{"id":70454,"url":"https://alion.io/job/two-six-technologies-lead-rf-systems-engineer-tactical-comms-sdr-dsp","title":"Lead RF Systems Engineer (Tactical Comms / SDR / DSP)","company":{"id":3437,"name":"Two Six Technologies","domain":"twosixtech.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/two-six-technologies","size_band":"1001-5000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":77,"open_postings":16,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.938,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":34,"computed_at":"2026-10-20T05:45:00Z"}},"role":"Hardware","role_family":"Hardware","seniority":"lead","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Herndon, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":178018,"max":267027,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":267027},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":8,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Ansys RedHawk","optional":false},{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"Linux","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"Ghidra","optional":true},{"name":"IDA Pro","optional":true},{"name":"Rust","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-08-19T20:33:57Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-09-17","last_verified_at":"2026-10-21T04:01:37Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":62,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":62},"description":"At Two Six Technologies, we build, deploy, and implement innovative products that solve the world’s most complex challenges today. Through unrivaled collaboration and unwavering trust, we push the boundaries of what’s possible to empower our team and support our customers in building a safer global future.\nOverview of Opportunity \nTwo Six Technologies is seeking a Lead RF Systems Engineer to lead technical strategy and software development for DSP/SDR tactical communications systems. In this role, you will drive architecture design, advanced algorithm development, testing, and hardware-in-the-loop validation to support cutting-edge R&D programs in Herndon, Virginia. As a lead / principal engineer, you will serve as a technical authority-shaping modern RF architectures, guiding lab infrastructure strategy, selecting core SDR platforms, and mentoring multi-disciplinary engineering teams. The primary focus of this role is terrestrial communications systems, RF signal reverse engineering, tactical waveform synthesis, and electronic warfare (EW) resilient communications across HF, VHF, and UHF bands.\nWhat you will do (Responsibilities):\nArchitect, design, and implement advanced SDR and DSP solutions for terrestrial tactical radios (HF/VHF/UHF) in a Linux environment.\nReverse engineer complex terrestrial COTS and proprietary RF devices to map transceiver logic, demodulate legacy/custom tactical waveforms, and extract framing parameters.\nSynthesize and generate custom tactical RF waveforms based on reverse-engineered signal parameters, including frequency-hopping, direct-sequence spread spectrum (DSSS), and low probability of intercept/detection (LPI/LPD) signals.\nDevelop algorithms to detect, identify, feature-extract, and decode captured complex tactical communications signals operating in harsh multipath and co-channel interference environments.\nImplement end-to-end transmit/receive signal chains using foundational and complex modulation schemes (e.g., FSK, PSK, QAM).\nDirect laboratory build-outs, select advanced SDR hardware and test gear, and execute field or lab-based RF experimentation to validate synthesized tactical signals.\nSolve high-level technical challenges across tactical communications, signal intelligence (SIGINT), spectrum management, and electronic warfare (EW/EA/EP) domains.\nServe as a subject matter expert (SME) in HF/VHF/UHF propagation, signal generation, and DSP, guiding cross-functional teams in a rapid-prototyping environment.\nWhat you will need (Basic Qualifications):\nActive DoD Top Secret clearance with SCI eligibility required \nDegree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, or equivalent practical, military, or intelligence community experience.\nMinimum 8 years of hands-on experience in Digital Signal Processing (DSP), Software Defined Radio (SDR), and RF communications development (including technical lead/architecture roles).\nStrong, hands-on software development experience using Python for data processing, signal analysis, or software pipelines.\nDeep knowledge of terrestrial RF communications systems, channel dynamics, and signal structures across the HF, VHF, and UHF bands.\nExtensive experience in RF reverse engineering, signal parameter estimation, protocol disassembly, and target waveform regeneration.\nProven track record architecting software-driven DSP pipelines (C++, Python, GNU Radio, or REDHAWK) with an emphasis on real-time signal processing.\nNice to have (Preferred):\nExperience developing low-latency or high-performance systems using memory-safe modern languages such as Rust\nFamiliarity with modern military and public safety tactical radio standards, waveforms, and networking protocols (e.g., MIL-STD-188-110, STANAG, SINCGARS, HAVE QUICK, P25, MANET/mesh networking).\nStrong understanding of terrestrial RF phenomena, including ground-wave/sky-wave HF propagation, urban multipath fading, troposcatter, and Doppler spread mitigation.\nExperience with Electronic Warfare (EW) countermeasures, anti-jam (AJ) techniques, LPI/LPD waveform design, and adaptive filtering/interference mitigation.\nExperience with reverse engineering tools like Ghidra, IDA Pro, or binary analysis frameworks for embedded tactical radio firmware.\nDeep expertise in FEC (Convolutional, Turbo, LDPC), Viterbi/Reed-Solomon decoding, interleaving, frame synchronization, and equalization algorithms.\nSecurity Clearance:\nActive DoD Top Secret clearance with SCI eligibility required.\nTwo Six Technologies is committed to providing competitive and comprehensive compensation packages that reflect the value we place on our employees and their contributions. We believe in rewarding skills, experience, and performance. Our offerings include but are not limited to, medical, dental, and vision insurance, life and disability insurance, retirement benefits, paid leave, tuition assistance and professional development.\nThe projected salary range listed for this position is annualized. This is a general guideline and not a guarantee of salary. Salary is one component of our total compensation package and the specific salary offered is determined by various factors, including, but not limited to education, experience, knowledge, skills, geographic location, as well as contract specific affordability and organizational requirements.\nSalary Range\n$178,018—$267,027 USD\nLooking for other great opportunities? Check out Two Six Technologies Opportunities for all our Company’s current openings! \nReady to make the first move towards growing your career? If so, check out the Two Six Technologies Candidate Journey! This will give you step-by-step directions on applying, what to expect during the application process, information about our rich benefits and perks along with our most frequently asked questions. If you are undecided and would like to learn more about us and how we are contributing to essential missions, check out our Two Six Technologies News page! We share information about the tech world around us and how we are making an impact! Still have questions, no worries! You can reach us at Contact Two Six Technologies. We are happy to connect and cover the information needed to assist you in reaching your next career milestone.\nTwo Six Technologies is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices based on race (including traits historically associated with race, such as hair texture, hair type and protective hair styles (e.g., braids, twists, locs and twists)), color, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions and lactation), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age (40 and over), marital status, disability, genetic information, and protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. For more information review the Two Six Technologies Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action Policy and the EEO Poster. \nIf you are an individual with a disability and would like to request reasonable workplace accommodationfor any part of our employment process, please send an email to . Information provided will be kept confidential and used only to the extent required to provide needed reasonable accommodations.\nAdditionally, please be advised that this business uses E-Verify in its hiring practices.\nBy submitting the following application, I hereby certify that to the best of my knowledge, the information provided is true and accurate.","description_format":"text","description_chars":7593,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":8,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":true,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Professional development","Vision insurance"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["National Security","Cyber Warfare","Electronic Warfare","Intelligence"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-08-19T20:33:57Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":21,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.461,"p_room":0.45,"age_days":61,"expected_fill_days":34,"reasons":["conf:2","stale_co","velocity","win:tail"],"computed_at":"2026-10-20T05:45:00Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":267027,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/two-six-technologies-lead-rf-systems-engineer-tactical-comms-sdr-dsp","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/two-six-technologies-lead-rf-systems-engineer-tactical-comms-sdr-dsp.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-21T05:02:49Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":7451,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-22T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":3437},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=3437"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Ftwo-six-technologies-lead-rf-systems-engineer-tactical-comms-sdr-dsp"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Ftwo-six-technologies-lead-rf-systems-engineer-tactical-comms-sdr-dsp"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Ftwo-six-technologies-lead-rf-systems-engineer-tactical-comms-sdr-dsp"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/two-six-technologies-lead-rf-systems-engineer-tactical-comms-sdr-dsp\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Ftwo-six-technologies-lead-rf-systems-engineer-tactical-comms-sdr-dsp"}]}