Sr.DSP Engineer (Remote with Travel)

Senior DSP Engineer

Location: Remote within DMV and Florida + Travel

About Fairwinds Technologies

Fairwinds Technologies is a U.S.-based engineering firm specializing in Satellite Communications (SATCOM), RF Transmission Systems, Network Design, Systems Integration, and Digital Signal Processing (DSP). We support Command, Control, Communications, and Computer (C4) systems in austere military environments, delivering advanced communications, networking, and IT solutions to defense and civilian agencies worldwide.

Position Overview

We are seeking a Senior DSP Engineer with deep expertise in RF communications signal processing and practical, hands-on implementation experience on Xilinx UltraScale+, RFSoC, and Versal platforms. The ideal candidate holds a Master’s or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Applied Mathematics, or a related field, and has a proven track record of developing and fielding innovative DSP solutions for real-world RF systems (not just simulations).

This role requires an innovative, out-of-the-box thinker, someone who can go beyond cookie-cutter DSP blocks to develop novel or nontraditional approaches when performance, latency, interference, or mission constraints demand it. The engineer will collaborate across RF, FPGA/embedded, systems, and customer teams to deliver mission-critical communications and signal processing capabilities.

This position reports to the Chief Technology Office and involves close collaboration with customers and engineering teams to deliver innovative solutions for RF Tactical & Naval Military Solutions, as well as strategic border protection applications.

Key Responsibilities

- Design, develop, and optimize DSP algorithms for RF communications signals, including waveform processing in contested and dynamic environments (e.g., filtering, synchronization, channelization, detection/estimation, demodulation/decoding, interference mitigation).

- Lead algorithm development from concept through prototype to implementation, balancing performance, latency, robustness, and computational constraints.

- Implement and validate DSP solutions on heterogeneous compute platforms including Xilinx RFSoC, UltraScale+, and Versal, leveraging PL/PS resources and hardware acceleration as appropriate.

- Collaborate with FPGA engineers to translate algorithms into hardware-realizable architectures (fixed-point design, throughput/latency optimization, resource trade studies, hardware-friendly formulations).

- Work closely with embedded software engineers to integrate real-time DSP pipelines (drivers, data movement, DMA, streaming interfaces, buffering strategies, runtime configuration).

- Develop and execute test/verification strategies using lab instrumentation and captured RF datasets; characterize performance under impairments (CFO/phase noise, multipath, fading, interference/jamming, nonlinearities).

- Develop simulation and analysis environments (e.g., MATLAB/Simulink, Python) and correlate simulation results to hardware/field behavior.

- Provide technical leadership: define architecture, conduct design reviews, mentor engineers, and communicate trade-offs clearly to stakeholders.

- Produce high-quality documentation (DSP design descriptions, algorithm specs, performance reports, ICD inputs, SBIR deliverables as required).

- Support integration, debug, and field test activities spanning DSP, RF, FPGA, and embedded software domains.

Required Qualifications

- Master’s degree or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Physics, or related field.

- 15+ years of relevant DSP engineering experience with demonstrated delivery of RF communications signal processing solutions.

- Proven practical experience processing RF communications signals (beyond academic examples), including development, validation, and performance characterization.

- Strong fundamentals in communications and statistical signal processing (detection/estimation,