Technical Design Authority

Jaco du Preez

$ rf-engineer --radar --microwave --location "South Africa"

Technical Design Authority: Radar Warning Systems at Saab Grintek Defence.
RF & Microwave engineering, high-speed digital design, embedded systems, and radar systems engineering.

01 — Expertise

Core competencies

RF & microwave engineering, radar systems, and hardware design spanning simulation through manufacturing.

RF & Microwave Engineering
High-performance RF and microwave module design up to 18 GHz. Antenna front-ends, microwave circuit simulation, and measurement.
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Radar & EW Systems
Radar warning systems engineering, electronic warfare, signal processing, and software-defined radio architecture and implementation.
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High-Speed Digital Design
PCI Express, DDR3/4 memory, SATA, HDMI, DisplayPort. Signal integrity and power integrity analysis with HyperLynx.
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Hardware Design & PCB
SPICE simulation, schematic capture, PCB layout including post-routing analysis, manufacturing, and XJTAG boundary scan testing.
FPGA & Firmware
Intel and Xilinx FPGA design with Vivado, Quartus Prime, HDL Designer, and Modelsim. RTL development, constraint management, IP integration, and hardware-software co-design.
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Software & Automation
Performance-critical C/C++, Python, and bash. Agentic engineering workflows with OpenCode and Claude Code — MCP server integration, AI-assisted development, and CI/CD pipelines with GitLab and BitBucket.
02 — Career

Experience

Engineering career spanning defence, commercial RF, and research.

Saab
Jan 2023 — Present · 3 yr 5 mo
Technical Design Authority: Radar Warning Systems
Feb 2025 — Present · 1 yr 4 mo
Engineer: Microwave Design
Jan 2023 — Feb 2025 · 2 yr 2 mo
Technical authority for radar warning systems at Saab Grintek Defence. Microwave design engineering, hardware development, and systems engineering for electronic warfare and defence applications in Centurion, South Africa.
Radar EW RF Microwave Defence
Poynting Antennas
Jun 2021 — Dec 2022 · 1 yr 7 mo
Senior Electronic Engineer
Jul 2022 — Dec 2022 · 6 mo
Radio Frequency Design Engineer
Jun 2021 — Jun 2022 · 1 yr 1 mo
Senior electronic and RF design engineering for antenna systems and wireless products. Located in Centurion and Johannesburg.
RF Design Antennas Microwave PCB
Etion Create
Jan 2017 — May 2021 · 4 yr 5 mo
Design Engineer
Mar 2019 — May 2021 · 2 yr 3 mo
Junior Design Engineer
Jan 2017 — Mar 2019 · 2 yr 3 mo
Design engineering spanning RF, digital, and embedded systems. Growth from junior to mid-level engineer over four years.
Hardware Design FPGA Embedded PCB Layout
University of Johannesburg
Jul 2015 — Jul 2017 · 2 yr 1 mo
Research Associate
Research in microelectronic engineering, contributing to millimeter-wave technologies and integrated circuit design. Based in Johannesburg.
Research mm-Wave Microelectronics
University of Pretoria
Jan 2016 — Jul 2016 · 7 mo
Assistant Lecturer
Assistant lecturer for electrical and electronics engineering courses. Delivered instruction and practical sessions.
Education Electrical Engineering
Alaris Antennas
Jan 2015 — Aug 2015 · 8 mo
Junior Electronic Engineer (Part Time)
Part-time junior engineer responsible for the design and layout of an 8-way RF switch and control PCB.
RF PCB Layout Antennas
03 — Research

Publications

Peer-reviewed research in millimeter-wave technology, microwave engineering, and engineering education.

04 — Connect

Get in touch

Interested in RF engineering, radar systems, or electronic defence collaboration? Let's talk.