Staff Electrical Engineer, FPGA Development

Responsibilities

• Define and own reconfigurable logic architectures across avionics and payload systems, ensuring common frameworks and IP reuse
• Lead the design and development of a real-time FPGA-based image processing pipeline for on-orbit spacecraft detection and tracking from payload camera and RPO sensor inputs
• Establish digital interface standards, FPGA reliability standards, and component qualification strategy across programs
• Own the FPGA verification methodology across multiple concurrent projects, ensuring reuse and integration with system-level test
• Design and implement high-speed Ethernet interfaces, including MAC/PHY integration, Layer 2 switch development, and high-throughput data path design
• Optimize avionics architecture at the system level, informing trade studies across performance, cost, reliability, and schedule
• Run multi-stream FPGA development efforts, coordinating delivery and holding accountability for program-level outcomes
• Coach engineers across teams, codify best practices, and build reusable, scalable design patterns

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field (Master's preferred)
• 8+ years of professional FPGA design experience, with demonstrated staff or principal engineer-level contributions
• Deep expertise in VHDL and/or Verilog, FPGA synthesis flows, and multi-clock domain design
• Demonstrated experience designing real-time image processing pipelines in FPGA fabric
• Experience designing high-speed Ethernet interfaces including MAC/PHY integration and Layer 2 Ethernet switch development
• Proven ability to architect cross-team solutions, manage ambiguity, and drive program-level delivery

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Experience with space-qualified or radiation-hardened FPGA families (PolarFire, ProASIC3, SmartFusion2, etc.)
• Experience with computer vision algorithms in FPGA fabric (object detection, centroiding, correlation-based tracking)
• Familiarity with SpaceWire, PCIe, and embedded bus protocols (SPI, I2C, UART)
• Exposure to C, C++, or Python for firmware integration and test automation
• Experience working in a fast-paced, startup environment or a similarly dynamic setting