Radio Frequency Engineer

Our client, WADE Communications, is looking for an experienced Radio Frequency Engineer.

Company: Wade Communications

Location: Brantford, Ontario — onsite

Department: Engineering

Employment type: Permanent full-time

Salary: Depending on experience and qualifications

About Wade Communications

Wade Communications designs and manufactures antennas spanning low-frequency (LF) through GHz applications. We are seeking a Senior RF Engineer to lead technical work on antenna development, validation, and product improvement while supporting our engineering and manufacturing teams.

The opportunity

As a senior member of our engineering team, you will combine antenna theory, electromagnetic simulation, and hands-on testing to develop new antenna products and improve existing designs. You will lead assigned RF engineering activities from requirements development through prototyping, verification, validation, and production support.

You will work closely with engineering leadership, mechanical designers, manufacturing colleagues, key strategic partners, and customers to develop, design, validate, test, and verify new antenna designs. This role requires independent technical judgment, clear communication, and a collaborative approach to solving practical engineering problems.

Key responsibilities

Antenna design and development

• Work with key strategic partners and customers to define application needs, performance requirements, technical interfaces, and acceptance criteria for new antenna designs.
• Lead RF design activities on assigned projects, balancing antenna performance, manufacturability, cost, and schedule.
• Design, model, and optimize antennas and associated feed structures and impedance-matching networks.
• Perform electromagnetic simulations, documenting assumptions, configurations, design trade-offs, and conclusions.
• Collaborate with mechanical designers to assess the effects of geometry, materials, tolerances, mounting arrangements, and surrounding structures on RF performance.
• Support prototype construction, tuning, and evaluation, using findings to refine designs.

Testing, verification, and validation

• Develop and review test plans, test methods, and acceptance criteria for new antenna designs and proposed product changes.
• Coordinate with strategic partners and customers to conduct testing, verify compliance with agreed specifications, and validate performance against intended application requirements.
• Plan, perform, or oversee RF measurements, including impedance, return loss, VSWR, bandwidth, gain, radiation patterns, efficiency, and polarization, as applicable.
• Establish appropriate test configurations and calibration practices to obtain repeatable, traceable results.
• Compare measured performance with simulation predictions and investigate discrepancies.
• Prepare and review technical reports documenting test methods, configurations, results, deviations, conclusions, and recommendations.
• Present evidence-based recommendations for design approval and production release through the company’s engineering review process.

Product improvement and manufacturing support

• Review historical drawings, design records, and test reports to understand existing product configurations and design intent.
• Identify changes that require further analysis or testing, including changes to materials, dimensions, components, suppliers, or manufacturing processes.
• Lead investigations into antenna performance issues and guide corrective actions.
• Support manufacturing with antenna tuning procedures, production test requirements, and troubleshooting.
• Collaborate with CAD designers to ensure drawings, specifications, and supporting documentation reflect approved designs and validated changes.
• Maintain traceability between requirements, design revisions, and verification and validation results.

Technical leadership and collaboration

• Provide technical guidance and mentoring to engineers, designers, and technicians.
• Review RF analyses, simulation models, and test documentation prepared by other team members.
• Participate in technical discussions and design reviews with customers, strategic partners, and suppliers.
• Communicate project progress, technical risks, resource needs, and recommendations to engineering leadership.

Qualifications and experience

• A bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, or a related discipline with a strong foundation in RF engineering and electromagnetics.
• A minimum of 8 years of relevant RF engineering experience, including substantial hands-on antenna design, simulation, development, and validation.
• Demonstrated experience taking antenna products from requirements and concept development through prototype evaluation and manufacturing introduction.
• Strong knowledge of antenna theory, electromagnetics, transmission lines, impedance matching, and RF measurement techniques.
• Proficiency with an electromagnetic simulation package such as Ansys HFSS, CST Studio Suite, Altair FEKO, or an equivalent tool.
• Practical experience with vector network analyzers and other RF test equipment, including spectrum analyzers, signal generators, and RF power meters.
• Experience with baluns, matching networks, and antenna feed systems.
• Ability to interpret antenna performance data and relate measured behaviour to design features, test conditions, and manufacturing variation.
• Experience developing technical specifications, test plans, procedures, and engineering reports.
• Demonstrated ability to lead technical work independently while collaborating effectively with multidisciplinary teams, customers, and external partners.
• Strong troubleshooting, organizational, and communication skills.
• Must hold or be able to obtain the required Controlled Goods certification.
• Availability to work onsite in Brantford, Ontario.

Assets

• Experience with LF or HF antennas, broadband antennas, or products spanning multiple frequency bands.
• Familiarity with antenna ranges, anechoic chambers, and radiation-pattern measurement facilities.
• Experience assessing environmental and mechanical effects on antenna performance.
• Proficiency in MATLAB, Python, or similar tools for engineering analysis and test automation.
• Familiarity with mechanical CAD models and drawings, including Autodesk Inventor or AutoCAD.
• A postgraduate degree focused on antennas, RF engineering, or electromagnetics.

Relevant antenna experience from automotive, communications, industrial, or other product-development environments is welcome. Experience across Wade Communications’ entire LF-to-GHz product range is not expected.

What success looks like

You deliver practical antenna designs supported by sound analysis, reliable measurements, and clear documentation. You build effective relationships with strategic partners and customers, resolve technical issues systematically, and help manufacturing produce consistent products. Your technical leadership ensures that new designs and product changes are thoroughly evaluated and supported by documented verification and validation.

We do not use artificial intelligence (AI) to screen, assess, score, or select job applicants.

We are committed to providing a barrier-free work environment in concert with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and the Ontario Human Rights Code. As such, we will make accommodations available to applicants with disabilities upon request during the recruitment process.

WADE Communications is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all employees and to providing a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions are based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion or belief, national, social or ethnic origin, sex (including pregnancy), age, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, marital, civil union or domestic partnership status, family or parental status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the province where we operate. At WADE Communications, we value the insights and innovation that diverse and inclusive teams bring to work.