Lead, Firmware (FPGA) Engineer

L3HHCM20•San Diego, CA

50d•$125,000 - $232,000

About The Position

As a Senior Specialist FPGA Engineer, you will play a critical role in the design, development, and implementation of high-performance Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) for cutting-edge communications applications. Leveraging your extensive expertise in digital design for RF and FPGA development, you will lead complex projects, guiding the design process from initial concept through to final deployment. Your responsibilities will include defining architecture, developing VHDL/Verilog code, optimizing FPGA designs for performance and resource utilization, and conducting thorough testing and validation. You will collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including hardware, software, and systems engineering to ensure seamless integration of FPGA solutions into larger system architectures. Your role will also involve troubleshooting and resolving design issues, performing code reviews, and optimizing existing FPGA designs for enhanced performance and reliability. As a technical leader and mentor, you will provide guidance and support to junior engineers, fostering a culture of continuous learning and innovation. Key to your success will be your proficiency with FPGA development tools such as Xilinx Vivado, Altera Quartus, and ModelSim, as well as your ability to stay up-to-date with the latest advancements in FPGA technology and industry trends. Your strong analytical skills, attention to detail, and ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously will enable you to deliver high-quality FPGA solutions that meet stringent performance, reliability, and cost requirements. You will also ensure compliance with relevant industry standards and participate in design reviews and technical discussions, contributing to the overall success of engineering projects. This position may require travel up to 10% of the time, enabling engagement directly with stakeholders and support various project needs on-site.

Requirements

Active Secret Security Clearance
Bachelor’s Degree and minimum 9 years of prior relevant experience. Graduate Degree and a minimum of 7 years of prior related experience. In lieu of a degree, minimum of 13 years of prior related experience.
9+ years experience with VHDL, the FPGA design process, the tools used to generate the FPGA designs, and high-speed digital design and timing analysis.
9 years of experience with FPGA development tools such as Xilinx Vivado, Altera Quartus, or similar.
5 years of experience with RF principles, including filtering, mixing, and signal conversion.
5 years of experience with digital signal processing (DSP) algorithms and their implementation on FPGAs.
5 years of experience with debugging tools including oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and signal generators
3 years of experience with system-level simulation tools such as MATLAB/Simulink.

Nice To Haves

Experience with embedded systems and microcontroller interfacing
Knowledge of cryptographic algorithms and the ability to implement algorithms in targeted FPGA devices
Designing for space environments
Experience with 1553B, SpaceWire, I2C, SPI interfaces
An active Top Secret or TS/SCI clearance
Exceptional communication skills with ability to clearly document and present designs and implementations

Responsibilities

Support proposal efforts in the estimation and planning of end-to-end FPGA development.
Decompose and allocate system and box-level requirements to FPGA requirements and specifications.
Collaborate with RF engineers to integrate FPGA designs with RF front-end components and ensure seamless system performance.
Develop and optimize FPGA designs for RF communication systems, including filtering, mixing, signal conversion, and error correction coding.
Design, implement, and verify FPGA-based digital signal processing (DSP) algorithms for modulation and demodulation.
Assist in architecting solutions against requirements and implement those solutions in various FPGA technologies or platforms.
Follow, enforce, and refine consistent firmware development processes across FPGA designs, including peer reviews.
Synthesize designs to targeted technologies and perform constraint driven place and route and analysis.
Generate design review and deliverable documentation including review packages, block diagrams, interface control documents, and test plans/procedures.
Ensure FPGA simulations verify performance, then integrate and test the FPGA on the circuit card assembly