About the role
Edge Tech Trade is building a dedicated Doodle Labs presence in Ukraine to support the rapid adoption of Doodle Labs Smart Radios across Ukrainian unmanned systems — UAVs, FPV platforms, UGVs, USVs, and tethered/ISR systems. As a Field Application & Sales Engineer, you will be the primary technical face of Doodle Labs in country: integrating radios into customer platforms, running field tests with operators, training units and OEM partners, troubleshooting RF and networking issues in the most demanding electronic-warfare environment in the world, and turning that ground-truth feedback into wins for the customer and product input for Doodle Labs HQ.
This is closer to a US-style Field Sales Engineer / Field Application Engineer than a traditional integration engineer: roughly half hands-on lab and field integration, half customer-facing technical sales support. You should be comfortable bench-testing a radio in the morning, flying integration tests with an OEM in the afternoon, and walking a brigade through link budgets and frequency planning the next day.
Key responsibilities
Customer integration & field engineering
- Integrate Doodle Labs Smart Radios (Helix, RM, Embedded, Mini-OEM families) into customer platforms — drones, ground robots, payloads, ground control stations, and repeater/relay nodes.
- Run on-site installations, configuration, and commissioning at OEM partners (e.g., drone manufacturers) and at military units across Ukraine.
- Conduct field tests and range trials: link budget validation, throughput / latency measurements, mesh behavior, video streaming performance, and EW-resilience testing in real operational conditions.
- Diagnose RF issues, jamming/interference patterns, and antenna problems on the ground; recommend fixes (antenna selection, placement, frequency plan, power settings, mesh topology).
- Build and maintain reference integrations and demo kits (radio + autopilot + companion computer + GCS) that the team can use for sales demos, customer training, and rapid prototyping.
Technical sales & customer success
- Act as the primary technical contact for Ukrainian customers — pre-sales scoping, architecture proposals, BOMs, and post-sales support.
- Translate customer requirements (range, payload, video bitrate, EW threat, regulatory band) into a Doodle Labs configuration: radio model, frequency band, antenna, power amplifier (e.g., 4W PA), and network topology.
- Train OEMs and end-users on radio configuration, the Doodle Labs Smart Radio Web UI / CLI, mesh setup, frequency planning, and basic RF troubleshooting.
- Represent Doodle Labs and Edge Tech Trade at Ukrainian defense-tech events (e.g., Brave1, Iron Demo Day) — booth demos, technical talks, customer meetings.
- Maintain a tight feedback loop with Doodle Labs HQ in the US: file structured bug reports, feature requests, and field reports; escalate critical issues; share competitive intelligence from the Ukrainian market.
Programs & ecosystem
- Support Ukrainian military codification of Doodle Labs radios — provide technical documentation, lab measurements, and on-site testing data; coordinate with the Edge Tech Trade resource managing the paperwork and government liaison.
- Investigate existing Smeela / NATO Stock Number subcodes via OEM partners (PG Robotics, Lucky Strike, Heavy Shot, etc.) to accelerate codification.
- Manage and grow the small Doodle Labs-owned demo and R&D inventory in country (low hundreds of units): allocations, traceability, RMA flow, and rapid fulfillment for priority customers.
- Coordinate with Doodle Labs HQ on sample shipments (radios, antennas, PAs), test plans, and joint engineering investigations.
Must-have qualifications
- Hands-on integration experience with wireless / RF systems: COFDM, LTE/5G, mesh radios, or similar IP-over-RF links. Direct experience with Doodle Labs, Silvus, Microhard, Persistent Systems, or comparable mesh radios is a strong plus.
- Solid RF fundamentals: link budgets, antennas (gain, polarization, MIMO), propagation, TX power vs. sensitivity, frequency planning, and basic spectrum analysis.
- Strong networking knowledge: IPv4/IPv6, routing, VLANs, multicast, latency/jitter for video, and how all of this behaves over a mesh.
- Experience integrating radios with unmanned platforms — autopilots (ArduPilot / PX4), MAVLink, RTSP/UDP video pipelines, gimbals, and companion computers (Raspberry Pi, NVIDIA Jetson, x86 SBCs).
- Comfortable with Linux (Debian/Ubuntu) at the command line: serial/UART, SSH, networking config, firmware flashing, log analysis.
- Hands-on hardware skills: cabling, connectors (SMA/RP-SMA, MMCX, U.FL), basic soldering, multimeter / oscilloscope / spectrum analyzer / VNA usage at a working level.
- Strong troubleshooting instincts in the field — able to isolate whether a problem is RF, networking, autopilot, power, mechanical, or operator error, often under time pressure.
- Excellent technical communication in English (spoken and written) — you will be the bridge between Ukrainian customers and a US-based engineering team.
- Willingness and eligibility to travel frequently across Ukraine to military units, including to areas closer to the front (within reasonable safety constraints).
Nice to have
- Direct prior experience with Doodle Labs Smart Radios (Helix, RM-1700, RM-2450, Mini-OEM, Embedded) and the MN-MIMO mesh stack.
- Experience with Ukrainian defense-tech ecosystem: Brave1, Smeela / military codification process, Army+ procurement, "e-points" (formerly e-balls) unit purchasing system.
- Experience with EW-resistant designs: frequency hopping, narrow-band fallback, alternative bands (sub-GHz, 1.8 GHz, S-band, C-band), and field hardening against jamming.
- Experience with FPV and BVLOS operations, tethered drones, swarming, or counter-UAS systems.
- Familiarity with power amplifier integration (e.g., 4W PA modules), filters, and TX/RX chain design.
- DevOps / scripting skills (Python, Bash) for test automation, log parsing, and field telemetry tooling.
- Prior service or work with Ukrainian Armed Forces, GUR, SBU, or Special Operations Forces units.
- Public speaking / demo experience.
What we offer
- A senior, high-impact role at the intersection of cutting-edge wireless technology and the most operationally relevant defense-tech market in the world.
- Direct working relationship with Doodle Labs HQ in the US — your field reports shape product roadmap.
- Access to the latest Doodle Labs hardware and a fully-funded local lab and demo inventory.
- Backing of the Edge Tech Trade / Edge Solutions team — engineering support, BD coverage, and operational infrastructure.
- Competitive compensation aligned with senior Ukrainian defense-tech market rates; structure and band to be confirmed at offer stage.
- Travel covered. Equipment provided. Real ownership of customer outcomes.
Hiring process
- Initial screen with Edge Tech Trade
- Technical interview with Doodle Labs— RF, networking, integration, and a field-scenario walkthrough.
- Reference checks and offer.