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Microwave Photonics Engineer

  • On-site
    • Bozeman, Montana, United States
  • Photonics and RF

Job description

S2 Corporation is seeking to fill the position of Microwave Photonics Engineer who is meticulous and detail-oriented personality and enjoys solving problems, possesses great teamwork skills, and has the ability to clearly state and share ideas.  

 

Responsibilities:  

  • Designing, integrating, and testing complex microwave photonic systems and components such as low noise, high dynamic range optical and RF frontends. 
  • Designing, integrating, and testing phase stable photonic down-converting links. 
  • Performing precise measurements of optical and RF frequency standards. 
  • Designing and integrating automation of complex photonic and RF system for electronic warfare.
  • Developing testing protocols to determine functionality and optimization, or to establish limits of complex systems and subsystems, and to ensure quality.  
  • Developing mathematical models to predict, analyze, and evaluate subsystem operation. 
  • Working with all technical staff to transition complex prototypes to production systems. 
  • Conducting research on new photonic technologies and staying current with the state-of-the-art in the fields of photonics and RF sensing.  
  • Documenting the design processes including objectives, issues, and outcomes.  
  • Selecting, purchasing and setting up commercially available RF electronics and photonics components. 

Job requirements

The successful candidate will have most or all of these essential skills or abilities:

  • Master’s degree or PhD in an engineering discipline with emphasis in RF/microwave systems and electromagnetic theory.
  • 3+ years of industry experience in RF/microwave system design.
  • Experience with design of linear and non-linear circuits such as power amplifiers, low noise amplifiers, mixers, filters and PLLs.
  • Experience with radio related test equipment such as spectrum analyzers, vector signal analyzers, vector signal generator, network analyzers. 
  • Thorough understanding of RF passive components.
  • Experience characterizing radio performance at microwave frequencies.
  • Experience developing automated test equipment for lab measurement.
  • Experience evaluating and characterizing prototypes and RF components.
  • Knowledge of RF/microwave design in the UHF to W-band frequency range.
  • Experience with optical and RF PLLs. 
  • Basic knowledge in one of the following data analysis and measurement automation: C, C++, Java, Python.

Desirable Skills & Abilities: 

  • Experience measuring optical component noise/linearity properties. 
  • Experience simulating/modeling RF front-end systems, working with system architects, modem/DSP and ASIC engineers to partition functions between hardware and software domains. 
  • Ability to derive RF hardware specifications for the RF system and RF blocks.
  • Knowledge of digital communication systems, spread spectrum, single and multi-carrier techniques and modulation types such as QPSK, APSK and QAM.
  • Professional work experience in optics, photonics, or a related area.  
  • Professional work experience in a manufacturing environment.

S2 Corporation’s General Employee Requirements: 

  • The position includes working on U. S. Government funded projects that involve the handling of controlled unclassified information, requiring the successful candidate to have U. S. Citizenship.
  • This position may include working on defense department funded projects with security restrictions, which may require a security clearance. The successful candidate must be willing and able to apply for a security clearance.
  • The successful candidate will have to pass a preemployment drug test and background check.
  • Be able to perform physical tasks around the lab and office spaces such as sitting and standing, each for at least an hour multiple times throughout a day, and occasional lifting of items up to 50lbs.
  • Attend required organizational meetings in person or through videoconferencing.
  • Clear communication of your efforts so that others can reproduce your efforts as needed. 
  • Efficiently use word processing, spreadsheet, time reporting, procurement and other software. 
  • Ability to describe technical progress in project deliverable reports.
  • Ability to assist in writing funding proposals. 
  • Ability to interpret general guidelines and work alone for extended periods to efficiently move projects forward.
  • Ability, willingness, and availability to travel to field test events up to several times a year, which may include driving company vehicles and working extended hours outside for several days.
  • Ability to function as part of a team, that is highly collaborative, cross-functional and multi-disciplinary on multiple projects.
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills, with ability to communicate clearly with coworkers, through in-person conversations, email, and on line in organizational software, such as Microsoft Teams. 
  • Ability to independently learn and apply new approaches and technologies in order to find solutions to complex problems.

The priority date for receiving applications is July 1, 2020, but applications will continue to be considered after this date. S2 Corporation reserves the right to hire none, one, or several candidates for this position. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin.

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