Principal FPGA Design Engineer
About The Position
Terran Orbital is seeking an experienced Principal FPGA Design Engineer to lead the architecture, development, verification, and flight-readiness of FPGA-based avionics subsystems. Reporting to the Embedded Software & FPGA Manager, this role owns FPGA RTL design from concept through qualification, integration, and mission operations. The engineer collaborates across avionics, embedded software, systems, and hardware teams to deliver high-reliability, flight-critical digital logic. The position involves FPGA architecture and requirements definition, RTL development using SystemVerilog or VHDL, comprehensive verification and hardware validation, design reviews and documentation, and support for board and system bring-up. The engineer leads technical discussions, drives architecture decisions, and mentors more junior engineers. The role is based in a professional office environment within a manufacturing company and involves substantial computer use.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or equivalent.
- 12+ years of FPGA RTL architecture, development, and verification experience.
- Strong proficiency in SystemVerilog or VHDL.
- Experience with advanced verification methodologies and worst-case timing analysis.
- Experience designing with Microsemi PolarFire, AMD Zynq Versal, and AMD UltraScale.
- Experience with FPGA design tools including Vivado and Mentor ModelSim/QuestaSim.
- Experience with high-speed data buses and interfaces such as AXI, PCIe, DDR4/DDR5, JESD204B/C, or 100Gb Ethernet, and protocols such as SPI, I2C, UART, CAN FD, and LVDS.
- Experience developing high-speed NAND flash controllers, including interface timing optimization, ECC integration, bad block management, DMA architecture, and high-throughput data path design.
- Familiarity with Git-based version control and collaborative development environments.
- Experience with scripting languages such as Python, Tcl, and Bash.
- Experience developing software in a Linux environment with C/C++.
- Experience designing for the space environment, including radiation impacts and mitigations.
- U.S. citizenship and ability to obtain and maintain a DoD security clearance.
Responsibilities
- Own FPGA RTL development from architecture definition through verification, integration, and flight readiness.
- Define FPGA architecture and requirements in collaboration with systems, hardware, and embedded software teams.
- Develop RTL in SystemVerilog or VHDL for Microchip PolarFire and AMD Zynq US+ and Versal.
- Perform verification, including simulation, test benches, timing closure, resource analysis, and hardware validation.
- Lead design reviews, ensure requirement traceability, and produce documentation for FPGA operation and integration.
- Define and execute verification and validation testing (DVT) and support board bring-up.
- Support system bring-up, integration, and troubleshooting during avionics and flight test activities.
- Lead cross-functional technical discussions, drive architecture decisions, and mentor more junior engineers.
Benefits
- 100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision coverage for the employee and dependents.
- 401(k) match.
- Flexible Time Off (FTO).
- Education or tuition reimbursement.
- Competitive paid parental leave, including maternity and paternity leave.
- Covered life insurance.
- Employee referrals.
- Company swag.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Principal
