Metrea
Principal Radio Frequency Engineer
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Company Overview
Metrea delivers effects-as-a-service to national security partners across five domains and more than a dozen mission areas. These include airborne ISR, electronic warfare, secure communications, aerial refueling, special air missions, aerial firefighting, and advanced simulation. We own the whole stack: designing, building, and operating turnkey capabilities that give our partners decisive, asymmetric advantage against rapidly evolving threats.
Our operating model is built around three interlocking pillars. The Support Groups provide a global shared-service – spanning people, finance, platform, operations, legal, and engagement. This frees up our Core Groups, who develop and own mission capabilities end-to-end, to focus entirely on delivery. The Market Groups apply a regional lens, ensuring that our agile and adaptable capabilities remain aligned to the wicked problems that matter most to our partners across the Americas, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific.
At the heart of our model is a simple but powerful idea: be a true partner with skin in the game. Our partners need effects, not just equipment. By owning the full stack – from the lab to the field – we are able to drive a continuous cycle of innovation that keeps our partners ahead. It's a fast-moving, intellectually demanding environment where talented people are given real responsibility, work on problems that matter, and contribute to an enterprise that is growing quickly and deliberately.
Headquartered in Washington, DC, with facilities across the United States, the United Kingdom, as well as Continental Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Group Overview
Electromagnetic and Cyber Group (EM&C) is responsible for developing flexible and survivable advanced electronic warfare and secure communications equipment while providing the industry’s leading signals intelligence, electronic warfare, and cyber experts. Metrea specialises in signal classification, direction finding, advanced geolocation techniques, and waveform development including waveforms for MANET and LPI/LPD applications. Metrea also develops special purpose radios for government customers and licenses DF and geolocation solutions to multiple OEMs.
The Expeditionary Operations Lab, or EXOLAB, focuses on the rapid development, integration, evaluation and delivery of expeditionary capabilities within the Electromagnetic Warfare and Cyber domain. EXOLAB works across research and development, experimentation, prototyping, systems integration, trials and operational delivery. The team addresses complex customer problems by combining existing technologies, emerging capabilities and internally developed solutions into deployable systems. The lab operates across airborne, land, maritime and dismounted environments, with a strong emphasis on practical engineering, rapid learning and delivering systems that are operationally relevant, supportable and resilient.
Position Summary
We are seeking a Principal RF Engineer to lead and support the research, design, development, integration and delivery of radio-frequency systems for expeditionary Electronic Warfare, signals intelligence, spectrum operations and secure communications capabilities.
The role will be responsible for the RF engineering aspects of prototype and operational systems, including RF architecture, receiver and transmitter chains, antenna systems, signal distribution, filtering, amplification, frequency conversion, interference management and system performance analysis.
The Principal RF Engineer will operate as a senior technical authority within a multidisciplinary team comprising electrical, systems, mechanical, software, cyber and operational specialists. The role will support the full engineering lifecycle, from concept development and technology evaluation through detailed design, integration, verification, trials, deployment and through-life support.
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This is a practical, delivery-focused engineering role. The successful candidate will be comfortable moving between theoretical analysis, simulation, laboratory testing, prototype development, platform integration and field trials.
The role will be based either in Lincoln or London, with a longer-term intent to transition the primary location to London if hired initially in Lincoln.
What You'll Do
- Design, develop and integrate RF systems for expeditionary Unmanned Systems control, Electronic Warfare, signals intelligence, spectrum-monitoring and secure communications capabilities.
- Develop RF system architectures covering antennas, receivers, transmitters, amplifiers, filters, frequency conversion, switching and signal distribution.
- Conduct RF performance analysis, including gain, noise figure, sensitivity, dynamic range, linearity, link budgets and interference assessments.
- Support rapid R&D, prototyping and technology evaluation, translating operational requirements into practical and deployable RF solutions.
- Integrate commercial, government and internally developed RF equipment across airborne, vehicle-mounted, maritime, fixed-site and unmanned platforms.
- Plan and conduct RF testing, characterisation, fault diagnosis, verification and corrective engineering activity.
- Ensure RF designs consider electromagnetic compatibility, spectrum management, grounding, bonding, shielding, environmental protection and relevant standards.
- Work closely with electrical, mechanical, software, cyber, systems and operational teammates throughout the engineering lifecycle.
- Support UK and international trials, demonstrations, installations, commissioning and operational deployments.
- Provide RF technical leadership, design assurance and clear engineering recommendations to customers, suppliers and internal stakeholders.
What You Bring
- Degree in RF Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Telecommunications Engineering or a closely related discipline, or equivalent relevant experience
- Minimum of seven years’ experience in RF systems design, development, integration, testing or delivery
- Experience working with complex RF systems within defence, aerospace, telecommunications, Electronic Warfare, signals intelligence, secure communications or a related sector
- Experience with Software Defined Radios, digital RF architectures and the collection or analysis of IQ data
- Experience designing, integrating or supporting RF systems for unmanned systems, including uncrewed aerial, ground or maritime platforms
- Strong understanding of RF receiver and transmitter architectures, including amplifiers, filters, mixers, oscillators, switches and frequency-conversion stages
- Experience conducting cascade analysis, link-budget calculations and assessments of gain, noise figure, sensitivity, linearity and dynamic range
- Practical experience with antenna systems, RF distribution, transmission lines, impedance matching, grounding, bonding and shielding
- Strong RF test, measurement and fault-finding skills using equipment such as spectrum analysers, vector network analysers, signal generators, oscilloscopes and power meters
- Experience using RF simulation, modelling, schematic-capture or system-analysis tools
- Ability to work effectively within multidisciplinary teams spanning electrical, mechanical, software, cyber, systems and operational disciplines
- Ability to produce clear technical documentation, communicate engineering recommendations and travel regularly within the UK and internationally
Additional Eligibility Qualifications
- Experience designing expeditionary, deployable, ruggedised or rapidly reconfigurable RF capabilities
- Experience integrating RF systems onto airborne, vehicle-mounted, maritime, fixed-site or dismounted platforms
- Understanding of antenna selection, placement, radiation patterns, platform effects and co-site interference
- Experience with wideband receivers, transmit chains, power amplifiers, low-noise amplifiers, filters and RF switching networks
- Experience conducting electromagnetic compatibility, electromagnetic environmental effects and radio-frequency interference assessments
- Familiarity with relevant defence, aviation, maritime, spectrum-management or RF engineering standards
- Experience supporting prototype builds, field trials, exercises, customer demonstrations or operational deployments
- Knowledge of systems engineering, size, weight, power and cooling analysis, low-volume manufacturing, component obsolescence and through-life support
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Benefits
- Private medical insurance
- Subsidised gym membership / plans through Wellhub
- Electric car scheme
- Cycle to work scheme
- Salary sacrifice pension scheme
- Free lunch on office days
- Enhanced parental leave
- 30 days annual PTO plus bank holidays
Work Authorization / Security Clearance
The successful candidate must have the right to work in the United Kingdom.
The role will require the individual to hold, or be capable of obtaining and maintaining, an appropriate UK national-security clearance. Certain projects may impose additional nationality or security restrictions.
AAP/EEO Statement
Metrea Mission Data Limited is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or other characteristics protected by law.
Position Type and Expected Hours of Work
This is a full-time position with typical working hours of Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. This position is offered on a hybrid working basis with three days per week in the office as standard, based out of London or Lincoln.
Work Environment
The Role Will Involve Work Across
- Office and engineering-design environments
- Laboratories and workshops
- Customer and supplier facilities
- Vehicle, aircraft and maritime-platform integration environments
- Outdoor test, trial and exercise locations
- Operationally representative and potentially austere environments
Appropriate training, procedures and personal protective equipment will be provided where required.
The Role Is Not Exclusively Desk-based. It May Involve
- Standing, walking, bending, kneeling and working in restricted equipment spaces
- Handling tools, cables, connectors and test equipment
- Installing or removing electrical and electronic equipment
- Lifting and carrying equipment within appropriate manual-handling limits
- Working around vehicles, aircraft, generators and other powered systems
- Periods of outdoor work in varying environmental conditions
Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with additional needs to perform the essential functions.
Travel
15%
Our Firmware
At Metrea, our single core value is Rooted in Humility, and our four cornerstone attributes are Entrepreneurial, Systematic, Discerning, and Over-Deliver. These form what we call our Teammate Firmware. Just like technical firmware connects software and hardware, our Firmware is the constant interface between our mission and our people. It defines how we show up, how we work together, and how we solve complex problems.
Our team Firmware creates a web-like, hyper-collaborative, dynamically hierarchical way of working that helps us adapt quickly, communicate openly, and distribute decision-making to where expertise actually lives. It enables groups to
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