Senior Principal FPGA Engineer

Vanteon Corporation•Town of Pittsford, NY

13d•$150,000 - $200,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Vanteon, a Performance Drone Works (PDW) Company, develops wireless, RF, and embedded technology for demanding applications. The Senior Principal FPGA Engineer provides technical leadership and hands-on development for customer programs and internal research and development. The role owns complex FPGA architectures, resolves integration challenges, and strengthens engineering practices through independent technical execution, collaboration, design reviews, and mentoring. The engineer leads FPGA and SoC architecture, design, implementation, and verification for complex embedded systems. Responsibilities include translating system requirements into specifications and verification criteria; developing synthesizable VHDL and/or Verilog; owning synthesis, implementation, timing closure, and resource optimization; and leading FPGA configuration, bring-up, debugging, and integration with processors, firmware, and electronic subsystems. The role also supports technical estimates, feasibility assessments, proposals, and project planning. The position works closely with engineers in an office and electronics laboratory. The preference is for regular work from the Rochester, NY office, with flexibility to work from home as project activities allow. Hardware bring-up, integration, testing, and other collaborative work require onsite participation. Exceptionally qualified candidates outside the region may be considered if they can work onsite in Rochester for an initial three-to-six-month ramp-up period before transitioning to a remote arrangement, subject to project needs and effective performance of assigned responsibilities. Occasional work outside normal business hours may be necessary for project milestones and integration activities. The position requires access to export-controlled technical data and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). Candidates must be U.S. citizens or otherwise eligible to access the specific ITAR-controlled data and CUI required for assigned projects without additional authorization. If hired, candidates must pass a background and drug screening.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical discipline.
Extensive professional FPGA development experience, including technical ownership of complex designs through hardware verification and delivery.
Advanced proficiency in VHDL and/or Verilog and a strong understanding of synthesizable design practices.
Strong experience with FPGA development tools, including AMD/Xilinx Vivado and associated simulation and debugging tools.
Expertise in timing constraints, timing closure, clock-domain crossings, reset strategies, and FPGA resource optimization.
Experience developing and verifying FPGA interfaces to processors, memory, peripherals, and other hardware.
Experience with FPGA configuration, board bring-up, and diagnosing hardware and logic issues using laboratory equipment and embedded debugging tools.
Ability to work independently, lead technical decisions, and coordinate effectively across engineering disciplines.
Strong analytical, written communication, and verbal communication skills.
Ability to meet the onsite ramp-up and controlled-data access requirements described in the job posting.
Must be a U.S. citizen or otherwise eligible to access the specific ITAR-controlled data and CUI required for assigned projects without additional authorization.
If hired, must pass both a background and drug screening.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree in a relevant engineering discipline.
Experience with AMD/Xilinx Zynq, UltraScale+, or comparable FPGA and SoC platforms.
Experience with Vivado/Vitis, Questa/ModelSim, or Intel Quartus toolchains.
Experience implementing DSP algorithms, digital communications functions, or software-defined radio capabilities in FPGA hardware.
Experience with high-throughput data paths and interfaces such as AXI, DMA, Ethernet, PCIe, and DDR memory.
Familiarity with embedded C/C++, processor-to-FPGA integration, and embedded Linux systems.
Experience with automated verification, scripting, version control, and continuous integration.
Experience supporting wireless, RF, aerospace, defense, robotics, or other demanding embedded applications.

Responsibilities

Lead FPGA and SoC architecture, design, implementation, and verification for complex embedded systems.
Translate system requirements into FPGA specifications, interface definitions, implementation plans, and verification criteria.
Develop synthesizable VHDL and/or Verilog for digital logic, control functions, data interfaces, and real-time processing.
Own synthesis, implementation, timing constraints, timing closure, and resource optimization.
Develop simulation environments and test benches to verify functionality and identify issues before hardware integration.
Lead FPGA configuration, hardware bring-up, debugging, and integration with embedded processors, firmware, and electronic subsystems.
Collaborate with RF, hardware, DSP, and embedded software engineers to resolve system-level design challenges.
Evaluate technical approaches and communicate tradeoffs involving performance, complexity, schedule, and risk.
Lead design reviews and maintain technical documentation, including architecture descriptions, verification results, and design rationale.
Mentor engineers and improve reusable designs, development workflows, and verification practices.
Provide technical estimates, feasibility assessments, and support for proposals and project planning.

Benefits

Flexible work environment.
Cross-training and education benefits.
Mentoring program with opportunities to learn from senior staff and mentor junior engineers and co-op students.
Employee-sponsored events.
Comprehensive BCBS medical, dental, and vision coverage; beginning in 2027, 80% is sponsored by the company.
Safe Harbor 401(k) with company match.
Paid parental leave.
Employer-provided life insurance.
Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
On-site gym.
Competitive salary.
Generous paid time off (PTO) and flexible leave options.
Equity.