Principal FPGA Engineer

CesiumAstro•Westminster, CO

16h

About The Position

CesiumAstro is seeking a Principal FPGA Engineer for its Advanced Projects Group. The role is responsible for architecting, developing, maintaining, and owning the company’s FPGA prototyping testbed, while supporting advanced prototyping for next-generation product development. The testbed includes development boards focused primarily on AMD devices, associated laboratory test equipment, a UVMf simulation and verification environment, and a high-performance Linux-based compute cluster. It supports engineering evaluations of device performance and development tools and flows. Working with the senior technical trajectory team, the engineer will deliver analysis of power, thermal behavior, device utilization, and compute performance using modern space-qualified programmable logic devices. The role also leads large-scale prototype implementations using regression-gated, Linux-based CI/CD automation infrastructure. The position calls for advanced technical leadership across FPGA architecture, design, integration, verification, debugging, qualification, and validation, as well as mentoring and advising engineering teams and leadership.

Requirements

Bachelor of Science or Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering from an accredited university or institution.
15 or more years of experience designing, analyzing, and implementing FPGA systems at the HDL level.
Expert-level knowledge of FPGA design fundamentals, including HDL/HLS design entry, verification, logical and physical synthesis, and place-and-route.
Expert-level knowledge of geographically distributed Linux-based CI/CD automation infrastructure.
Expert-level knowledge of AMD Versal toolchains and flow methodologies, including Vivado, Vitis, Embedded Development Framework, AIE, and HLS development tools and methodologies.
Strong foundational DSP skills, including NCO, FIR, and FFT.
Expert-level knowledge of FPGA optimization strategies and tradeoffs for utilization, power, thermal behavior, and compute performance.
Strong foundational knowledge of UVMf-based verification.
Ownership and pride in delivering high-quality implementations, with a focus on modularity, verification, and HIL-based regression gating.
Ability to independently execute and deliver challenging projects and prototype concepts without direct supervision.
Ability to collaborate with senior technical leadership while maintaining a positive attitude and growth mindset.
Ability to maintain, evaluate, and apply new tooling and design methodologies from industry partners such as AMD and Siemens, and drive development from a customer perspective.

Responsibilities

Architect, develop, maintain, and own the company’s FPGA prototyping testbed.
Support advanced prototyping for next-generation product development efforts.
Perform and deliver engineering analysis related to power, thermal behavior, device utilization, and compute performance.
Lead large-scale prototype implementations using regression-gated Linux-based CI/CD automation infrastructure.
Develop advanced FPGA architectures, RTL designs, interface solutions, and digital hardware concepts for complex products, emerging technologies, and future capabilities.
Contribute to FPGA design principles, implementation techniques, verification methodologies, and engineering approaches that improve product performance and technical capability.
Lead complex engineering studies, design evaluations, and technical investigations requiring innovative solutions.
Direct FPGA integration, hardware bring-up, verification, debugging, qualification, and design validation across critical development efforts.
Evaluate simulation results, timing closure, hardware performance, laboratory measurements, engineering risks, and system interactions, and develop technical solutions.
Guide advanced verification approaches, qualification strategies, engineering improvements, and technical recommendations.
Advise engineering leadership, customers, and program teams on advanced FPGA technologies and complex engineering challenges.
Lead technical reviews, engineering investigations, customer discussions, and multidisciplinary design efforts.
Mentor senior FPGA Engineers and maintain a training and mentorship pipeline for select early-career engineers.
Advance FPGA engineering practices, design approaches, verification methods, implementation techniques, and engineering tools.
Evaluate FPGA technologies, engineering methods, and development processes and identify opportunities to improve long-term technical capability.
Guide initiatives to improve FPGA performance, product reliability, engineering efficiency, innovation, and technical excellence.