Principal FPGA Engineer

BRINC • Seattle, WA

1d

About The Position

We are seeking a Principal FPGA Engineer to lead the design and development of advanced FPGA-based systems for our autonomous drones and public safety products. In this role, you will architect and implement high-performance video pipelines, sensor interfaces, and real-time processing systems to enable robust perception and data handling. As a technical leader, you will drive innovation, mentor engineers, and collaborate cross-functionally to deliver cutting-edge hardware acceleration and digital systems that enable real-world live-savings robotic devices in demanding environments.

Requirements

• Master’s or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
• 7+ years of FPGA design and development experience in complex systems.
• Expert proficiency in Verilog, VHDL, and/or SystemVerilog.
• Strong background with FPGA vendor tools such as Xilinx Vivado, Intel Quartus, and ModelSim/QuestaSim.
• Experience with Xilinx Zynq Ultrascale+ or similar SoC/FPGA chipsets.
• Proven ability in high-speed digital design, timing closure, and FPGA resource optimization.
• Hands-on experience with board-level bring-up, lab instrumentation, and debugging complex FPGA systems.

Nice To Haves

• 10+ years of FPGA design and development experience in complex systems.
• Familiarity with video/image signal processing hardware implementation.
• Familiarity with computer vision and perception algorithms and their hardware acceleration on FPGA.
• Experience optimizing video and sensor processing chains for low latency in autonomous systems.
• Experience with embedded processor integration (e.g. ARM cores, MicroBlaze, Nios II, or RISC-V).
• Experience with OpenGL. General experience with hardware acceleration of algorithms on modern GPU architectures.
• Knowledge of DDR memory systems, SERDES, and multi-gigabit transceivers.
• Experience developing FPGA systems for aerospace, defense, or safety-critical applications.
• Track record of leading technical projects and mentoring engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead the architecture, design, and implementation of FPGA systems for video, sensor, and communication pipelines.
• Develop and optimize logic for high-speed digital interfaces such as MIPI CSI/DSI, LVDS, HDMI, PCIe, and Gigabit Ethernet.
• Implement memory controllers, DMA engines, and streaming architectures to support real-time data transfer.
• Optimize FPGA designs for performance, power efficiency, and resource utilization.
• Collaborate with hardware, software, and systems teams to ensure seamless FPGA integration into embedded platforms.
• Implement FPGA acceleration for real-time image signal processing (ISP) and video enhancement pipelines.

Benefits

• Comprehensive medical, dental and vision plans for our employees and their families
• 401K plan
• Maternity and paternity leave
• Flexible Time Off (Exempt) / Paid time off (Non-Exempt)
• Flexible work environment
• Orca pass (for those in Puget Sound)
• Free parking (Seattle office)
• Free snacks, drinks and espresso (Seattle office)

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal
• Number of Employees: 101-250 employees