Principal Rfic Design Engineer

Ethan Alexander Group - San Diego, CA

Full-time - Principal

San Diego, CA

Personal and Laundry Services

About the position

The Principal RFIC Design Engineer will lead the design and development of high-performance RF, analog, and mixed-signal integrated circuits for connectivity and communications. This role involves significant technical leadership, collaboration with cross-functional teams, and oversight of RFIC design engineers. The position offers flexibility with multiple office locations in California and a hybrid work environment, emphasizing continuous improvement and collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership and hands-on contributions in the design of high-performance custom RF, analog, and mixed-signal IPs.
• Supervise layout activities and perform post-layout LPE simulations and analysis.
• Collaborate closely with RF, analog, digital, test, and firmware design engineers.
• Present design concepts and progress to peers and management.
• Work with System Engineers to derive block-level specifications based on product requirements.
• Run behavioral model simulations to study system performance and drive block-level specifications using tools like Matlab and VerilogA.
• Partner with System and Digital Engineers to design and validate methods to alleviate circuit impairments.
• Assist Test Engineers in designing comprehensive test plans and developing production ATE solutions.
• Participate in post-silicon bring-up, performance characterization, optimization, and debugging.

Requirements

• MSEE minimum, PhD preferred.
• 12+ years of hands-on experience in high-performance RF, Analog, and Mixed Signal IC design in advanced CMOS processes.
• Excellent technical knowledge of RF CMOS fundamentals and implementation of RX and TX RF/Analog front-end for modern wireless radios.
• Hands-on experience in transistor-level design of RF front-end circuits such as LNA, PA, Mixers, Filters, Amplifiers, and Opamps.
• Good understanding of optimization for power consumption, NF, SNR, PN/jitter, matching, and area.
• Familiarity with RF device modeling, including inductor EM simulation and packaging effects.
• Good familiarity with IC layout, full IC design flow, and verification.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and commitment to quality.
• Familiarity with development tools: Cadence Virtuoso suite, EMX, Calibre, PVS, Matlab, and MS Office.
• Ability to work well on multiple tasks and multi-site teams.
• Excellent written and verbal communication and presentation skills.

Nice-to-haves

• Direct experience in WiFi and Bluetooth products, circuits, and systems.