---
title: 'RF Hardware Systems & Design Engineer at Eridan'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/rf-hardware-systems-design-engineer-eridan-sunnyvale-7qvcxr2pxna5'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-11-04'
---

# RF Hardware Systems & Design Engineer at Eridan

- **Company:** Eridan
- **Location:** Sunnyvale, CA
- **Posted:** 2026-10-06
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-04
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/eridan/jobs/4740760005

## Job description

## About Eridan

Eridan connects the robots powering the physical AI era. It's how we're delivering on our mission: connect the planet to empower a sustainable, shared future. Our patented transmitter delivers the fast, reliable wireless that robots depend on, while transforming the economics of connectivity, slashing costs and energy footprint by 10x at a global scale. Beyond robotics, our private 5G networks serve campuses, cities, industry, and defense. From our headquarters in Sunnyvale to our office in Zagreb, we're a team that owns our work, speaks candidly, and moves with focus and urgency. Learn more about our mission [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKKOj_wcZ_0).

## About the Role

Design the communication technologies that connect today's robots and power the physical AI era.

We're looking for a hands-on RF systems engineer who still loves the lab and is ready to lead. You'll own system-level specs for our radio product lines, bring up boards, chase down RF bugs, and mentor a small team of systems engineers. The specs you own (size, power, signal quality) become the SWaP, latency, and reliability numbers that robots and physical AI depend on. You'll help define and build the first generation of Eridan hardware designed to live on the robot itself.

## What you'll do

- Own the radio, end to end. Architecture, integration, and verification for your product scope, with your hands on the bench for RF debug and board bring-up.
- Turn customer needs into hard specs. Be the bridge between Solutions Engineering and R&D, from private 5G operators today to robotics and physical AI customers tomorrow.
- Grow a team. Lead and mentor a small team of systems engineers and own their technical development.
- Make hardware and software move together. Translate design decisions into clear requirements for firmware and software, and drive qualification with Test and Ops.
- Get it to production. Set the design standards and reviews that make our products manufacturable at volume.

## Minimum Qualifications

- Education: B.S. or M.S. in Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related technical field
- Experience & Leadership: 5+ years in RF systems engineering (at the radio unit, subsystem, or component level) with a strong desire to step into a leadership role and manage a small team
- Hands-on RF Design: End-to-end hardware development experience (schematic to PCB)—featuring circuit-level fluency in transceiver architectures, cellular TDD/FDD systems, layout impedance best practices, and power distribution analysis (not solely system-level oversight)
- Product Lifecycle: Proven track record of navigating the full hardware lifecycle, scaling products from initial conceptual prototypes to robust, high-volume production-ready designs
- Requirements & Integration: Proven ability to translate customer requirements into rigorous engineering deliverables and drive complex hardware/software co-development
- Communication & Assertiveness: Strong communication skills across cross-functional audiences, including the ability to push back and firmly hold a technical position during rigorous systems design meetings
- 5G Radio Hardware: Experience with 5G systems, including O-RAN, small cell, or macro radio architectures
- Work Authorization: Must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. without current or future employer sponsorship or visa transfers

## Nice to Have

- Experience at a startup or growth-stage hardware company
- Experience with CU/DU/RU integration
- Strong understanding of communications theory
- Proficiency in scripting languages (e.g., Python, C#, MATLAB) for automation and testing
- Familiarity with 3GPP specifications
- Hands-on experience with advanced lab testing equipment (e.g., VNAs, spectrum analyzers)

## Why you'll love working here

- Build the wireless technology that connects robots and powers the physical AI era, with real impact on global infrastructure
- Work where AI meets wireless, from robotics to AI-native networks (AI-RAN)
- See your work ship: on our lean team, there are no layers between your ideas and the product
- Grow your career on a team that owns its work, speaks candidly, and celebrates progress together
- Pre-IPO equity
- 401(k) with automatic match
- Health, vision, and dental insurance

Salary Range

Given our anticipated growth, we are open to hiring individuals with varying levels of experience to fill this role. Salary will be commensurate with job-related skills, experience, and other relevant factors. The base salary range for the primary location of this role is between $160,000 and $190,000 plus stock options and benefits.

Eridan is an equal opportunity employer. We value and celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or protected veteran status.

## About Eridan

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Eridan is a U.S.-based technology company that has developed a fundamentally new radio architecture using direct polar modulation and Gallium Nitride to deliver high-performance, low-power, and low-cost 5G connectivity for private networks, rural broadband, industrial sites, and national infrastructure.
- **Entity Type**: Private (rapidly growing startup; pre-IPO equity offered)
- **Headquarters**: Sunnyvale, California, United States
- **Founded**: Not publicly available (leadership team with decades of experience suggests a recent startup; exact year not listed)
- **Founders**: Douglas Kirkpatrick (Co-Founder & CTO), Dubravko Babić (Co-Founder & President, Eridan Croatia); key executives include Omid Tahernia (President & CEO) and Atiq Raza (Executive Chairman)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Wireless telecommunications / 5G infrastructure / Open RAN hardware
- **Target customers**: Enterprises deploying private 5G, mobile network operators, industrial/utility sites, rural broadband providers, and national defense organizations (B2B primarily)
- **Mission or purpose**: "To connect the planet to empower a sustainable, shared future" by making 5G connectivity affordable and energy-efficient everywhere.

## Products & Services
- **[Digital Radio Unit with Ultra-Clean Signal™]**: A fully digital, polar modulation-based radio built using Gallium Nitride (GaN) that delivers up to 5× lower power consumption and significantly reduced size and cost versus legacy systems. Supports Open RAN architectures and achieves high spectral efficiency for AI-driven and high-demand applications. Deployed for Private 5G, rural broadband, and industrial use cases.

- **[Field-Tested Performance]**: In public demonstrations, Eridan sustained over 100 Mbps at 1.7 km using only 0.3 watts, proving viability for long-range, low-power connectivity.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (private company)
- **Key Metric**: Company claims its novel transmitter architecture decreases the cost and power required to roll out 5G by **10 times**; total funding rounds not publicly listed.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Backed by a leadership team with backgrounds at DARPA, Qualcomm, AMD, Motorola, Xilinx, and Ikanos; specific institutional investors not named in available materials.
- **Growth Signals**: Active hiring (multiple engineering roles in Sunnyvale and Zagreb, Croatia), growing team with presence in two countries, field validation results, and inclusion in Open RAN ecosystem discussions.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Ultra-Clean Signal™**: Proprietary polar modulation technology that eliminates the power/performance trade-off of traditional radios, allowing longer range and higher capacity at much lower power.
- **GaN-based design**: Enables higher efficiency and smaller form factor than legacy silicon-based radios.
- **Cost and power reduction**: Up to 10× lower roll-out cost and 5× lower power consumption compared to traditional 5G equipment.
- **Proven leadership**: Team combines deep expertise in RF, semiconductor, defense communications, and large-scale hardware/software execution.

## Strategic Focus
- Expand Private 5G adoption in industrial (smart factories, AI-driven automation), rural broadband, and national infrastructure segments.
- Continue optimizing the radio for Open RAN integration and compliance.
- Scale production and drive down unit costs to make pervasive connectivity economically viable.
- Leverage field test results to build credibility with operators and enterprise buyers.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: "Casual and energetic environment" with collaboration and communication driving outsized results. The Sunnyvale office features big windows (even in the lab), is walking distance to downtown and Caltrain, and fits the entire team for company parties.
- **Remote/Hybrid Policy**: Not explicitly stated, but on-site roles are listed (Sunnyvale and Zagreb); likely office-centric with some flexibility.
- **Notable Perks & Benefits**: Pre-IPO equity, generous PTO, 401(k) with automatic matching, and health/dental/vision insurance. Emphasis on empowering employees and building a productive work environment.
- **Engineering Culture**: Hands-on work with cutting-edge RF, GaN, and digital signal processing; small, growing team offering significant impact and visibility. The company is solving hard physics and engineering challenges in wireless.

## Sources
1. [eridan.io/company/](https://eridan.io/company/)
2. [eridan.io](https://eridan.io/)
3. [eridan.io/careers/](https://eridan.io/careers/)
4. [job-boards.greenhouse.io/eridan](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/eridan)
5. [job-boards.greenhouse.io/eridan?gh_src=c04463835us](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/eridan?gh_src=c04463835us)

## Other roles at Eridan

- [PCB Layout Design Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/pcb-layout-design-engineer-eridan-sunnyvale-5yd6y6gyrk72) — Sunnyvale, CA
- [FPGA Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/fpga-engineer-eridan-zagreb-wxx4rwtg61pp) — Zagreb, Croatia