Principal Technical Director, AI-Enabled Spectrum Dominance

About the role

This position provides senior technical leadership for spectrum dominance programs at a defense, national security, and space technology company. The role manages multi-disciplinary teams to deliver mission-critical RF systems from concept to deployable capability. You will define technical strategy and oversee the design, development, and delivery of AI-enabled RF solutions that ensure dominance across the electromagnetic spectrum. The role requires interfacing with strategic customers and translating complex requirements into executable technical plans. You will be responsible for maintaining technical excellence while navigating the constraints of space-based operations and defense workflows. This position operates at the intersection of RF engineering, artificial intelligence, and autonomous systems to solve critical national security challenges. You will mentor technical staff and foster collaboration across hardware, software, and data disciplines to achieve program objectives.

Key facts

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Location: USA

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Engagement: Full-time

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Compensation: $225,000 to $300,000

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Team: Advanced Technology Development within Strategic Growth and Technology Organization

• Clearance: U.S. citizenship required for U.S. Government clearance
• Degree: Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Mathematics, or related field

What you'll do

Define technical vision and strategy for AI-enabled spectrum dominance solutions across defense and space-based applications. Lead multi-disciplinary R&D programs from white paper development through prototype creation and field deployment. Design and develop complex software-defined radio systems leveraging modern transceiver architectures and FPGA/SoC platforms. Apply digital signal processing and RF Machine Learning algorithms to solve challenging problems in communications, electronic warfare, radar, and sensing. Conduct detailed analysis of spectrum physics and hardware constraints across communications, EW, radar, and sensing domains. Develop proposals and technical volumes that address government solicitations and support cost and schedule estimations. Collaborate with government customers such as DARPA, ONR, AFRL, NRO, and Space Force to ensure alignment with mission objectives. Evaluate and integrate emerging AI and compute techniques to enhance RF system performance, reliability, and adaptability. Ensure solutions meet stringent requirements for radiation hardening, thermal management, power budgeting, and long-duration reliability in space environments. Travel up to 25% to customer sites, test ranges, and Voyager locations to support program execution and technical validation.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Mathematics, or a related field.

Eligibility to obtain and maintain a US Government clearance is required, necessitating U.S. citizenship.

Demonstrated background in space-based active RF systems including satellite communications transponders, SAR payloads, space-based radar, or active phased arrays.

Demonstrated background in passive RF systems including SIGINT/ELINT collectors, radiometers, or passive sensing payloads.

Direct experience with space environment constraints such as radiation hardening, thermal management, power budgeting, and long-duration reliability.

Proven background in end-to-end RF systems covering RF front-ends and digital subsystems.

Deep understanding of spectrum physics and hardware across communications, EW, radar, and sensing domains.

Extensive experience designing and developing complex software-defined radio systems including modern transceiver architectures.

Strong track record in digital signal processing and RF Machine Learning algorithms applying modern compute including AI/ML techniques.

Demonstrated experience leading multi-disciplinary R&D programs through white paper to prototype to deployment.

Demonstrated background in SIGINT, EW, or Radar with preference for space-based applications.

Familiarity with government R&D contracting including delivery against milestones for customers such as DARPA, ONR, AFRL, NRO, or Space Force.

Proven proposal development experience contributing to technical volumes and cost estimations for complex government solicitations.

Willingness to travel up to 25% to customer sites, test ranges, and Voyager locations.

Nice to have

Preference for candidates with space-based application experience in SIGINT, EW, or Radar domains.

Practical notes

U.S. citizenship for government clearance. Travel up to 25% is required. Typical interview steps

Data interviews commonly include a SQL or coding exercise, a statistics question, and a case study. Candidates may be asked to design a metric, interpret an experiment, or build a small model. Some companies give a take-home analysis. Expect questions about past projects and the business impact of your work. Interviewers often evaluate how you communicate uncertainty and business impact, not only the math. Bringing a clean write-up of a past analysis to the interview is well received.

Good to know

This position operates at the intersection of RF engineering, AI, and autonomous systems. Responsibilities span research, productization, and program execution for defense and space applications. Collaboration across hardware, software, and AI disciplines is central. The role reports into a specialized advanced technology organization focused on high-impact R&D.

Career growth

Data careers grow toward senior analyst, staff data scientist, or data engineering lead. Many professionals specialize in machine learning, analytics, or infrastructure. Cross-functional work with product and engineering teams becomes more important at senior levels. The field changes quickly, so continuous learning is part of the job. Professionals who can translate numbers into decisions tend to advance fastest.