Sr Staff RF Development Engineer

Forming Our Future together

FormFactor, Inc. (NASDAQ: FORM), is a leading provider of essential test and measurement technologies along the full semiconductor product life cycle — from characterization, modeling, reliability, and design de-bug, to qualification and production test. Semiconductor companies rely upon FormFactor’s products and services to accelerate profitability by optimizing device performance and advancing yield knowledge. The company serves customers through its network of facilities in Asia, Europe, and North America.

Rooted in our core values — Focus on the Customer, Ownership & Accountability, Respectfully & Effectively Communicate, and Motivate & Develop People — we foster an environment where diverse perspectives are not only welcomed but celebrated. Everyone can make an impact here. Whether it's improving products, supporting customers, or positively influencing peers and the community, the contributions of our people matter.

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Job Description:

The Sr Staff R&D Development Engineer serves as a recognized technical authority in radio frequency (RF), microwave, millimeter-wave, and high-speed interconnect technologies. This position provides strategic technical leadership that shapes product architectures, technology roadmaps, and long-term innovation initiatives across the organization.

The Sr Staff R&D Development Engineer leads the development of advanced RF test and measurement solutions through deep technical expertise, simulation-driven design, cross-functional influence, and engagement with customers and industry partners. This role leads highly complex initiatives with significant impact on product performance, business growth, customer success, and competitive differentiation.

Key Responsibilities:

Technical Leadership and Innovation

• Define and influence long-term technology strategies, product architectures, and technical roadmaps for RF and high-speed interconnect solutions.

• Serve as a recognized subject matter expert in RF design, electromagnetic modeling, calibration methodologies, measurement science, and high-speed interconnect technology.

• Lead the development of next-generation RF technologies, methodologies, and design practices that enable future product platforms and establish competitive advantages.

• Drive technical innovation through advanced simulation-driven design methodologies, modeling techniques, measurement approaches, and validation strategies.

• Establish technical standards, engineering methodologies, and best practices that are adopted across multiple product lines and engineering teams.

• Identify and solve exceptionally complex technical challenges for which solutions may be ambiguous, incomplete, or not previously established.

• Provide technical guidance and recommendations on major research and development investments, product strategies, and technology decisions.

Product and Technology Development

• Lead the architecture, design, modeling, development, and optimization of advanced RF and high-speed digital physical-layer interconnect structures and systems.

• Provide technical direction for the development and refinement of industry-leading RF calibration methodologies, including short-open-load (SOL), short-open-load-through (SOLT), short-open-load-reciprocal (SOLR), multiline thru-reflect-line (TRL), and emerging calibration approaches.

• Lead electromagnetic modeling, characterization, and validation activities to ensure product performance meets technical and customer requirements.

• Make critical technical decisions that influence product performance, system architecture, manufacturability, reliability, scalability, and business success.

• Ensure alignment among product capabilities, customer requirements, market trends, and long-term strategic objectives.

• Lead complex engineering tradeoff analyses involving electrical performance, risk, cost, manufacturability, reliability, and time-to-market.

• Develop and evaluate prototypes, test methods, experimental approaches, and proof-of-concept solutions for new technologies and product platforms.

• Guide products and technologies through the development lifecycle, including concept development, design validation, qualification, and transition to manufacturing.

RF Measurement and Validation

• Develop advanced RF measurement, calibration, de-embedding, and error-correction methodologies.

• Define measurement strategies and test system architectures for the characterization and validation of RF, microwave, millimeter-wave, and high-speed interconnect solutions.

• Apply advanced knowledge of vector network analyzers, spectrum analyzers, signal generators, power meters, and automated test systems.

• Analyze complex test and simulation data to identify performance limitations, correlations, design risks, and opportunities for improvement.

• Establish correlation methodologies among electromagnetic simulations, laboratory measurements, and production test results.

• Ensure measurement systems, calibration methods, and validation processes provide accurate, repeatable, and technically defensible results.

Customer and Market Leadership

• Engage directly with strategic customers, industry partners, and key stakeholders to understand emerging technical challenges and future market requirements.

• Translate complex customer test and measurement needs into technology strategies, product requirements, research initiatives, and development plans.

• Partner with Product Management, Marketing, Applications Engineering, and Sales to define market-leading product requirements and technology differentiation strategies.

• Represent the organization as a technical leader during customer engagements, executive discussions, technical reviews, and strategic planning activities.

• Build trusted technical relationships with customers by providing expert consultation and developing innovative solutions to complex application challenges.

• Evaluate market and technology trends to identify new product opportunities, technical risks, and areas for strategic investment.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Lead highly complex, cross-functional development initiatives involving electrical, mechanical, process, product, manufacturing, software, and applications engineering.

• Influence organizational decisions beyond immediate project responsibilities through technical expertise, business insight, and strategic recommendations.

• Drive alignment across multiple engineering disciplines to optimize product performance, reliability, scalability, manufacturability, and customer value.

• Provide technical leadership throughout design reviews, architecture reviews, risk assessments, failure analyses, and product readiness activities.

• Build strong technical partnerships with suppliers, research institutions, industry experts, standards organizations, and strategic development partners.

• Lead technical assessments, supplier evaluations, and technology partnership activities.

• Communicate technical risks, recommendations, and development priorities to engineering teams and organizational leadership.

Organizational and Industry Impact

• Identify, evaluate, and lead the adoption of emerging technologies that advance organizational capabilities and strengthen market leadership.

• Influence technology direction across multiple products, platforms, or business areas.

• Mentor senior engineers and technical leaders, supporting technical development, knowledge transfer, and organizational succession planning.

• Promote engineering excellence through technical reviews, internal training, documentation, and the development of reusable engineering methodologies.

• Provide technical thought leadership through patents, publications, conference presentations, technical papers, and contributions to industry standards.

• Serve as a technical ambassador for the organization at industry forums, technical conferences, customer events, and standards activities.

• Protect organizational intellectual property by identifying inventions, supporting patent development, and maintaining appropriate technical documentation.

Preferred Qualifications & Experiences:

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent advanced technical experience.

• Extensive experience in RF, microwave, millimeter-wave, high-speed digital interconnect, or related test and measurement technologies.

• Demonstrated success leading highly complex technical programs and influencing technology direction across multiple products, platforms, or business areas.

• Proven experience developing innovative RF or high-speed interconnect solutions with significant customer, product, market, or business impact.

• Demonstrated experience working across engineering disciplines to develop and commercialize complex technical products.

• Advanced research or equivalent industry expertise with deep specialization in RF, microwave, millimeter-wave, or high-speed digital interconnect technologies.

• Experience within semiconductor test, wafer sort, package test, advanced packaging, or related applications.

• Demonstrated history of technical innovation through patents, publications, conference presentations, standards contributions, or other forms of industry recognition.

• Expert-level proficiency with electromagnetic simulation, RF design, and modeling tools such as HFSS, ADS, Sigrity, AWR, or related platforms.

• Deep expertise in RF calibration methodologies, measurement science, de-embedding, error-correction techniques, and test system architecture.

• Advanced knowledge of RF and microwave measurement equipment, including vector network analyzers, spectrum analyzers, signal generators, power meters, and automated test systems.

• Strong expertise in RF PCB design, signal integrity, electromagnetic compatibility, controlled impedance, and high-speed interconnect design practices.

• Advanced understanding of electromagnetic theory, transmission line behavior, impedance matching, insertion loss, return loss, crosstalk, resonances, and signal degradation.

• Ability to correlate simulation results with laboratory measurements and use findings to improve models, designs, calibration methods, and product performance.

• Strong understanding of design for manufacturability, product reliability, technical risk management, and the transition of advanced technologies into production.

• Ability to solve exceptionally complex technical problems where requirements may be incomplete and established solutions may not exist.

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Pay Range:

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Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

FormFactor is an equal opportunity employer. FormFactor complies with all national, state, and local laws that seek to promote equal opportunities for any applicant or employee without regard to age, race, color, gender, gender identity/expression, national origin, sexual orientation, religion, disability, marital status, pregnancy or related condition, military service, or any other legally protected characteristics. These protections apply to all aspects of employment, including but not limited to, recruitment, hiring, training, promotions, and compensation.

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