FPGA Design Engineer

Normal Computing Corporation • New York, NY

11h • $200,000 - $280,000

About The Position

Normal is building a new class of computing hardware, rethinking the physics of computation from the ground up to unlock performance and efficiency that conventional architectures can't reach. As FPGA Design Engineer, you will own the bridge between RTL and physical silicon: bringing our physics-inspired ASIC designs to life on FPGA platforms for pre-silicon validation and early software development, and building the test infrastructure for post-silicon bring-up and characterization. Your scope spans the entire FPGA lifecycle - selecting hardware platforms, implementing complex RTL, debugging in the lab, and writing the software that drives it all.

Requirements

• Proven industry experience taking FPGA designs from RTL through timing closure to validated hardware, ideally in an ASIC prototyping, emulation, or high-growth hardware environment.
• Expert-level SystemVerilog and/or VHDL for synthesis, with deep proficiency in Xilinx Vivado (synthesis, place & route, timing closure, IP catalog).
• Hands-on experience implementing and debugging PCIe, plus AXI/AHB, SPI, UART, JTAG, and other common interfaces.
• Strong Python for automation, test, and build tooling.
• Strong board-level bring-up and lab debugging skills on real hardware.
• Startup mindset: you work independently, pivot quickly, and run at ambiguous problems that span hardware, software, and physics.

Nice To Haves

• Verification frameworks like Cocotb, UVM, or OSVVM.
• Experience deploying ML models to FPGAs (hls4ml, FINN, or custom NN-to-RTL flows), or building real-time, sub-microsecond signal processing pipelines.
• Mixed-signal ASIC exposure - digital front-ends, ADC/DAC interfaces, or analog compute.
• SERDES tuning and signal integrity fundamentals.
• CI/CD for hardware (GitLab CI, Docker-based build and test).

Responsibilities

• Lead the selection, procurement, and bring-up of FPGA prototyping platforms (e.g., HAPS, VCU118/VPK180-class boards, or custom hardware) for pre-silicon RTL validation and software development.
• Adapt and implement complex ASIC RTL onto FPGA targets, including multi-clock-domain architectures, CDC bridges, and timing closure on dense designs.
• Integrate in-house designs with third-party and vendor IP; serve as the expert on the AMD/Xilinx ecosystem (Vivado IP Integrator, transceivers, memory controllers).
• Design, implement, and validate high-speed I/O with a focus on PCIe - our accelerators ship as PCIe cards in standard servers.
• Build FPGA-based "tester" designs for silicon bring-up, device characterization, and automated test environments.
• Develop the software layer around the hardware - Python/C++ hardware abstraction, register-map generation, and automated build and regression flows.
• Root-cause complex timing and functional issues in real time using ILA/Vivado Analyzer, oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and BER/eye-diagram characterization of high-speed links.

Benefits

• Normal Computing is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
• Normal Computing is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please let us know at [email protected].
• By submitting your application, you agree that Normal Computing may collect, use, and store your personal information for employment-related purposes in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed