Senior Principal Electrical Engineer

This position is onsite in McKinney, TX and requires an active and existing U.S. Department of Defense Secret security clearance (or the ability to obtain and maintain one) after day one. U.S. citizenship is required.

About the role

We are seeking a Senior Principal Electrical Engineer – FPGA/Firmware to design and integrate high-performance digital processing solutions for APS in McKinney, TX. This role sits close to the hardware and is ideal for engineers who enjoy taking FPGA designs from concept through timing closure, lab integration, and flight-testing. Your work will directly contribute to real-time sensing, processing, and response capabilities for aircraft protecting warfighters in contested environments.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement high-speed FPGA solutions using VHDL, Verilog, or model-based design (e.g., MATLAB HDL Coder).
• Participate in the full FPGA development lifecycle: requirements → RTL/model-based implementation → simulation → place-and-route → timing closure → hardware integration.
• Develop multi-clock, high-throughput digital designs with emphasis on:
  • Timing closure at high clock speeds.
  • Clock domain crossing (CDC).
  • Data paths and handshaking between processing blocks.
• Implement and integrate DSP functions such as channelization, filtering, pulse estimation, and real-time signal processing pipelines.
• Contribute to systems that digitize RF signals and generate Pulse Descriptor Words (PDWs) for downstream software processing.
• Perform development on FPGA dev boards, system-level emulators, and migrate designs to deliverable hardware.
• Support integration, test events, and lab validation using equipment such as:
  • Signal generators.
  • Spectrum analyzers.
  • Logic analyzers.
  • Oscilloscopes.
  • Power meters.
• Collaborate across multidisciplinary teams including RF, systems, mechanical, and software engineers.
• Mentor Early In Career (EIC) Engineers.

Requirements

• Degree in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM) and a minimum of 10 years of prior relevant experience.
• Experience with FPGA development tools such as AMD/Xilinx (Vivado) and/or Intel/Altera (Quartus).
• Proficiency in VHDL and/or Verilog.
• Experience taking designs through simulation, place-and-route, and timing closure.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in DevSecOps, including remote loading verification and regression testing.
• Designing FPGA-based circuitry and JTAG programming of FPGA devices, including Dynamic Function Exchange.
• System emulation experience, including design and testing.
• Understanding of Linux, networking fundamentals, communication protocols, and high-speed (Gigabit serial) digital interfaces and multigigabit transceivers.
• Hands-on experience with fiber-optic or other high-speed interconnects (e.g., 100G links, PCIe, Ethernet).
• Electrical design and analysis using Mentor Graphics XPedition and HyperLynx SI, SPICE.
• Experience designing CCAs with FPGAs (Vercel family), flash memory, DDR RAM, ADCs, DACs, power conversion ICs, and supporting analog circuits.
• Experience with RF components or specifications and creating point-of-load (POL) supplies for RF circuitry.
• Experience mentoring others.

Benefits

• Competitive total rewards package including compensation, healthcare, wellness, and work/life benefits.
• Parental (including paternal) leave.
• Flexible work schedules.
• Achievement awards.
• Educational assistance and child/adult backup care.
• Medical, dental, vision, life insurance, and short-term/long-term disability coverage.
• 401(k) match.
• Flexible spending accounts.
• Employee assistance program.
• Employee Scholar Program.
• Paid time off and holidays.
• Annual short-term and/or long-term incentive compensation programs (eligibility dependent on role level and collective-bargaining agreement status).
• Relocation assistance available.

Pay

The salary range for this role is $132,400 – $251,600 USD. The range is a good-faith estimate representative of all experience levels. RTX considers several factors when extending an offer, including role, function, responsibilities, work experience, location, education/training, and key skills.

Schedule

This is an onsite role. Employees in onsite roles, including this position, work primarily onsite as they are essential to the development of our products.