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Staff FPGA/Firmware Engineer

175k – 225kIrvine, CAEmbedded EngineeringOnsite10+ YOE
Summary

Designs and verifies HDL and firmware for custom FPGA/SoC systems in spacecraft, focusing on high-speed data handling and embedded interfaces. Requires 10+ years FPGA experience, RTL proficiency, and bachelor's degree.

About the role

Responsibilities

  • Own development of HDL and firmware on custom FPGA, FPGA SoC and low-level embedded systems
  • Provide early guidance and input on architecture decision for subsystem and vehicle-level architectures
  • Define requirements and processes to ensure traceability and progress tracking
  • Develop custom HDL modules for FPGA systems (focus on high speed data movement and handling)
  • Design firmware for soft cores (MicroBlaze, RISC-V, etc.) platforms to interface with FPGA fabric and peripherals
  • Create custom HDL to interface with SoC hard cores, drivers and corresponding custom firmware
  • Work with electrical engineers and others to support the bring-up of custom hardware
  • Lead verification of HDL and firmware to ensure flight-readiness

Required Qualifications

  • 10+ years of experience developing firmware, or, HDL for FPGAs in a professional environment
  • Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, or related field
  • Demonstrated work in RTL design using VHDL, Verilog, and/or SystemVerilog
  • Proficiency with FPGA design tools (Xilinx Vivado, Microchip Libero, or similar)
  • Experience developing firmware in bare-metal or RTOS environments
  • Experience developing embedded systems using C/C++
  • Strong understanding of digital design and embedded systems principles
  • Ability to obtain a Secret and/or TS/SCI security clearance

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience with high-level synthesis (HLS) tools (e.g. Xilinx Vitis HLS, MATLAB FPGA generator)
  • Experience with FPGA verification techniques (formal verification, UVM, SystemVerilog assertions)
  • Familiarity with Xilinx Ultrascale, Zynq MPSoC, Versal, and/or Microchip PolarFire platforms
  • Proficiency working with firmware development tools such as JLink, Keil, IAR, or GCC
  • Experience with FreeRTOS and embedded Linux
  • Strong understanding of FPGA timing, floor planning, and clock domain crossing best practices
  • Experience with AMBA bus architectures (AXI, AHB, APB) and custom AXI IP design
  • Experience with high-speed serial interfaces (GbE, PCIe, Aurora, LVDS) and low-speed interfaces (RS422, UART, I2C, SPI)
  • Familiarity with RAM architectures, efficient buffering techniques, and FLASH interfaces (ONFi)
  • Experience with image sensors and camera systems

Compensation

Staff FPGA Engineer / Staff Firmware Engineer: $175,000 – $225,000 USD

Skills
VHDLVerilogSystemVerilogXilinx VivadoMicrochip LiberoC/C++MicroBlazeRISC-VUVMFreeRTOSEmbedded LinuxAXIPCIeZynq MPSoC
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