Senior RF Geolocation Engineer

Location: On-site 3–5 days per week in Hawthorne, California or Washington, D.C.; periodic travel up to 30% is required. U.S. citizenship and the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance are required.

Salary: $110,000–$151,000 base compensation, excluding bonuses, equity, and benefits.

Company

hirify.global develops defense products powered by Coherent Distributed Networks for warfighters, commercial air operators, and border protection teams.

What you will do

• Design and derive passive RF geolocation algorithms based on TDOA, FDOA, multilateration, direction finding, interferometry, and hybrid distributed-sensor architectures.
• Develop coherent and non-coherent geolocation, imaging, emitter localization, and RF scene analysis methods, including phase-aligned multi-node and envelope-based processing.
• Apply Neyman–Pearson, Bayesian, CFAR, maximum-likelihood, error-bound, and linear-algebraic methods to detection and localization in noisy and contested RF environments.
• Model, simulate, and mitigate oscillator phase noise, timing jitter, calibration errors, uncertain sensor geometry, synchronization errors, interference, and low-SNR conditions.
• Implement algorithms in Python, MATLAB, C++, or related languages and translate them into efficient real-time software for DSP, GPU, RF/SDR, and other accelerated architectures.
• Build high-fidelity simulations, define RF front-end and timing requirements, support integration and calibration, conduct field validation, and document assumptions, derivations, performance limits, and test results.

Requirements

• B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Physics, or a related technical field.
• 5+ years of relevant experience developing RF signal processing, estimation, or geolocation algorithms.
• Strong foundation in statistical and time-domain signal processing, detection and estimation theory, backpropagation, and applied linear algebra.
• Demonstrated experience developing passive RF geolocation algorithms, including TDOA, FDOA, multilateration, direction finding, interferometry, or hybrid localization.
• Experience applying rigorous detection frameworks such as Neyman–Pearson, Bayesian inference, CFAR, or related methods to noisy and contested RF environments.
• Proficiency in Python, MATLAB, C++, or similar languages for signal-processing modeling, simulation, and implementation.
• Experience evaluating algorithm performance under low SNR, synchronization error, sensor geometry uncertainty, or interference.
• Ability to translate theoretical models into practical software for RF/SDR hardware integration and production codebases.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills for documenting technical approaches, assumptions, and performance results.
• Must work on-site 3–5 days per week in Hawthorne, CA or Washington, D.C.; must be a U.S. citizen and able to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance.

Nice to have

• M.S. or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Physics, or a related technical field.
• Current U.S. security clearance.
• Deep expertise in passive RF geolocation, interferometric processing, distributed coherent sensing, or passive imaging architectures.
• Peer-reviewed contributions to geolocation techniques.
• Experience deriving maximum-likelihood estimators, Cramer–Rao lower bounds, and geolocation error budgets.
• Experience optimizing signal-processing algorithms for GPU, FPGA, DSP, or heterogeneous compute platforms.
• Experience taking algorithms from concept through simulation, integration, calibration, and field-test validation.
• Ability to define RF front-end, clock, synchronization, and calibration requirements from sensitivity and accuracy analysis.
• Expertise with software-defined radios and RF signal-processing toolchains.
• Military or government technical experience in a fast-paced, mission-driven environment.
• Experience with JIRA and Confluence.

Culture & Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision benefits are fully paid by the company.
• 401(k) with a 50% company match up to 6% of pay, plus FSA, HSA, and life insurance.
• Free daily lunch, no-meeting Fridays, unlimited PTO, and a casual dress code.
• Competitive base salary, pre-IPO stock options, relocation assistance, and planned annual bonuses.
• Periodic travel and collaboration across a 250-person organization with five global offices.