Position – Digital Signal Processing Engineer; DSP

Contract type: Permanent
Job Level: Skilled / Middle Management
Work Location: Cape Town, Western Cape
Closing Date: 06 October 2026

The National Research Foundation (NRF) supports and promotes research and human capital development through funding, the provision of National Research Facilities and science outreach platforms and programmes to the broader community in all fields of science and technology, including natural sciences, engineering, social sciences and humanities.

The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) spearheads South Africa’s activities in the Square Kilometre Array Radio Telescope, commonly known as the SKA, in engineering, science and construction. SARAO is a National Facility managed by the National Research Foundation and incorporates radio astronomy instruments and programmes such as the MeerKAT telescope in the Karoo, the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) in Gauteng, the African Very Long Baseline Interferometry (AVN) programme in nine African countries as well as the associated human capital development and commercialisation endeavours.

The Digital Signal Processing Engineer works closely with peers across functional engineering groups and key stakeholders to ensure satisfactory delivery of the Data Processing & Pipelines Department’s systems and products.

• Implementation of digital signal processing (DSP) products, applications and/or algorithms for Radio Astronomy data processing systems that satisfy higher-level system functional and performance requirements
• Implementation of these products contains elements of digital signal processing system design, FPGA development, software development and high-speed data transport
• Support analysis, definition, integration, verification and validation activities of DSP products at various system levels
• Development of software to control, monitor, debug and support operation of the developed products and applications
• Follow and support the relevant Systems Engineering processes for product development throughout the entire product or application lifecycle from conceptualisation through to decommissioning
• Support deployment, maintenance, upgrades, operation and decommissioning of developed products
• Participate in and support the generation of technical system and product-related documentation applicable to developed DSP products to support the delivery and handover of the Data Processing & Pipelines Group’s products
• Participate in Research & Development initiatives within the Data Processing & Pipelines Group to develop novel ideas for future products and contribute to the overall continuous development of the group

• B.Tech (Eng) (NQF
  7) in Electrical, Electronics or Mechatronics Engineering with 6+ years relevant experience, OR
• B.Eng/B.Sc (Eng) (NQF
  8) in Electrical, Electronics or Mechatronics Engineering with 4+ years relevant experience; OR
• MSc / M.Eng (NQF
  9) in Electrical, Electronics or Mechatronics Engineering with 3+ years relevant experience; OR
• PhD (NQF 10) in Electrical, Electronics or Mechatronics Engineering with 1+ years relevant experience

• Experience as a DSP or FPGA Engineer with experience implementing digital signal processing algorithms on FPGA-based hardware using HDL or other design tools
• Experience in designing digital signal processing systems at a higher, product level or in low-level implementation of components and features
• Experience building data processing applications specifically for Radio Astronomy instrumentation is advantageous but not required
• Implementing parallel processing on FPGA hardware
• Implementation of accelerated and optimised DSP algorithms
• Experience analysing system requirements and defining a suitable…