RF Systems Engineer

Osprey Systems is building Canada's sovereign counter-drone capability. Our distributed detection and interception system is designed for the environments where everything else fails: extreme cold, GPS-denied, and network-degraded conditions. We serve critical infrastructure operators and defense customers with a single product line, built in Canada.

We are a small founding team backed by a clear funding pathway through Canadian defense innovation programs and paid civilian deployments. This role is our first engineering hire, and the person in it will define the RF detection capability that anchors our entire product.

The role

Drones announce themselves over radio before they are ever seen or heard. Your job is to catch that signal, identify it, and separate it from everything else on the air, in real time, on a low-power node sitting outdoors in a Canadian winter.

You will own the RF detection layer end to end: architecture, software-defined radio integration, signal detection and protocol identification, and the pipeline that feeds RF tracks into our on-node sensor fusion engine. You will take this from bench prototype to field-deployed hardware on real customer sites within your first year.

What you will do

Design and build the RF sensing subsystem for our distributed detection nodes, from antenna selection through SDR integration to real-time signal processing software Develop detection and classification for drone control and video links, including common commercial protocols, Wi-Fi based links, and custom or nonstandard emitters Build robust performance in dense RF environments: urban clutter, industrial sites, and event settings where thousands of benign emitters compete with the signal you care about Optimize for edge deployment: real-time processing on embedded compute, low power budgets, and operation without cloud connectivity Work with our vendor partners on SDR hardware selection and integration Take your subsystem into the field: bench testing, outdoor range testing, cold-weather characterization, and installation on customer sites Collaborate closely with the founding team on sensor fusion, helping define how RF tracks combine with acoustic and visual detections Help shape the engineering culture, tooling, and hiring of a team that will grow around you

What we are looking for

5+ years of hands-on RF or wireless systems engineering, or equivalent depth from research, defense, or serious personal work Strong software-defined radio experience: GNU Radio, custom DSP pipelines, or equivalent frameworks on platforms such as USRP, Per Vices, or similar Solid digital signal processing fundamentals: detection theory, filtering, spectral analysis, and working in low SNR conditions Proficiency in C++ and Python for real-time signal processing Experience with at least one of: drone RF protocols, wireless protocol reverse engineering, spectrum monitoring, electronic warfare, or radar Comfort with hardware: you can work with antennas, front ends, and test equipment, and you are willing to stand in a field in February to prove your system works Eligibility to work in Canada and ability to obtain Canadian security clearance and Controlled Goods Program registration

Nice to have

Experience with embedded Linux and edge compute platforms (NVIDIA Jetson or similar) Direction finding, TDOA, or multi-sensor geolocation experience Background in counter-UAS, EW, SIGINT, or spectrum sensing Familiarity with FPV drone ecosystems and their radio links (ExpressLRS, analog video, digital video links) Machine learning applied to RF signal classification Prior experience at an early-stage startup or on a small team shipping hardware

Why this role

Foundational ownership. You are hire number one. The RF layer is the front door of the whole system, and it will be yours. Real deployments, fast. Our first paid customer deployments are targeted within months, not years. Your work goes onto real sites quickly. A problem that matters. Drone threats to infrastructure, events, and defense are growing faster than anyone can field answers. Canada is funding sovereign solutions right now, and we are positioned for that window. Hard technical conditions by design. If you want your work stress-tested by minus 40 temperatures, contested spectrum, and no cloud to lean on, this is the job. Equity and early-stage upside. Meaningful founding-team equity, competitive salary, and a seat at the table as the company scales.

Compensation and logistics

Competitive salary plus meaningful early-stage equity Based in Edmonton, Alberta or Toronto, Ontario - on-site (this is a hardware role; the lab is where the work is) Relocation support available for the right candidate