FPGA Firmware Engineer Job Westminster area,Colorado USA,Software Development

Location: Westminster, CO Salary: $ USD Annually - $ USD Annually Description: Our client is currently seeking an FPGA Firmware Engineer

FPGA Firmware Engineer

Location:
Westminster, CO

Full Time

Role Overview

We are a leading Space Surveillance and Intelligence company focused on ensuring orbital safety and sustainability. With expertise in space-based detection, tracking, identification, and monitoring, we provide comprehensive domain awareness across regimes, allowing end users to have actionable intelligence on a single platform. At the core of our infrastructure lies a sophisticated integration of hardware and software capabilities aligned with the key principles of situational awareness: perception (data collection), comprehension (data processing), and prediction (analytics).

This holistic approach empowers us to monitor all Resident Space Objects (RSOs) in orbit, fostering comprehensive domain awareness.
We are seeking an experienced and driven FPGA Firmware Engineer to own digital design and embedded firmware for our electro-optical/infrared (EOIR) and related payloads. This is a build role that encompasses FPGA logic design and verification, firmware development on AMD Versal SoC and comparable architectures, microcontroller firmware, and the detector, sensor, and high-speed data interfaces these payloads depend on. You will work closely with electrical, optical, and mechanical engineers through board bring-up and integration, taking responsibility for the correctness, timing, and reliability of the payload's digital and firmware elements from architecture through hardware validation.
By joining us, you will be part of a collaborative, innovative, and mission-focused environment where your ideas and skills have a significant, real-world impact. You will have the opportunity to shape company culture, set the foundation for future success, and build world-class teams, all while receiving a competitive salary, benefits, and equity package.

Key Responsibilities

Design, implement, and verify FPGA logic (RTL) for EOIR and other payloads on AMD Versal adaptive SoC and comparable architectures.
Develop embedded firmware across the payload stack, including the Versal processing system, supporting microcontrollers, boot and configuration, and device drivers.
Design and bring up detector-readout and sensor interfaces (focal-plane arrays / ROICs), including timing, control, and calibration paths.
Implement high-speed data interfaces and onboard signal and image-processing chains (Ser Des, Camera Link/CoaXPress/MIPI, Space Wire/Space Fibre; framing, corrections, compression).
Lead board bring-up and hardware/firmware integration, debugging at the boundary between hardware and firmware.
Integrate third-party and vendor IP cores, and coordinate with external developers and vendors to keep payload deliveries on schedule.
Maintain traceability from FPGA and firmware designs to top-level system requirements, and ensure designs meet applicable safety and performance standards.
Own verification processes, including test benches, simulation, timing closure, and hardware-in-the-loop validation.
Contribute to payload architecture, interface definition, and processor/component selection trades.

Minimum qualifications:

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
5+ years of experience developing FPGA logic and firmware for payloads, instruments, or other high-reliability embedded systems.
Strong RTL design experience in VHDL or Verilog, including real verification experience and timing closure on AMD/Xilinx tool chains (Vivado/Vitis) and simulation tools (e.g., Model Sim/Questa Sim).
Experience developing embedded firmware in C/C++ on SoC and microcontroller targets (bare-metal and/or RTOS).
Direct experience with AMD Versal, Zynq, or Zynq Ultra Scale+-class adaptive SoCs (or comparable architectures).
Experience with sensor/detector interfacing, high-speed data interfaces, and on-FPGA DSP or image-processing chains.
Experience with hardware and ARM-based SoC bring-up and lab debugging, including the use of oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, protocol analyzers,…