Evaluate Next-Generation Wireless Engineer candidates across 4 weighted areas: technical depth, work that shipped, diagnosis under uncertainty, and working across the org. Technical depth leads at 35%, so check depth in 5G NR and 6G candidate technologies: massive MIMO precoding, mmWave and sub-THz propagation, OFDM numerologies, LDPC/polar coding, and specific 3GPP Release. Use the rubric to compare role-specific evidence consistently.
For technical depth, look for evidence the candidate explains beam management or waveform trade-offs at spec level, citing exact 3GPP releases, channel models, and link budget numbers. For work that shipped, look for evidence the candidate names shipped radios, demos, or accepted standards contributions with measured throughput, EVM, or field trial coverage results.
Apply the written 1–5 anchors to every answer, record the evidence behind each rating, and use the factor weights to reach a consistent overall assessment.
Complete evaluation framework
What to assess and how to score it
Review the evidence signals before interviewing. Then use the anchored descriptions—not instinct alone—to choose the score that best matches each answer.
01
Evaluation factor
Technical depth
35% weight
Check depth in 5G NR and 6G candidate technologies: massive MIMO precoding, mmWave and sub-THz propagation, OFDM numerologies, LDPC/polar coding, and specific 3GPP Release 17/18 features.
Evidence to listen for
Explains the physics or mechanism behind their work, not just the tooling
Names the standards, tolerances, and constraints they designed against
Can defend a design decision under follow-up questions
Distinguishes what they personally engineered from what the team delivered
Five-point scoring guide
1
Poor
Cannot explain the fundamentals of their own stated specialism.
2
Needs Improvement
Knows the vocabulary but not the underlying mechanism; struggles under follow-ups.
3
Satisfactory
Solid working knowledge for the role; depth thins out on edge cases.
4
Very Good
Strong command of the domain; explains trade-offs and defends decisions well.
5
Excellent
Explains beam management or waveform trade-offs at spec level, citing exact 3GPP releases, channel models, and link budget numbers.
02
Evaluation factor
Work that shipped
30% weight
Probe testbeds and products they helped ship: USRP or FPGA prototypes, O-RAN split 7.2 units, RFIC bring-up, or contributed 3GPP RAN1 proposals and standards text.
Evidence to listen for
Names specific programmes, parts, or systems that reached production or field use
States their own scope inside the project
Can give measured outcomes: yield, cycle time, cost, failure rate
Explains what went wrong and what they changed
Five-point scoring guide
1
Poor
No delivered work; experience is coursework, lab-only, or purely observational.
2
Needs Improvement
Contributed to projects but cannot say what shipped or what their part was.
3
Satisfactory
Has delivered real work; outcomes described without numbers.
4
Very Good
Names shipped work and their scope, with some measured results.
5
Excellent
Names shipped radios, demos, or accepted standards contributions with measured throughput, EVM, or field trial coverage results.
03
Evaluation factor
Diagnosis under uncertainty
20% weight
Test how they chase intermittent link failures: chamber versus over-the-air discrepancies, phase noise, beam misalignment, interference, using spectrum analysers, channel sounders, and PHY log traces.
Evidence to listen for
Describes a real failure they chased to root cause
Shows a method: isolate variables, reproduce, measure, eliminate
Distinguishes correlation from cause
Says what they ruled out and why, not only what the answer turned out to be
Five-point scoring guide
1
Poor
No diagnostic method; guesses or escalates immediately.
2
Needs Improvement
Trial and error with no structure; cannot explain how they narrowed the cause.
3
Satisfactory
Reasonable method on familiar problems; less structured on novel ones.
4
Very Good
Clear systematic approach with a real root-cause story.
5
Excellent
Walks through a real debug where they isolated an impairment against a hypothesis list and proved the fix with repeat measurements.
04
Evaluation factor
Working across the org
15% weight
Assess collaboration with RFIC designers, antenna teams, firmware, and standards delegations; look for handoffs on tapeouts, regulatory certification, and operator field trial coordination.
Evidence to listen for
Explains technical constraints to non-technical stakeholders without condescension
Has negotiated scope, cost, or timeline with manufacturing, product, or suppliers
Documents decisions so others can act on them
Takes review feedback without defensiveness
Five-point scoring guide
1
Poor
Cannot communicate outside their specialism; dismissive of other functions.
2
Needs Improvement
Communication gaps cause rework; avoids stakeholder contact.
3
Satisfactory
Works adequately with other teams; documentation is thin.
4
Very Good
Communicates clearly across functions; reliable collaborator.
5
Excellent
Describes concrete negotiations with silicon, antenna, or operator counterparts and how schedule or spec conflicts were resolved.
Evidence-led prompts
Interview questions for a Next-Generation Wireless Engineer
Use these prompts to surface evidence for the weighted factors above and compare candidates against the same role-specific criteria.
01
Have you worked with current generation mobile networking? Describe your experience.
02
Explain a situation where you designed or carried out a wireless network upgrade.
03
What specific wireless technologies have you worked with?
04
Do you have expertise in radio frequency engineering and optimisation?
05
What experience do you have with the radio techniques behind modern wireless standards?
