Senior FPGA Engineer (TS/SCI)

TL;DR

Senior FPGA Engineer (TS/SCI) (VHDL/SystemVerilog): Developing and verifying mission-critical FPGA firmware for high-power spacecraft with an accent on real-time control, fault tolerance, high-speed data routing, and telemetry downlink. Focus on designing RTL architectures, validating hardware through simulation and Hardware In The Loop testbeds, and deploying robust programmable logic across demanding space missions.

Location: Los Angeles, California, United States. The role involves access to ITAR-controlled information and items; the hired candidate must be a U.S. person or otherwise eligible for a federally issued export control license.

Salary: $120,000–$225,000 per year, plus company equity.

Company

hirify.global is a Series C space startup developing and mass-producing high-power satellite platforms for commercial and U.S. government missions from low Earth orbit to deep space.

What you will do

• Own the architecture and implementation of programmable logic supporting spacecraft networking, RF systems, and real-time subsystem control.
• Implement FPGA architectures in RTL using VHDL and SystemVerilog.
• Verify and validate designs through simulation, bench testing, and Hardware In The Loop testbeds.
• Support FPGA integration, manufacturing test, troubleshooting, and spacecraft-level verification.
• Develop tools and infrastructure for rapid, high-reliability FPGA development across spacecraft subsystems.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, mathematics, or another STEM discipline, or at least 3 years of professional software development experience.
• At least 3 years of experience developing complex FPGA designs for digital, mixed-signal, or RF applications.
• Professional development experience with VHDL or SystemVerilog.
• Must qualify as a U.S. person under ITAR or be eligible for a federally issued export control license.

Nice to have

• Experience with Xilinx SoC platforms, DSP, software-defined radios, or high-speed SERDES interfaces such as Ethernet, PCIe, and JESD204C.
• Experience with AXI, AXI-Stream, vendor IP integration, and scripting with Python, TCL, or Bash.
• Experience with Linux systems programming, driver development, CI/CD, or hard real-time embedded systems.
• Knowledge of electronics, computer architecture, control systems, software verification, and performance debugging.

Culture & Benefits

• Work on spacecraft platforms designed for high-power missions across multiple orbits and deep space.
• Collaborative software development across HDL, embedded, flight computer, GNC, and test systems.
• Paid time off, medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• Life insurance, paid parental leave, company equity, and additional benefits.
• Non-traditional career paths and cross-stack engineering development are encouraged.