Communications & Signal Processing Engineer

At MITRE, your passion fuels work that impacts our nation and improves lives. This is where your skills strengthen national security, cybersecurity, health, transportation, and citizen services. We’re a nonprofit engineering, applied research, and advanced technology organization working in the public interest. With objectivity and integrity at our core, we lead federally funded research and development centers for U.S. government agencies – collaborating with industry and academia to deliver integrated, high-impact solutions that advance our nation’s health, security, and prosperity.

Our people tackle the toughest technical challenges, supported by competitive benefits, meaningful career development, and a culture of innovation, collaboration, and technical excellence. Choose MITRE for a career with purpose — and help shape the future.

Department Summary MITRE operates Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) in support of various U.S. Government agencies, including the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Community, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Aviation Administration, and others. Our sponsors rely on a wide range of wireless communications systems, including commercial radios, cellular technologies, satellite communications, tactical data links, and other mission-critical systems.

We assess, design, analyze, prototype, and test advanced communications technologies to further the public good.

Applicant

Note:

Please be aware that this is not an application for a specific position. By submitting your information and providing your resume, you will be included in a pool of candidates for various full-time positions for communications and signal processing opportunities across the company. If you are selected for consideration for a particular position, a member of MITRE’s recruiting team will reach out to you.

About the Role You will help shape the next generation of resilient wireless communications for U.S. Government sponsors, including strategic and national-level command and control communications and other mission-assured systems. You will apply your expertise in digital signal processing (DSP), wireless systems, and networking-aware architectures to develop, evaluate, and prototype innovative solutions for contested and degraded environments. Those activities will include one or more of following:

Develop novel DSP and signal processing algorithms to improve signal detection and classification in congested, contested, and denied environments

Design and implement PHY/baseband algorithms (e.g., OFDM, MIMO, beamforming, advanced channel coding) for modern wireless systems

Evaluate different MIMO transmission schemes and beamforming approaches for throughput, interference management, and robustness

Conduct theoretical analysis to assess the performance of novel geolocation and direction-finding techniques

Design and prototype waveforms for challenging channels (e.g., long-haul, beyond-line-of-sight, high-dynamics, and fading environments)
Work with advanced wireless and SATCOM technologies (5G/6G, LTE, Wi‑Fi, tactical data links, protected SATCOM, VLF/HF/UHF/EHF systems, beyond-line-of-sight communications)
Prototype, modify, and integrate open-source tools to demonstrate new application areas (e.g., GNU Radio, USRP-based SDR testbeds)
Apply machine learning and AI techniques to RF and baseband data for tasks such as signal classification, interference mitigation, RF fingerprinting, and adaptive waveform/beamforming optimization

Support communications systems development and analysis by designing and analyzing components such as synchronization, forward error correction (LDPC, Turbo, convolutional codes), spread spectrum, medium access control, channel…