DSP / SDR Receiver Engineer — Navigation & Communications

Stack

Responsibilities

• ▹Design and implement SDR receiver algorithms for real-world RF signals
• ▹Develop acquisition, tracking, synchronization, and measurement-generation pipelines
• ▹Estimate Doppler, carrier phase, timing, delay, and signal quality metrics
• ▹Work with SDR platforms such as USRP/UHD, GNU Radio, RFSoC, or FPGA-based systems
• ▹Analyze collected RF data and debug receiver performance in lab and field environments
• ▹Evaluate waveform structure, modulation, channel behavior, and receiver implementation tradeoffs
• ▹Support navigation and communications experiments using GNSS, LEO satellite downlinks, or other signals

Requirements

• ▹Hands-on experience building receiver signal-processing chains for GNSS, satcom, radar, wireless PHY, or related RF systems
• ▹Background in one or more of: GNSS/PNT receiver design, satcom modem/PHY development, radar signal processing, EW/ELINT/SIGINT, wireless PHY/LTE/5G baseband, real-time SDR or FPGA-based signal processing
• ▹SDR development skills (GNU Radio, USRP/UHD, RFSoC, or FPGA SDR platforms)
• ▹Real-time DSP implementation experience
• ▹PLL/FLL/DLL acquisition and tracking loop design
• ▹Doppler estimation and tracking, carrier and timing recovery
• ▹Matched filtering, correlation-based detection, and frame synchronization
• ▹Proficiency in Python, C/C++, MATLAB, or similar signal-processing tools

Nice to have

• ▹OFDM, TDMA, DVB-S2/DVB-S2X, or other modem PHY experience
• ▹Familiarity with GNSS observables (pseudorange, carrier phase, Doppler, clocks, ephemerides)
• ▹Experience with navigation filtering, EKFs, factor graphs, or INS/GNSS integration

Soft skills

About the company

Swan delivers the future of defense and industry through scalable autonomous products, backed by leading defense VCs including a16z's American Dynamism fund.