Join the Cellular RF Systems Engineering team to define transceiver and front-end architectures spanning GSM, UMTS, LTE, 5G NR, and 6G standards.
About the role
As a Cellular RF System Architect at Apple, you will define and optimize Cellular RF architectures, transceivers, and front-end solutions, setting critical system requirements. The role focuses on cellular radio technologies spanning GSM, UMTS, LTE, 5G NR, and upcoming 6G standards.
What you'll do
- Define and optimize Cellular RF architectures, transceiver specifications, and front-end solutions.
- Set critical system requirements and derive implementation requirements based on high-level system requirements.
- Collaborate with Platform Architecture, RFIC, and PMU design teams, as well as suppliers, to assess and scope Cellular RF technologies.
- Address RF architecture challenges across GSM, UMTS, LTE, 5G NR, and upcoming 6G cellular standards.
What you'll need
- BS degree with a minimum of 10 years of relevant industry experience.
- Experience in deriving implementation requirements based on high level system requirements.
- Strong technical writing skills.
- Strong analytical, interpersonal, and communication skills to work across cross-functional teams solving complex, multi-disciplinary problems.
Nice to have
- 5+ years of relevant experience in RF, including direct expertise in transmitter and receiver architectures.
- In-depth knowledge of cellular radio standards (GSM, UMTS, LTE, 5GNR, and upcoming 6G), regulatory, and carrier requirements and their implications on radio architectures and RF system design.
- Experience with RF performance criteria and concepts including EIRP, TRP, noise figure, sensitivity/desense, phase noise, EVM, spectral mask, spurious, harmonics, intermodulation, s-parameters, Smith charts, and tuning networks.
- Experience in RF line-up analysis, AGC and TPC concepts, plus calibration and compensation methods.
- Understanding of antenna array theory and associated measurement methods.
- Experience understanding complex system use cases to derive implementation requirements.
Skills: Cellular, 5G NR, RF System Architecture, Transmitter/Receiver, Link Budget
More semiconductor jobs: Apple jobs · RF design jobs
This role has been open 0 days — well below the 50-day median for RF/Wireless Engineering roles.
RF/Wireless Engineering · RF Frontend
|
Open roles in category
260
|
Median days open
50 d
|
Category median salary (all employers)
$166k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Apple | All employers we track in this specialty (260 roles · 35 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 33 | 260 |
| Open roles in the wider Analog & Mixed-Signal family | 65 | 1527 · 111 employers |
| Median days open | 15 d | 50 d (−35 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $166k |
Skills observed across this category: Cellular, 5G NR, RF System Architecture, Transmitter/Receiver, Link Budget
Who's hiring in this category
- Skyworks · 56 open roles · median 42 d
- Apple (this employer) · 31 open roles · median 20 d
- Keysight Technologies · 31 open roles · median 82 d
- Qualcomm · 23 open roles · median 104 d
- MACOM · 17 open roles · median 8 d
- NXP Semiconductors · 14 open roles · median 48 d
How we counted: 260 open RF/Wireless Engineering (RF Frontend) roles from 35 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 5 Nov 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there — it is counted in the wider Analog & Mixed-Signal family row. Figures refresh nightly.