Senior Staff RF Development Engineer

Job Title

Senior Staff RF Development Engineer

Role Summary

Lead technical authority for RF, microwave, millimeter-wave, and high-speed interconnect test and measurement solutions. Provide strategic technical leadership across product architecture, modeling, measurement science, and cross-functional development to drive product performance and customer outcomes.

Experience Level

Senior — technical leader responsible for large, complex programs. See Education Requirements for specific years-of-experience and degree equivalencies.

Responsibilities

Accountable for defining technical direction, delivering advanced RF products, and ensuring measurement accuracy and manufacturability.

• Set long-term technology strategy and influence product architecture and roadmaps for RF and high-speed interconnect solutions.
• Lead design, modeling, electromagnetic simulation, and optimization of RF/microwave/mm-wave and high-speed physical-layer interconnects.
• Develop and validate RF measurement, calibration, de-embedding, and error-correction methodologies (e.g., SOLT, SOLR, TRL and emerging approaches).
• Establish technical standards, best practices, and simulation-to-measurement correlation methodologies across product lines.
• Make critical technical tradeoffs considering electrical performance, cost, manufacturability, reliability, and time-to-market.
• Lead prototype development, test method definition, lab characterization, and transition of technologies into production.
• Engage with strategic customers, partners, and internal stakeholders to translate requirements into product and research plans.
• Provide cross-functional leadership across electrical, mechanical, manufacturing, software, and applications teams.
• Mentor senior engineers, contribute to patents/publications, and represent the company at technical forums and standards activities.

Requirements

Required technical capabilities and professional skills. Education and specific years-of-experience are listed under Education Requirements.

• Must-have: Deep expertise in RF, microwave, millimeter-wave, or high-speed digital interconnect design, measurement science, and electromagnetic modeling.
• Must-have: Expert-level proficiency with simulation and modeling tools such as HFSS, ADS, Sigrity, AWR, or equivalent platforms.
• Must-have: Strong experience with RF calibration methods, de-embedding, and test system architecture; familiarity with VNAs, spectrum analyzers, signal generators, power meters, and automated test systems.
• Must-have: Proven ability to lead highly complex technical programs and influence multi-product technology direction.
• Must-have: Experience correlating simulation results with laboratory measurements and improving models and calibration methods based on data.
• Must-have: Knowledge of RF PCB design, signal integrity, EMC, controlled impedance, and design-for-manufacturability practices.
• Nice-to-have: Experience in semiconductor test, wafer sort, package test, or advanced packaging applications.
• Nice-to-have: Track record of patents, publications, conference presentations, or standards contributions in relevant fields.

Education Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a related technical discipline with a minimum of 12 years related experience; OR Master's degree with a minimum of 8 years related experience; OR PhD with a minimum of 5 years related experience; OR equivalent advanced technical experience. Fields referenced include Electrical Engineering, Physics, and related technical disciplines; equivalent practical experience is explicitly accepted.

About the Company

Company: FormFactor

Headquarters: Livermore, California, United States

FormFactor provides test and measurement technologies and services for the semiconductor industry across the product lifecycle — including characterization, modeling, reliability, design debug, qualification and production test. The company serves customers globally through facilities in Asia, Europe, and North America.