Principal Radio Systems Engineer in Bristol

About Blu Wireless

Blu Wireless builds mmWave networks that carry gigabits of data where fibre can’t reach and conventional radio runs out of capacity: onto trains at speed, between moving vehicles and into contested defence environments. From our Bristol headquarters, we have designed our own 60 GHz baseband modem and combine it with phased-array transceivers and mesh networking firmware to solve three hard problems: range, form factor and mobility.

Our technology is proven in service. Our track-to-train system is deployed on South Western Railway in the UK and on Caltrain’s electric fleet in Silicon Valley, delivering around 2 Gbps to moving trains. The same technology powers our Phantom family of defence products, providing resilient, self-forming and self-healing mesh connectivity across ground, air and fixed platforms for real-time exchange of tactical data. We are a specialist engineering team bringing deep mmWave expertise to integrators, operators and defence partners, building the connectivity that data-intensive systems will depend on.

The Opportunity

The Systems and Platforms team defines and architects the hardware implementation of our products, from the antenna array and mmWave radio transceiver through to the baseband modem and network processing platform. Its remit covers the mechanical, analogue and digital design of those platforms. The team works closely with System Engineering, Software, System Test, Customer Engineering and Product Management. We are looking for a Principal Radio Systems Engineer to be the technical authority for radio performance across our 57–71 GHz products. You will own how our links behave in the real world: on trains at speed, on moving vehicles and aircraft, and in contested defence environments. You will turn mission and customer requirements into a radio hardware specification and define its interface with our baseband modem. You will then prove, through modelling, lab work and field trials, that the delivered hardware meets that specification. This is a senior, hands-on individual contributor role reporting to the Director of Systems and Platforms. You will set technical direction for radio, engage with engineers across the group, and represent our radio capability to customers and partners.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the radio system architecture and performance budgets for our mmWave products, covering EIRP, receiver sensitivity, noise figure, linearity and phase noise.
• Define and validate phased-array and beamforming behaviour, including beam search, tracking and handover for platforms moving at high speed.
• Build and maintain a system link budget that takes into account channel and propagation models for rail, ground, airborne and maritime scenarios, including atmospheric and rain fade, blockage, multipath and Doppler.
• Lead coexistence and interference analysis, and the radio aspects of resilience in contested and congested spectrum for defence applications.
• Specify RF front-end, transceiver and antenna requirements, and work with hardware and platform engineers on design trade-offs, integration and verification.
• Define radio test strategy: lab characterisation, over-the-air and chamber measurements, production test limits and field trials, and analyse the results to close the loop with models.
• Act as technical lead for radio regulatory compliance across target markets, including ETSI, FCC and other national requirements, working with our compliance team.
• Assess emerging technology and spectrum opportunities, and shape the radio roadmap for next-generation products.
• Provide expert input to proposals, customer reviews, white papers and standards activity.
• Share radio expertise with engineers across the group and help raise engineering practice and documentation standards.

About You

Skills, Knowledge & Experience:

• Degree in electronic engineering, physics or a related discipline (PhD desirable), with 10+ years in radio systems engineering.
• Deep understanding of microwave or mmWave radio systems, with a track record of taking radio products from specification through to field deployment.
• Expertise in link budget analysis, propagation and channel modelling, and radio performance prediction.
• Strong working knowledge of phased arrays and beamforming, and of RF front-end and transceiver impairments and how they affect system performance.
• Hands-on experience of RF measurement and test, including spectrum and network analysers, over-the-air and chamber testing, and field trials.
• Proficiency in modelling and analysis tools such as MATLAB or Python; experience with RF simulation tools is an advantage.
• Familiarity with radio regulatory frameworks and compliance testing (ETSI, FCC or equivalent).
• Experience of mobility, mesh or defence tactical radio systems is highly advantageous; knowledge of IEEE 802.11ad/ay, 5G FR2 or E-band backhaul is also valuable.

Personal Aptitudes:

• Recognised as a technical authority, with the gravitas to present confidently to customers, partners and senior stakeholders.
• Explains complex radio behaviour clearly, in writing and in person, to specialist and non-specialist audiences.
• Makes sound engineering trade-offs grounded in data, and is comfortable with ambiguity.
• Collaborative, and enjoys building shared technical understanding across teams.
• Hands-on and pragmatic, equally at home in the lab, on a field trial and at the whiteboard.

Package

Competitive salary and company bonus scheme. Based at office location in Bristol, with some home working permitted under our hybrid working model. 25 days' holiday plus bank holidays, and a holiday purchase scheme. Standard working hours of 5 days/37 hours per week. Host of benefits including private medical insurance and a health cash plan scheme for everyday expenses, plus numerous salary sacrifice schemes. Matched pension contributions up to 5% and life assurance as standard. Enhanced maternity, paternity and shared parental leave and pay policies.

Who are we?

Recognition and Respect

We recognise, respect, and choose to employ people with different perspectives and experiences, because we know that this makes us a stronger and better organisation. We are working hard to eliminate any barriers so that everyone has equal opportunity for advancement. It isn’t always easy, but we are striving to create an environment which accepts, respects, and harnesses the impact of different ideas, experiences and perspectives to deliver greater value.

Hybrid Working

We encourage our team to be physically present in our office at certain times of the week. This is because we value the improved collaborative working and learning opportunities that this allows. We are a team of experts, so debating and sharing knowledge is a central part of our working culture and community spirit. We also recognise the benefits that working remotely or from home can bring. As a business we have adapted, and we continue to respect that we have a diverse team. We value and benefit from having time together in the office, but we also understand that reducing our commute, being available to our families and having quiet times to concentrate are important too. Our hybrid working model offers our team the flexibility to suit all circumstances, all individuals and all preferences, where the role allows it.

Benefits

We offer a host of benefits to help make life easier to navigate so that you can focus on the things that matter. This includes medical insurance and a health cash plan scheme for everyday expenses, we will match your pension contributions up to 5% and we offer life assurance as standard. Our maternity, paternity and shared parental leave and pay policies are enhanced to support your family life, and we encourage you to take advantage of our numerous salary sacrifice schemes to help make life more affordable.

Application Process

If you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with the job description, we encourage you to apply as you may be the right candidate for many reasons other than just those outlined in this advert. If you have a medical condition or an individual need for an adjustment to our process, please let us know so we can support your application. Our normal process will involve an online interview and then an in-person meeting at our Bristol office (we will assist with any travel or accommodation needs).