Location: Neuchatel

About Our Team

Semtech’s Wireless Applications team is a global group of passionate engineers dedicated to ensuring successful customer design-ins of Semtech wireless and Lo Ra® solutions.

We develop and deliver advanced hardware and firmware IoT solutions for the LPWAN space, working closely with customers, Field Application Engineers, and internal teams worldwide.

Job Summary:

We are seeking a Senior Staff Hardware Applications Engineer to play a central role in enabling customer success with Semtech’s wireless technology.

In this role, you will lead the end-to-end hardware development of RF Evaluation Kits, Reference Designs, Demonstrations, and Proof-of-Concept systems for sub-GHz and 2.4 GHz RF transceiver products used in the IoT market.

You will define electrical schematics, select components, design and lay out RF-optimized PCBs, debug hardware, and validate RF and electrical performance through hands-on measurement and characterization.

Working closely with Field Application Engineers and directly with customers, you will help resolve design challenges and accelerate technology adoption.

Key Responsibilities:

Hardware Design & Evaluation (~60%)

• Define electrical schematics for RF front-end, power management, and digital/analog interfaces of Lo Ra-based Evaluation Kits, Reference Designs, and Proof-of-Concept systems.
• Select and evaluate components (RF devices, regulators, passives, connectors) and optimise BOM for cost, availability, and reliability.
• Design and review RF-optimised PCBs using Altium Designer; generate production-ready manufacturing files.
• Debug and characterise hardware at the bench, validating RF performance, signal integrity, and power behaviour.
• Validate and document design performance against specifications using RF and electronic test equipment.

Customer & Internal Technical Support (~20%)

• Provide hands-on technical support to Field Application Engineers, Sales, and Business Development teams.
• Work directly with customers to analyse and resolve hardware and RF design challenges, conducting design reviews and recommending corrective actions.

Test Tools & Automation (~10%)

• Develop and maintain evaluation and production test setups for conducted RF and analogue measurements.
• Contribute to test bench automation and measurement scripting using Python where applicable.

Technical Documentation (~10%)

• Produce high-quality technical documentation including measurement reports, application notes, and hardware design guides to accelerate customer design-in.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical or Electronic Engineering, or a related field.
• 5 - 7+ years of hands-on hardware design experience covering schematic capture, component selection, PCB layout (Altium Designer), bring-up, and validation.
• Strong experience in RF PCB design techniques for sub-GHz and/or 2.4 GHz bands, including impedance matching, transmission lines, antenna interfacing, shielding, and EMC layout practices.
• Proficiency with RF measurement instruments: spectrum analyser, RF signal generator, vector network analyser.
• Solid understanding of power management design: LDO/DC-DC selection and layout, current profiling, battery considerations.
• Experience debugging embedded electronics using oscilloscopes, logic analysers, and electrical measurement tools.
• Familiarity with Python for test bench automation is an advantage.
• Exposure to embedded firmware and wireless protocols (Lo Ra, Lo RaWAN, FSK, BLE) is beneficial.

Desired Qualifications:

• Understanding of radio modulation, RF propagation, link budgets, interference, and coexistence challenges.
• Rigorous, creative, and solution-oriented problem-solving approach.
• Ability to manage multiple tasks in a fast-evolving technical environment.
• Strong communication skills and ability to collaborate across distributed, multi-site teams.
• Full professional proficiency in English; French is a bonus.

Career Growth Philosophy:

At Semtech, we believe innovation starts with people. We are committed to empowering professional development through mentorship, continuous learning resources, and a collaborative, idea-rich engineering environment.

Our pay-for-performance culture rewards initiative, encourages growth, and recognises meaningful technical and leadership contributions.

Engineers in this role are supported to expand their influence, deepen their expertise, and shape both their career progression and the future of Semtech’s engineering capabilities.

Additional Notes

The intent of this job description is to outline the major duties and responsibilities of this position. Incumbents may be required to perform job-related tasks beyond those listed.

All duties and responsibilities are considered essential job functions and requirements.