Firmware Engineer (FPGA)

TL;DR

Firmware Engineer (FPGA): Design and implement complex FPGA designs targeting next-generation radar sensor products with an accent on RTL design, behavioral simulation, timing analysis, and hardware integration. Focus on system integration with software, support for deployed capabilities, and collaboration in agile environments.

Location: Full-time on-site in Hawthorne, California, United States. U.S. Person status required to access U.S.-only data systems.

Salary: $160,000 - 225,000

Company

Defense tech startup founded in 2022 with $1B funding, building advanced sensing and detection solutions powered by Coherent Distributed Networks for military, commercial air, and border protection.

What you will do

• Design and implement complex FPGA designs for next-generation sensor products
• Support system integration of FPGA designs with complex software systems
• Support deployed FPGA capabilities for U.S. and international customers
• Collaborate across engineering team on multiple product capabilities
• Expand skillset across product families in R&D and product engineering

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or higher in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science or related
• 5+ years professional experience in digital RTL design for FPGAs
• Extensive FPGA lifecycle: RTL design, simulation, place/route, timing, integration
• Verilog and SystemVerilog development
• ARM AMBA AXI Protocol (AXI4, AXI4-Lite, AXI4-Stream)
• AMD Xilinx Vivado and SoC FPGAs (Zynq, Ultrascale+, Versal)
• Network protocols (TCP/UDP/IP) and serial protocols (I2C, JTAG, UART, SPI, CAN)
• Bash/Python scripting, software driver modifications for validation
• Agile processes: Scrum, CI, TDD
• Work independently and in small teams

Nice to have

• Baseband signal processing in FPGA
• Translating algorithms from Simulink/MATLAB to RTL
• Software drivers (C/C++/Python) for FPGA
• FPGA Ethernet IP (1G/10G/40G/100G)
• Software-Defined Radios (Ettus, NI, HackRF)
• Analog Device Transceivers, Ground/Airborne Sensors (Radar, EO/IR, EW)
• Time Synchronization (NTP/PTP), HLS (C/C++/SystemC/Chisel)
• VHDL, high-speed PCB design, DoD clearance
• GPUs/AI engines, git, CI/CD (Bitbucket/Jenkins)
• DoD architectures (OMS, SOSA, Link-16)

Culture & Benefits

• Health benefits: Medical, dental, vision 100% company-paid
• 401k with 50% match up to 6% of pay, FSA, HSA, life insurance
• Free daily lunch, no-meeting Fridays, unlimited PTO, casual dress
• Competitive base, pre-IPO stock options, relocation assistance, future bonuses
• 200 employees across 5 global offices, team growth focus