenna placement, grounding, shielding, and enclosure considerations.
• Diagnose and resolve RF performance issues including interference, data rate/bandwidth limitations, and RF chain degradation in real-world environments.

• Mission-First Mindset - We put the needs of the mission and our customers first and understand that the US and its allies have no preordained right to victory in any future conflict.
• Ownership Mentality - We’re looking for owners; those who have a natural bias to assume responsibility, a healthy dose of skepticism, and contribute to a culture of performance.
• Technical Aptitude and Intellectual Curiosity - We are first and foremost a technology company, working at the leading edge of capabilities like machine learning, autonomy, distributed networking, and multi-modal sensor fusion.

• 7+ years of experience designing, building, and testing RF or wireless systems from concept through deployment.
• Strong understanding of RF fundamentals, including antenna theory, array processing, RF propagation, impedance matching, filtering, and low-noise amplification.
• Experience analyzing RF system performance using link…