Senior RF & Wireless Transport Engineer

About Us:

VT-ARC, a technical services and applied research company, has built an organizational culture marked by four primary values: Teamwork, Integrity, Excellence, and Service. Integral to our success is our staff's enthusiasm for solving tough problems by working together in teams to get the job done. We foster a culture where every employee's contribution is valued and performed with integrity while maintaining a fun work environment. VT-ARC strives for excellence in all that is done for our clients, and such achievement is recognized through service/merit awards. Moreover, we promote a sense of community larger than VT-ARC alone, where staff and institutional resources can be applied in service to our country.

We are proud to be the recipient of the Best Workplace in Defense Award by Emergent Magazine, an honor that recognizes companies with positive cultures that not only impact their people but also make a meaningful difference in the community.

About You:

You are a senior RF and wireless transport engineer with experience designing and implementing secure wireless communications infrastructures in classified environments. You understand that enterprise communications performance depends not only on routing and voice platforms, but also on resilient wireless transport layers such as microwave, point-to-point, SATCOM, and secure wireless backhaul systems.

You thrive in small, technically rigorous teams where ownership, accountability, and hands-on engineering are essential. You are comfortable bridging RF propagation theory with practical network engineering considerations such as QoS performance, latency, and Unified Communications reliability.

Position Overview:

VT-ARC is seeking a Senior RF & Wireless Transport Engineer to support enterprise communications modernization efforts within TS/SCI environments.

This role focuses on designing and integrating wireless transport systems into enterprise network architectures supporting WAN, SD-WAN, and Unified Communications platforms. The successful candidate will ensure wireless transport layers provide reliable, secure, and high-performance connectivity across multi-enclave environments.

An active Top Secret/SCI clearance is required.

This position is contingent based upon contract award

Duties/Responsibilities:

• Design and deploy secure RF and wireless transport architectures supporting multi-level security and enterprise communications environments.
• Perform RF propagation modeling, link budget development, and spectrum planning for wireless transport systems.
• Integrate wireless backhaul technologies (microwave, point-to-point, SATCOM, secure Wi-Fi, tactical wireless links) with enterprise WAN and SD-WAN infrastructures.
• Optimize wireless transport performance to support QoS-sensitive applications including voice, video, and mission-critical traffic.
• Conduct RF validation testing, signal strength analysis, and interference troubleshooting.
• Support enterprise network performance efforts by directly collaborating with WAN, UC, and Network Performance engineers to ensure reliable end-to-end communications.
• Develop RF architecture documentation including system diagrams, propagation models, and link design artifacts.
• Contribute to digital twin modeling and simulation of wireless transport environments.
• Participate in cyber range exercises involving RF transport vulnerabilities and wireless threat emulation.
• Ensure wireless communications systems meet security and compliance requirements, including RMF controls and STIG guidance.
• Operate effectively within a small engineering team where individual technical contributions directly impact mission readiness.

Required Education, Certification, Skills, Capabilities:

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Telecommunications Engineering, RF Engineering, or related technical discipline, or equivalent professional experience in RF and wireless systems engineering.
• 8+ years of experience in RF systems design and wireless communications engineering.
• Demonstrated expertise in RF propagation analysis, link budget calculations, and spectrum management.
• Experience integrating wireless transport systems into enterprise network architectures.
• Experience operating in TS/SCI or multi-enclave classified environments.
• Understanding of QoS principles and their relationship to wireless transport performance.
• Experience supporting RMF processes and STIG compliance for communications systems.
• Active Top Secret/SCI clearance required.

Desired Education, Certification, Skills, Capabilities:

• Advanced degree in Electrical Engineering, RF Engineering, or Telecommunications Engineering.
• 10-15+ years of RF and communications engineering experience.
• Experience supporting tactical wireless or SATCOM systems in DoD environments.
• Experience with RF modeling and simulation tools.
• Experience integrating wireless transport systems into digital twin or emulation environments.
• Deep familiarity and experience enabling Unified Communications performance requirements.
• Prior military or defense communications engineering experience.

Primary Work Location:

Work is expected to be fully onsite in Arlington, VA.

Special Work Conditions:

• Occasional CONUS travel may be required; up to 15%
• Possible travel to OCONUS locations; up to 10%

Security:

• Must be a U.S. Citizen
• Active Top Secret/SCI clearance is required

Competitive Salary:

VT-ARC offers competitive pay based on a number of factors including but not limited to conducting comparable salary market research, education, years of experience, and benefits.

Virginia Tech Applied Research Corporation:

VT-ARC is a 501(c)(3), non-profit R&D organization affiliated with Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech or VT). Our mission is to provide superior analytic and technology solutions across multiple domains by leveraging Virginia Tech's multidisciplinary research and innovation ecosystem. With unique access to the broad and rich research enterprise found at Virginia Tech, VT-ARC forms multi-disciplinary teams to apply innovative solutions to the real-world problems that strain our social, political, industrial, and economic foundations.

To learn more about VT-ARC's Benefits, Perks, Culture & more visit our Careers page:

https://vt-arc.org/careers/

Virginia Tech Applied Research Corporation is an equal-opportunity employer.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.

Virginia Tech Applied Research Corporation uses E-Verify to confirm the employment eligibility of all newly hired employees.

To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, please visit www.E-Verify.gov.