Senior RF Engineer

About the Position

Senior RF Engineer

New York

Fortell is designing better hearing aids for life as it's meant to be heard. Traditional hearing aids make everything louder but they don't do enough to help the brain separate conversation from noise. Fortell uses a custom AI chip to separate speech from noise in real time, amplifying the important speech and attenuating the noise.

We are backed by Thrive Capital, Valor Equity Partners, Founders Fund, Optum Ventures, Lux Capital, Vast Ventures, Good Friends, Positive Sum, Stonecroft, and Atreides Management. Our debut product is available now at Fortell Audiology on Park Avenue and 61st Street.

Responsibilities

• Drive RF development, bring-up, testing, and troubleshooting for Fortell's hearing aid products.
• Collaborate with the Head of RF in Denmark to drive RF strategy, set development timelines, and make architectural decisions.
• Define and optimize the RF front-end architecture, including antenna design, matching networks, and link budget optimization for Bluetooth Classic, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), and NFMI.
• Drive miniaturization and integration - finding ways to make the RF subsystem smaller, more tightly integrated, and more manufacturable without giving up performance.
• Read, review, and red-line schematics; collaborate with the electrical engineering team on Altium layout.
• Build and run RF test and validation efforts - define test plans, operate bench equipment, collect chamber data, and close the loop between simulation and measured performance.
• Prototype and experiment hands-on: solder, rework, probe, and iterate quickly to resolve issues and prove out ideas.
• Support production RF validation and troubleshooting as products move into manufacturing.

Requirements

• Deep expertise in Bluetooth Classic and BLE RF implementation.
• Background in hearing aid, earbud, or ear-worn product development, with an understanding of the unique RF and form-factor constraints these products impose.
• Strong RF simulation skills (ideally CST Studio).
• Expert-level electrical engineering skills: schematic capture, circuit analysis, component selection, and PCB layout (Altium preferred).
• Hands-on prototyping and lab skills - comfortable with spectrum analyzers, network analyzers, oscilloscopes, and the full RF bench toolkit.
• Experience taking complex RF designs through the full product lifecycle: from architecture through validation and into production.
• High urgency and bias toward action - you find ways to get answers fast, whether that means a quick bench experiment, a rough simulation, or a creative workaround, rather than waiting for perfect conditions.

Nice to Have

• Experience with regulatory testing and certification (FCC, CE, IC) for wireless devices.
• Familiarity with NFMI (Near-Field Magnetic Induction) systems - ideally in hearing aids, earbuds, or similar ear-worn devices.

We Offer

• Opportunity to work with a cutting-edge technology in the hearing aid industry.
• Collaborative and innovative work environment.
• Potential for professional growth and development.

About the Company

Fortell is revolutionizing the hearing aid industry by using custom AI chips to separate speech from noise in real time, amplifying the important speech and attenuating the noise. We are backed by prominent investors and our debut product is already available at Fortell Audiology on Park Avenue and 61st Street.