Sr FPGA Engineer

Thermo Fisher Scientific • San Jose, CA

2d • Onsite

About The Position

Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Life Sciences Mass Spectrometry Division (LSMS) is seeking an Embedded Engineer to lead the architecture, development, and lifecycle ownership of high-performance FPGA-based systems used in advanced mass spectrometry instrumentation. This is a highly visible role responsible for defining FPGA architecture strategy, driving new product development, and ensuring robust production support for mission-critical scientific instrumentation. The successful candidate will serve as a technical authority within the organization and play a key role in enabling next-generation analytical platforms. This is a full-time, permanent R&D position.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field (Master’s preferred).
• 10+ years of FPGA design experience in complex embedded systems.
• Expert proficiency in VHDL and/or Verilog/SystemVerilog.
• Deep experience with FPGA toolchains (Quartus and/or Xilinx).
• Strong expertise in timing closure, constraint management, and system integration.
• Proven experience integrating FPGA designs into hardware platforms.
• Experience supporting products through NPI, production release, and sustaining phases.
• Strong analytical, debugging, and root-cause analysis skills.
• Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in scientific instrumentation, analytical equipment, or precision measurement systems.
• Experience with MATLAB/Simulink (HDL Coder/System Generator) or High-Level Synthesis (HLS).
• Experience with high-speed data acquisition systems.
• Familiarity with FPGA-based signal processing pipelines.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead FPGA architecture for high-performance data acquisition and control systems.
• Drive system-level design decisions in collaboration with electrical, firmware, software, mechanical, and systems engineering teams.
• Lead complex FPGA development from concept through production release.
• Own timing closure, resource optimization, power management, and performance tuning.
• Develop FPGA logic using VHDL, Verilog, and/or System Verilog.
• Perform high-level modeling and simulation.
• Execute synthesis, place & route, constraint development, and timing analysis.
• Implement high-speed interfaces (PCIe, DDR, LVDS, Ethernet, SPI, I2C, etc.).
• Integrate SoC FPGA architectures when applicable.
• Define and execute FPGA verification strategies.
• Develop simulation environments and regression frameworks.
• Lead board bring-up, hardware integration, and system validation.
• Ensure compliance with product performance, reliability, and manufacturability requirements.
• Provide expert-level troubleshooting for FPGA-related production or field issues.
• Perform root-cause analysis and corrective design actions.
• Support continuous improvement in FPGA design standards and tool flows.
• Mentor and guide junior engineers.
• Establish best practices in coding standards, documentation, and verification methodologies.
• Contribute to long-term FPGA technology roadmaps within LSMS.

Benefits

• A choice of national medical and dental plans, and a national vision plan, including health incentive programs
• Employee assistance and family support programs, including commuter benefits and tuition reimbursement
• At least 120 hours paid time off (PTO), 10 paid holidays annually, paid parental leave (3 weeks for bonding and 8 weeks for caregiver leave), accident and life insurance, and short- and long-term disability in accordance with company policy
• Retirement and savings programs, such as our competitive 401(k) U.S. retirement savings plan
• Employees’ Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) offers eligible colleagues the opportunity to purchase company stock at a discount

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees