Senior Principal RF Design Engineer
AUSTIN · Burlington, MA · CARYFull-timePosted Aug 3, 2026
At Cadence, we hire and develop leaders and innovators who want to make an impact on the world of technology.
Experienced Millimeter-Wave (mmWave) IC designer specialize in engineering high-frequency (30 GHz+) transceivers and components for 5G/6G communications, aerospace radar, and automotive sensors. Will drive the full product lifecycle, tackling challenges like parasitic extraction, thermal management, and high-frequency electromagnetic modeling. High level of customer engagement at a fast pace on state of the art design. Requires a deep, specialized skill set:
- Building Blocks: Deep expertise in designing custom blocks such as Power Amplifiers (PAs), Low Noise Amplifiers (LNAs), mixers, and Voltage-Controlled Oscillators (VCOs).
- RF Subsystem: Deep expertise in designing Tx and Rx signal chains for noise, figure, linearity dynamic range and power efficiency. Deep experience in RF PLL design including Sigma delta, FRAC-N PLL. Phase noise and spurius signal, settling time. Experience with PLL buildng blocks such as PFD, charge pumps, dividers, multipliers.
- Architecture: Proficiency in RF transceiver architectures, direct-conversion topologies, and phased-array systems. Signal chain analysis and system figures of merit such as ACPR, EVM and BER.
- Process Technologies: Hands-on experience on advanced nodes using RF SOI process and deep knowledge of the required trade offs.
- Software Tools: Mastery of standard EDA software environments, including:
- System Simulation: VSS -
- Schematic & Simulation: Cadence Virtuoso and VRF flows
- Electromagnetic (EM) Simulation: EMX, and Clarity
- Layout & Verification: Layout MXL, QRC and Pegasus
- Education: Usually an M.Sc. or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering (or a closely related discipline).
- Experience: 10+ years of industrial experience taking designs from conception through tape-out to final lab validation.
- Validation: Extensive lab characterization experience utilizing high-frequency equipment like spectrum analyzers, VNAs, and probe stations.