Lead RF Systems Engineer (Tactical Comms / SDR / DSP)

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. Overview of Opportunity Two 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. What you will do (Responsibilities): Architect, design, and implement advanced SDR and DSP solutions for terrestrial tactical radios (HF/VHF/UHF) in a Linux environment. Reverse engineer complex terrestrial COTS and proprietary RF devices to map transceiver logic, demodulate legacy/custom tactical waveforms, and extract framing parameters. Synthesize 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. Develop algorithms to detect, identify, feature-extract, and decode captured complex tactical communications signals operating in harsh multipath and co-channel interference environments. Implement end-to-end transmit/receive signal chains using foundational and complex modulation schemes (e.g., FSK, PSK, QAM). Direct laboratory build-outs, select advanced SDR hardware and test gear, and execute field or lab-based RF experimentation to validate synthesized tactical signals. Solve high-level technical challenges across tactical communications, signal intelligence (SIGINT), spectrum management, and electronic warfare (EW/EA/EP) domains. Serve as a subject matter expert (SME) in HF/VHF/UHF propagation, signal generation, and DSP, guiding cross-functional teams in a rapid-prototyping environment. What you will need (Basic Qualifications): Active DoD Top Secret clearance with SCI eligibility required Degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, or equivalent practical, military, or intelligence community experience. Minimum 8 years of hands-on experience in Digital Signal Processing (DSP), Software Defined Radio (SDR), and RF communications development (including technical lead/architecture roles). Strong,…