Y Combinator Founding RF Engineer
Summary
Founding RF Engineer at Nine Fives designing next-generation RF test equipment, working with PCB design tools (Altium/KiCAD), RF analysis software (ADS/HFSS), and embedded Linux for product development. Salary $170k-$200k plus equity.
Nine Fives produces modern radio frequency test equipment and solutions to disrupt the $130B test equipment industry. By combining modern electronics, AI ready test automation, and strategic supply chains, we’re equipping our customers to cut their time to market in half.
About the role:
This is a full time salaried position. Compensation is $170,000 - $200,000/yr + equity & benefits.
As a Founding RF Engineer you will own products from cradle to grave. You will work with our founding team to develop the next generation of electronic test equipment.
Responsibilities:
- Define product requirements and synthesize into schematics
- Perform component selection and BOM optimization
- Schematic design and routing for digital and analog PCBs
- Perform bringup and characterization of prototype PCBAs
- Write and maintain a common embedded linux software stack across products
Basic Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering or similar.
- 3+ years experience with Altium, KiCAD, or other industry standard EDA tool sets.
- 2+ years experience performing analysis with ADS or Microwave Office
- 2+ years experience performing analysis with HFSS or CST studio
- 2+ years experience with common RF lab equipment like spectrum analyzers, signal generators, and network analyzers.
Preferred Skills and Experience:
- Masters degree in electrical engineering with a focus on Radio Frequency Hardware design
- Experience designing PCBAs with high speed interfaces such as DDR and/or ethernet
- Experience designing RF PCBAs (LNAs, Power Amplifiers, couplers, feed networks or similar).
- Experience designing medium-complexity switch mode power supplies (buck, buck-boost, flyback).
- Familiarity with common interfaces for networking test equipment (SCPI, VISA, HiSlip, LXI, RESTful API) and basic knowledge of underlying network stack (IP, TCP, UDP, DNS, DHCP).
- 2+ years experience working on embedded Linux based systems (especially buildroot based)
- 2+ years experience with Python, Go, or C/C++ development.
Additional Requirements:
- Some travel may be required
- Role is in-person, 5 days a week.
- Weekend work is neither required nor expected.
Nine Fives is an equal opportunity employer.