Communications Engineer (RF/Networking)

Location: Fort Pierce, Florida, USA. Onsite work in office, laboratory, shop, dockside, vessel, and outdoor test environments; travel up to 50%, including customer sites, test ranges, partner locations, and potential OCONUS travel.

Compensation: Base pay plus annual equity package and potential bonuses; no amount specified.

Company

Blue Ops, part of hirify.global, designs, builds, and fields autonomous unmanned surface vessels for defense and national security customers.

What you will do

• Integrate, configure, test, and troubleshoot vessel and ground-control communications systems, including RF radios, satellite terminals, cellular connections, routers, switches, and antennas.
• Configure IP addressing, VLANs, routing, DHCP, firewall rules, VPNs, multicast or broadcast traffic, multi-WAN connectivity, failover, traffic prioritization, and bandwidth aggregation.
• Evaluate throughput, latency, jitter, packet loss, signal quality, link availability, RF link budgets, antenna placement, cable loss, interference, and installation factors.
• Integrate communications paths for command and control, telemetry, video, radar, and other payload data; diagnose issues using packet captures, Linux tools, router diagnostics, RF equipment, and system logs.
• Support dockside checkout, sea trials, demonstrations, deliveries, and customer events; execute coverage, failover, outage-recovery, and performance tests.
• Maintain network diagrams, IP plans, equipment configurations, test results, and procedures while coordinating corrective actions with autonomy, software, electrical, and systems engineering teams.

Requirements

• 3–7 years of experience in communications engineering, RF systems, network engineering, systems integration, or a related technical role.
• Hands-on experience integrating and troubleshooting RF or wireless communications equipment and IP networks.
• Working knowledge of RF fundamentals, including link budgets, antenna gain, polarization, cable loss, line of sight, and interference.
• Working knowledge of TCP/IP, UDP, Ethernet, subnetting, VLANs, routing, DHCP, VPNs, and network security fundamentals.
• Experience configuring routers, managed switches, and wireless communications equipment.
• Familiarity with Linux, SSH, command-line utilities, logs, and basic system services; experience with Wireshark, tcpdump, iperf, or equivalent tools.
• Ability to use a multimeter and RF test equipment, read and produce network and wiring diagrams, write test procedures and technical documentation, troubleshoot independently, and coordinate corrective actions.
• U.S. citizenship and ability to obtain and maintain a DoD security clearance.
• Ability to travel up to 50%; ability to work aboard vessels, outdoors, dockside, and in shop or test environments, including kneeling, crouching, climbing, confined spaces, and lifting approximately 25–50 pounds.
• ITAR/EAR compliance requires proof of U.S. citizenship or permanent residence and no need for sponsorship for export-restricted work authorization. A post-offer background check and E-Verify employment eligibility verification are required.

Nice to have

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Telecommunications, Systems Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Experience with USVs, UAS, UGVs, robotics, marine electronics, defense, aerospace, or other complex integrated systems.
• Experience with Peplink, SpeedFusion, SD-WAN, satellite communications, Starlink, cellular networking, or tactical and industrial mesh radios.
• Experience with spectrum analyzers, vector network analyzers, RF power meters, cable and antenna analyzers, NVIDIA Jetson, embedded Linux, MAVLink, NMEA 2000, CAN, serial interfaces, or maritime sensor integration.
• Experience transporting video, radar, or telemetry across bandwidth-constrained or intermittent links; Python or shell scripting for diagnostics, monitoring, configuration, or test automation.
• Experience with field testing, sea trials, commissioning, or deployed communications systems.

Culture & Benefits

• Hands-on work across office, laboratory, shop, dockside, vessel, outdoor, and marine environments.
• Up to 50% travel, including customer sites, test ranges, partner locations, and potential international travel.
• Early starts, extended days, and occasional weekend work may be required for test events.
• Base pay is supplemented by an annual equity package and potential bonuses.
• Equal employment opportunity workplace with consideration of qualified candidates with criminal histories consistent with applicable law.