R&D Hardware Engineer – RF systems Root Cause​/Failure Analysis Lead

RF Engineer

Keysight is at the forefront of technology innovation, delivering breakthroughs and trusted insights in electronic design, simulation, prototyping, test, manufacturing, and optimization. Our ~15,000 employees create world-class solutions in communications, 5G, automotive, energy, quantum, aerospace, defense, and semiconductor markets for customers in over 100 countries. Learn more about what we do.

Our award-winning culture embraces a bold vision of where technology can take us and a passion for tackling challenging problems with industry-first solutions. We believe that when people feel a sense of belonging, they can be more creative, innovative, and thrive at all points in their careers.

We are seeking an RF Engineer with strong design expertise and a passion for investigative problem-solving to drive root-cause analysis of failures in advanced RF systems using innovative interposer technologies. The role requires deep system understanding, close collaboration with test engineers to interpret measurement data, and hands-on debugging. The candidate will lead both non-destructive and destructive analyses to identify and validate conclusive failure mechanisms.

This critical position leads failure analysis, defect characterization, and root-cause investigations for Keysight's next-generation hardware products. You will diagnose complex system, module, and component-level failures; structure and drive disciplined RCA activities; and ensure timely, clear communication of findings through a weekly RCA dashboard and executive readouts. You will collaborate with design engineering, reliability, manufacturing, quality, and suppliers to systematically identify failure mechanisms, contain issues, and implement corrective and preventative actions.

This is your opportunity to influence product quality, reliability, and architecture decisions across multiple product families.

You will be part of Keysight Labs' hardware development organization, partnering with multi-discipline engineering teams across RF, photonics, digital, packaging, and manufacturing. The team values technical rigor, structured problem-solving, and clear communication.

RF Systems Design Support

· Support the architecture and definition of new products through all development phases of the RF/Microwave design ensuring that the product meets performance and manufacturability goals and reliability qualifications requirements

· Support development of novel RF/Microwave signal conditioning components in several different cutting-edge technology platforms, especially wrt identifying early the failure mechanisms in that design

· Develop new electromagnetic models to support fully characterizing complex subsystems, where simulation/emulation gaps exist

· Work with our internal and external manufacturing partners to troubleshoot prototype designs and bring them to volume production

Failure Analysis & Root Cause Leadership

· Lead end-to-end failure analysis investigations for systemic, intermittent, and NPI-related hardware failures

· Develop structured problem-solving plans (5 Whys, Ishikawa, fault-tree analysis, DOE-based isolation, etc.)

· Own the weekly RCA dashboard summarizing investigation status, findings, risks, and next steps for leadership

· Drive cross-functional review sessions, ensuring alignment on problem statements, data requirements, and closure criteria

Technical Investigation & Troubleshooting

· Reproduce, isolate, and characterize failures in collaboration with product designers and test engineering

· Interpret complex data sets, test results, and statistical patterns to identify failure mechanisms

· Document clear, data-driven root-cause conclusions and recommended corrective actions

Cross-Functional Collaboration

· Partner with design, reliability, manufacturing, and supplier teams to validate findings and ensure robust corrective actions

· Provide feedback to design teams on systemic trends, design margins, and reliability opportunities

· Support design verification, environmental stress tests, and reliability qualification review as needed

Core Qualifications

· BS, MS, or PhD in Electrical…