Senior Manager, Radio Spectrum Licensing

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Arizona, +10 more states.

📋 Description

• Take charge of LeoLabs' comprehensive RF regulatory and permitting strategy for both new and existing radar locations, which includes spectrum licensing, equipment certification requirements, type approval requirements, and related RF regulatory approvals.

• Examine regulatory requirements and approval pathways for proposed deployments in various new countries and jurisdictions.

• Formulate jurisdiction-specific licensing strategies while identifying regulatory risks, dependencies, decision points, and critical-path activities.

• Facilitate early engagement with spectrum regulators and other governmental agencies.

• Oversee the spectrum license applications from feasibility to approval, encompassing application strategies, technical annexes, supporting studies, regulator responses, license conditions, modifications, and renewals.

• Collaborate with RF engineers and Hardware Engineering to gather the technical evidence mandated by regulators.

• Manage equipment certification and type approval workflows with laboratories, certification bodies, and local representatives.

• Incorporate RF regulatory considerations into the selection process for new radar sites.

• Coordinate interference analyses and reviews for new site proposals.

• Project manage regulatory approvals across multiple countries and deployments, factoring in schedules, budgets, risks, dependencies, consultants, technical inputs, regulator actions, and executive decision points.

• Select, brief, and oversee local RF regulatory consultants and advisers.

• Establish and nurture a global network of spectrum regulators, advisers, testing laboratories, certification specialists, and in-country contacts.

• Create scalable processes, templates, checklists, country playbooks, decision records, license trackers, renewal controls, and a centralized knowledge base.

• Maintain existing RF licenses for radar sites and ensure ongoing regulatory compliance.

• Prepare updates and recommendations for leadership regarding regulatory feasibility, approval probability, schedules, risks, and mitigation strategies.

• Within three months, establish the operational model, priorities, reporting cadence, and core standards for the global RF permitting function; review current deployments and license workstreams; cultivate stakeholder relationships; and establish compliance processes.

• Within six months, actively manage the global RF regulatory portfolio, implement repeatable approaches, and broaden the network of trusted local consultants, laboratories, and government contacts.

• Within twelve months, develop a scalable global RF permitting capability and enhance the predictability, quality, and schedule control of spectrum licensing and equipment approval workflows.

⛳️ Requirements

• Must be located on the U.S. West Coast (Pacific or Mountain time zones).

• A minimum of 10 years of experience in spectrum regulation, frequency licensing, wireless regulatory affairs, spectrum management, RF compliance, telecommunications regulation, or a closely related field is required.

• Proven experience in obtaining spectrum licenses or equivalent RF operating approvals, including direct interaction with government spectrum regulators.

• Strong working knowledge of RF fundamentals, such as frequency allocations, bandwidth, emissions, antenna characteristics, propagation, interference, and spectrum compatibility.

• Demonstrated ability to navigate through complex, ambiguous, or novel regulatory environments where the approval pathway is not clearly defined from the start.

• Strong project or program management skills, including managing schedules, risks, dependencies, consultants, budgets, and stakeholders across multiple concurrent workstreams.

• Capability to interpret regulatory requirements and translate them into clear technical inputs, application requirements, consultant scopes, and internal actions.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to transform incomplete or highly technical information into clear recommendations for senior leadership and external stakeholders.

• Strong judgement and stakeholder management abilities, with the credibility to work effectively with regulators, engineers, government officials, consultants, and executives.

• A disciplined approach to recordkeeping and a high standard for documentation quality, version control, decision logs, license records, and organized project files.

• Willingness and capacity to travel domestically and internationally, as well as conduct fieldwork at prospective radar sites.

• Must be based in the United States and eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance.

• Eligibility to obtain the necessary authorizations from the U.S. Department of State under ITAR is required.

• Preferred: experience with radar, radiolocation, satellite, aerospace, defense, telecommunications, or other high-power RF systems.

• Preferred: experience in securing spectrum approvals in multiple countries or regions.

• Preferred: experience with equipment certification, RF/EMC compliance testing, international type approval, or laboratory certification programs.

• Preferred: experience conducting RF spectrum surveys using spectrum analyzers, antennas, and associated test equipment, along with interpreting the resulting data.

• Preferred: experience performing or reviewing RF interference, compatibility, propagation, or coexistence analysis.

• Preferred: existing international network of spectrum regulators, regulatory consultants, testing laboratories, or certification specialists.

• Preferred: degree in electrical or RF engineering, telecommunications, physics, or another relevant technical discipline; equivalent practical experience is also valued.

• Preferred: PMP, PgMP, or equivalent project/program management experience.

🏝️ Benefits

• Bonus

• Stock options

• Comprehensive benefits package

• $100 USD monthly wellness benefit aimed at supporting your health and well-being

• $300 USD home office setup stipend, available for use within your first six months

• $75 USD monthly home internet allowance, paid directly through your regular paycheck

• Individual Development Fund to facilitate training, learning, and professional growth

• Employee Recognition Program to celebrate contributions and achievements throughout the team