High frequency PA design, Winter/Spring Engineering Co-op (Jan-June '27) - Newbury Park, CA, United States
$26 - $47 USD yearly
This role focuses on designing, simulating, and characterizing RF/microwave integrated circuits and power amplifiers operating above 15 GHz using GaAs and InP technologies.
About the role
This Winter/Spring Co-op Engineer will join the Advanced Development Team to gain hands-on experience in the design, simulation, characterization, and optimization of RF/microwave integrated circuits and power amplifiers. The team focuses on developing GaAs and InP technologies for high-frequency, high-power RF applications above 15 GHz.
What you'll do
- Design, simulate, and evaluate high-frequency amplifier and power amplifier building blocks using GaAs and InP technologies.
- Develop and optimize RF circuit architectures for operation above 15 GHz, including microwave and millimeter-wave frequency bands.
- Perform RF characterization and measurement of devices and circuits, including small-signal and large-signal testing.
- Conduct performance analysis of amplifier metrics such as gain, output power, saturated power (Psat), P1dB, power-added efficiency (PAE), noise figure, linearity, and stability.
- Support EM modeling, circuit simulations, and design verification using industry-standard CAD tools.
- Analyze measured data and correlate results with simulation models to improve technology and circuit performance.
What you'll need
- Currently working towards a PhD Degree in Electrical Engineering.
- Understanding of basic compound semiconductor physics and basic device fabrication processes.
- Strong background in RFIC and Microwave design.
- Knowledge in RF parameters (insertion loss, return loss, harmonics, IMD, IIP3, VSWR, NF, power gain).
- Familiarity with CAD tools including layout and circuit simulation.
- Knowledge and interest in AI tools for computer programming to drive automation in measurements, data analysis, and simulation.
Nice to have
- Research or industry experience in Compound Semiconductor RF/microwave power amplifier design above 15 GHz.
- Experience designing MMICs in GaAs or InP technologies.
- Familiarity with high-power cellular and Wi-Fi systems or UAV communication links.
- Experience with RF front-end architectures for long-range, high-throughput wireless communications.
- Hands-on RF laboratory experience with measurement-to-model correlation and design optimization.
- Understanding of thermal management, reliability, and ruggedized high-power RF system design.
Skills: GaAs, InP, power amplifier, RFIC, millimeter-wave
This role has been open 23 days — well below the 41-day median for RF/Wireless Engineering roles.
RF/Wireless Engineering · RF Frontend
|
Open roles in category
257
|
Median days open
41 d
|
Median salary
$165k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Skyworks | All employers we track in this specialty (257 roles · 34 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 36 | 257 |
| Open roles in the wider Analog & Mixed-Signal family | 60 | 1337 · 105 employers |
| Median days open | 30 d | 41 d (−11 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $165k |
Skills observed across this category: GaAs, InP, power amplifier, RFIC, millimeter-wave
Who's hiring in this category
- QORVO · 47 open roles · median 33 d
- Skyworks (this employer) · 36 open roles · median 30 d
- Qualcomm · 26 open roles · median 59 d
- Keysight Technologies · 23 open roles · median 173 d
- Apple · 20 open roles · median 18 d
- Analog Devices · 12 open roles · median 43 d
How we counted: 257 open RF/Wireless Engineering (RF Frontend) roles from 34 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 21 Sept 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.