Senior / Lead Radio Characterization Engineer

Job Title

Senior / Lead Radio Characterization Engineer

Role Summary

Lead the strategy, methodology and execution for RF performance characterization of Nordic's short-range radio IPs within the BU Short-Range - BLE Radio Development team in Trondheim. Serve as the technical authority and main interface to production test engineering, influencing measurement scope, equipment choices, automation and how measurement data is turned into engineering decisions.

This is a technical leadership role without formal line management: you lead by expertise and methodology across design, characterization and product teams.

Experience Level

Senior - technical lead role. Requires several years of hands-on RF measurement and characterization experience on integrated radios or RF products.

Responsibilities

Define and run the characterization program that validates radio performance from bring-up through volume production.

• Own the characterization plan: scope, priorities, sequencing and resource requirements across new silicon and product ramps.
• Specify and align test equipment, fixtures, chambers and automation; drive investment decisions for test capabilities.
• Improve characterization methodology: reduce measurement uncertainty, shorten test time, increase automation and reproducibility.
• Maintain traceability of which datasheet and standards parameters are covered; identify and close coverage gaps.
• Analyze measurement data across corners and process variations; provide actionable conclusions to design, systems and product teams.
• Support production test engineering, regulatory/standards testing and teams performing silicon bring-up.
• Coach and align teams on characterization best practices and data capture so methods persist beyond individual projects.

Requirements

Concise split between must-have technical skills and desirable experience.

Must-have:

• Several years of hands-on RF measurement and characterization experience on integrated radios or RF products.
• Practical command of RF instrumentation: spectrum and signal analyzers, vector signal generators, network analyzers, power meters, oscilloscopes, and shielded/OTA setups.
• Experience automating measurements and processing data (Python or MATLAB), including instrument control and statistical analysis.
• Understanding of measurement uncertainty, calibration and correlation between setups, benches and sites.
• Ability to plan and lead technical work across teams and communicate results and trade-offs clearly to engineers and management; strong English communication skills.

Nice-to-have:

• Experience with production test for RF/SoC products (ATE platforms, test program development, test-time and yield optimization).
• Knowledge of Bluetooth LE and other short-range PHY-layer test specifications.
• Familiarity with regulatory RF requirements and certification testing (ETSI, FCC or similar).
• Experience with silicon bring-up, characterization across PVT corners and datasheet limit setting.
• Understanding of RF/analog IC design and system architecture sufficient to debug findings with design teams.
• Familiarity with data infrastructure for test results: databases, dashboards and traceability.

Education Requirements

MSc or PhD in Electronics, Telecommunications, Physics or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.

About the Company

Company: Nordic Semiconductor

Headquarters: Trondheim, Norway

Norwegian fabless semiconductor company that designs low-power wireless connectivity solutions and system-on-chips (SoCs) for IoT, including Bluetooth Low Energy, Thread, Zigbee, LTE-M/NB-IoT, Wi‑Fi, and cloud services (nRF Cloud).