FPGA Engineer (Starshield)
About The Position
Starshield leverages SpaceX’s launch capability and Starlink technology to support national security efforts, with an initial focus on earth observation, communications, and hosted payloads. The satellite engineering team works on programs supporting scientific research, classified national security space, and commercial opportunities. As an FPGA Engineer on the satellite digital design team, you will design, develop, and test FPGAs supporting safety-critical logic, sensors, cryptography, and RF/optical communications systems for SpaceX’s satellite constellation. You will work with other SpaceX engineers to understand mission needs and create highly reliable digital designs. You will be responsible for the complete lifecycle of your FPGA designs, including development, testing, and support. Aerospace experience is not required.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science, electrical engineering, mathematics, or another engineering discipline, or at least 2 years of professional software development experience in lieu of a degree.
- Experience using Verilog, SystemVerilog, or VHDL.
- Ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret or Top Secret SCI clearance.
- Successfully obtain and maintain a Top Secret Security Clearance as a condition of employment.
- Willingness to work extended hours and weekends as needed.
Nice To Haves
- Experience working with complex digital designs.
- Experience with different stages of FPGA development, including RTL design, verification, synthesis, timing analysis, and lab bring-up or validation.
- Experience developing firmware for Xilinx SoC FPGA platforms and designing high-throughput PS/PL interfaces.
- Experience with high-speed serial links, including GbE, PCI-E, or similar.
- Experience with networking protocols and packet processing, including Ethernet 802.3, IPV4/IPV4, UDP, and TCP.
- Experience implementing DSP algorithms on FPGAs, including fixed-point analysis and verification.
- Experience developing software for embedded systems in C or C++, or significant experience in another software language.
- Scripting skills in bash, Perl, or Python.
- Familiarity with common electronic components, ability to read circuit design schematics, and ability to contribute to hardware design discussions.
- Excellent leadership, communication, and teamwork skills.
Responsibilities
- Deliver highly reliable firmware for SpaceX-designed hardware.
- Work with engineers across the department to develop new products from prototype through production and flight.
- Take ownership of firmware products, including verification testing and documentation.
- Follow the SpaceX flight software development process and write firmware for spaceflight.
- Collaborate with avionics, software, and platform engineers to design and validate FPGA designs.
Benefits
- Potential long-term incentives in the form of company stock or long-term cash awards.
- Potential discretionary bonuses.
- Ability to purchase additional stock at a discount through an Employee Stock Purchase Plan.
- Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage.
- Access to a 401(k) retirement plan.
- Short- and long-term disability insurance.
- Life insurance.
- Paid parental leave.
- Various other discounts and perks.
- Accrual of 3 weeks of paid vacation.
- Eligibility for 10 or more paid holidays per year.
- Paid sick leave pursuant to Company policy.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Entry Level
