Lead Firmware & FPGA Engineer (Surveillance)

Location: Phoenix, Arizona or Grand Rapids, Michigan; on-site

Company

hirify.global designs, engineers, and manufactures certified avionics systems for safety-critical commercial and military aviation applications.

What you will do

• Lead the architecture, development, integration, and lifecycle management of firmware, FPGA, and complex electronic hardware for airborne surveillance, communications, transponder, ADS-B, and TCAS products.
• Define system architecture and allocate requirements across firmware, FPGA, hardware, RF, software, and systems engineering disciplines.
• Establish performance budgets and lead design reviews covering timing, latency, throughput, determinism, resource utilization, fault handling, verification, and hardware integration.
• Lead DO-254 development activities, certification readiness, requirements traceability, verification coverage, and audit-ready compliance evidence.
• Provide technical direction and mentorship to multidisciplinary teams while overseeing outsourced engineering partners and contract development organizations.
• Evaluate and implement AI-enabled engineering tools and workflow automation to improve productivity and reduce repetitive work.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
• 10+ years of experience in aerospace, avionics, or safety-critical embedded product development, including 5+ years of technical leadership.
• Strong experience with embedded firmware architecture, design, integration, and verification for safety-critical electronic systems.
• Experience managing external engineering partners and developing requirements documentation, traceability, verification plans, and certification evidence.
• Knowledge of RTCA DO-254 certification expectations and experience supporting regulatory compliance for avionics or other highly regulated products.
• Ability to integrate firmware and FPGA work across hardware, software, and system validation environments.

Nice to have

• Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related discipline.
• Experience with FAA, EASA, TSO, ETSO, or military avionics programs.
• Familiarity with DO-178C, ARP4754A, ARP4761, DOORS, and FPGA-based designs.
• Experience with Mode S transponders, ADS-B, IFF, DME, TCAS, or ACAS systems.
• Experience implementing AI-assisted engineering workflows and automation solutions.

Culture & Benefits

• Work in a highly regulated, safety-critical aerospace engineering environment.
• Collaborate across firmware, FPGA, hardware, RF, software, mechanical, and systems engineering disciplines.
• Support products throughout the full lifecycle, from concept and certification through production and sustainment.
• Employment includes pre-employment substance abuse testing and background checks where allowed by law.
• hirify.global is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer and an E-Verify employer.