Modeling & Simulation Engineer, Radars

Description

The company makes defense products for warfighters, commercial air operators, and border protection teams, helping them act faster and respond to changing threats.

Founded in 2022, the company has raised $1 billion from investors including 8VC, Accel, and Valor Equity Partners. It is headquartered in Los Angeles and has 450 employees across 5 global offices, in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, and London.

The modeling and simulation team builds physics-based models, simulation environments, and analysis tools. Engineers use them to check system behavior, improve designs, and lower risk before hardware is designed, integrated, tested, or fielded.

In this role you will build, connect, and check models of radar and RF sensors. You will choose the level of detail each task needs, from analytical models to closed-loop system simulations, and work with architecture, RF and antenna, signal processing, tracking, embedded software, systems, test, and product teams.

You do not need experience in every area listed. Depth in one or more modeling and simulation fields is welcome.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain physics-based and performance-based models of radar and RF sensors.
• Create models at the right level of detail, including analytical performance models, behavioral sensor models, measurement generators, signal and complex IQ models, radar mode models, tracker models, and closed-loop simulations.
• Model radar effects such as antenna and beam patterns, beam steering, waveforms, RF chain behavior, thermal noise, propagation loss, atmosphere, multipath, clutter, interference, jamming, target radar cross section, calibration errors, measurement bias, and uncertainty.
• Develop or integrate detection, thresholding, discrimination, measurement extraction, data association, tracking, estimation, classification, sensor fusion, radar mode, and resource management functions where relevant.
• Build target, scene, geometry, trajectory, environment, and threat models for testing radar performance in realistic operational scenarios.
• Run design trade studies, sensitivity analyses, Monte Carlo studies, uncertainty quantification, and design of experiments.
• Measure performance with metrics such as SNR, SINR, probability of detection, false-alarm rate, coverage, detection range, measurement and track accuracy, revisit and update rates, latency, track capacity, and robustness to environmental or threat effects.
• Integrate radar algorithms, radar and embedded software, sensor and target models, and hardware interfaces into SIL, SITL, HITL, HWIL, real-time, or large batch simulation environments as needed.
• Validate and correlate models against analytical references, lab and chamber measurements, calibration data, recorded IQ data, range, field, and flight test data, and other trusted sources.
• Define model requirements, interfaces, assumptions, limits, validity ranges, configuration control, and credibility or acceptance criteria.
• Develop and maintain simulation software, model APIs, scenario tools, configuration systems, data pipelines, visualization tools, analysis workflows, and automated regression tests.
• Support pre-test predictions, test planning, test cards or scenarios, test execution, anomaly investigation, and post-test analysis.
• Write clear model documentation, validation evidence, performance reports, review material, and customer or program deliverables.

Requirements

• Required: hands-on experience with signal or complex IQ level radar simulation.
• Required: background in radar detection, measurement generation, discrimination, or signal processing.
• Required: background in radar tracking, estimation, data association, or sensor fusion.
• Required: experience with radar modes, resource management, or system performance analysis.
• Required: experience with RF propagation, clutter, interference, electronic warfare, or electronic protection.
• Required: experience with real-time radar stimulation, HITL, or HWIL.
• Required: strong programming skills in at least one scientific or analytical language such as MATLAB, Python, or C++.
• Required: experience with Monte Carlo methods, sensitivity analysis, statistics, uncertainty modeling, or design of experiments.
• Required: experience validating or correlating models against analytical results, lab measurements, recorded sensor data, range data, or field or flight test data.
• Required: experience analyzing large engineering data sets and explaining technically sound conclusions.
• Required: experience with Git, code review, automated testing, issue tracking, continuous integration, and reproducible software or analysis workflows.
• Required: ability to work independently, make sound technical judgments, document assumptions and limits clearly, and work across engineering disciplines.
• Required: active Secret clearance.
• Preferred: master's degree or higher in electrical engineering, computer engineering, physics, applied mathematics, or a related field.
• Preferred: experience with AESA or phased-array radar, digital beamforming, electronically steered arrays, waveform design, adaptive processing, or cognitive radar.
• Preferred: experience in radar mission areas such as airborne surveillance, air-to-air, fire-control, ground-based air defense, missile warning, space surveillance, seeker radar, SAR, ISAR, GMTI, maritime surveillance, or counter-UAS.
• Preferred: experience with advanced detection, low-SNR processing, clutter suppression, Doppler processing, pulse compression, space-time adaptive processing, or electronic protection.
• Preferred: experience with Kalman filtering, nonlinear estimation, multi-target tracking, multi-hypothesis tracking, probabilistic data association, track management, or multisensor fusion.
• Preferred: experience modeling electronic attack, electronic support, interference, contested spectrum, low-observable targets, or target signature uncertainty.
• Preferred: experience with antenna pattern data, radar cross-section data, computational electromagnetics outputs, or RF system calibration data.
• Preferred: experience with GPU acceleration, CUDA, HPC, deterministic real-time systems, FPGA or SDR interfaces, radar stimulators, or high-throughput batch execution.
• Preferred: experience integrating embedded radar or tactical software into closed-loop simulations.
• Preferred: experience with requirements traceability, MBSE, model-based development, formal model V&V, or simulation credibility assessment.
• Preferred: experience with distributed simulation frameworks such as DIS, HLA, TENA, or similar, where relevant to the program.
• Preferred: experience supporting DoD, DARPA, AFRL, ONR, MDA, NAVAIR, DEVCOM, intelligence community, missile-defense, or advanced aerospace or commercial technology programs.
• Preferred: experience building simulation APIs, scenario tools, configuration systems, data pipelines, analysis tooling, visualization workflows, or automated regression tests.
• Preferred: active or eligible to obtain and maintain a Top Secret / SCI clearance.

Conditions

This is an onsite role.

The posted pay range is an estimate for base salary only. It excludes bonus, equity, and benefits, and the final offer may vary based on experience, education, training, critical skills, and business needs.

You are encouraged to apply even if your pay expectations fall outside the posted range.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage, with 100% of the premium paid by the company.
• 401k with a 50% company match on up to 6% of pay, plus FSA, HSA, life insurance, and more.
• Free lunch every day.
• No meetings on Fridays.
• Unlimited PTO and a casual dress code.
• Competitive base salary and generous pre-IPO stock option grants.
• Relocation assistance.
• Annual bonuses are planned but not yet in place.