FPGA Engineer

Aerospacelab; Toulouse; On-site; EUR 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Aerospacelab in Toulouse is seeking a talented FPGA Engineer to contribute to RTL design and validation for FPGA-based units in a fast-paced, collaborative environment.

You will work with EE engineers and embedded software, tackle signal and image processing challenges, and help build state-of-the-art gateware that performs in orbit. The role involves close collaboration across hardware and software teams to deliver reliable FPGA solutions.

Qualifications

• Master or PhD in Computer, Electronics or Mechatronics Engineering or equivalent.
• Knowledge of RTL programming languages (VHDL/Verilog/SystemVerilog).
• Knowledge of C and Python.
• Experience with version control.
• Understanding of the FPGA design flow (synthesis, place & route, etc.).
• Understanding of software and hardware interactions.
• Excellent verbal and written skills to interact across teams.
• Comfortable in a lab environment with power supplies, oscilloscopes and spectrum analyzer.

Responsibilities

• Analyze and define the FPGA design architecture based on system requirements.
• Design, simulate, integrate and test RTL-code.
• Write and test software driver code.
• Write technical documentation, testbenches and on-target test procedures.
• Interacting with other engineering teams (EE, RF, Operations teams, Embedded Software, etc.)

Skills

VHDL

Verilog

SystemVerilog

C

Python

Version control

FPGA design flow

Software-hardware interaction

English

Education

Master or PhD in Computer, Electronics or Mechatronics Engineering or equivalent

Tools

Questasim

Makefile

Python

TCL

GitLab

Docker

Job description

About Aerospacelab

Our mission is supported by an ambitious vertically integrated approach: design & manufacture of small satellites combined with development of earth observation services.

Since its creation in 2018, the company has already grown substantially. Our team gathers more than 25 engineering expertise, from hardware design to software development & data science.

In 2025, Aerospacelab counts offices in Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium), Toulouse (France), Lausanne (Switzerland) and US West Coast with more than 350 full-time employees, with the ambition to position itself as the European leader in small satellites.

Role overview

Contemporary satellites are commonly constructed in amodular fashion, divided into distinct units, each dedicated to a specificfunction.

In adopting a vertical integration approach, Aerospacelab,as a satellite manufacturer, designs a variety of these units.

Leveraging the FPGA’s flexibility and reprogrammabilitymakes it an excellent choice as the foundational technology for our units.

As we continue to expand our team, we are seeking a talentedand motivated FPGA Engineer to contribute to the design and validation of RTLcode for FPGA-based units.

As a FPGA Engineer, you will join an agile development teamthat works around a specific unit. Possible units are on-board computers,software defined radios, image sensors, optical transceivers and networkswitches.

These topics will get you through challenging signal orimage processing algorithms, innovative optical solutions and high-throughputrouting procedures.

In these development teams, communication and cooperationamong diverse team members are key, often blurring the lines betweencompetences.

You will work closely with PCB designers (EE engineers) andembedded software engineers and depending on the project, also with the RF,optical or network engineers.

At Aerospacelab, our moto is work hard, play hard. We striveto innovate, in a fun and inclusive work environment.

We work in short cycles – no waiting for years before seeing code go live & get valuable feedback.

Expect an exciting job, where you will learn constantly andcontribute to building state-of-the-art gateware, that will rapidly make itsproof in orbit.

Our missions

• Answerthe challenging requirements with innovative solutions
• Copewith the challenging space environment
• Createcritical, high quality gateware

Ourwork environment

• RTL:VHDL
• Simulation:Questasim, Makefile, Python, TCL
• Testson target: Makefile, Embedded-C, Embedded-Linux, FreeRTOS, Python
• CI/CD: Gitlab, Docker

Key activities

• Analyzeand define the FPGA design architecture based on system requirements
• Design,simulate, integrate and test RTL-code
• Writeand test software driver code
• Writetechnical documentation, testbenches and on-target test procedures
• Interactingwith other engineering teams (EE, RF, Operations teams, Embedded Software,etc.)

Must have

• Master,PhD in Computer, Electronics or Mecatronics Engineering or equivalentthrough experience
• Knowledgeof RTL programming languages (in order of preference: VHDL, Verilog,SystemVerilog)
• Knowledgeof C and Python
• Experiencewith version control
• Understandingof the FPGA design flow (synthesis, place & route, etc)
• Understandingof software and hardware interactions
• Excellentverbal and written skills to interact across teams
• Comfortablein a lab environment: ability to use power supplies, oscilloscopes andspectrum analyzer
• Good English knowledge
• Eagerness to learn & passion for digitaldesign

Nice to have

• Experiencewith C or Python
• Experienceof continuous integration
• Experiencewith digital signal or image processing
• Experiencewith Embedded-Linux (CLI usage & kernel customization)
• Experiencewith High-speed transceivers, PCIe or network interfaces (1G to 100G)
• Experiencewith memory interfaces (DDR3, DDR4, DDR5)
• Experiencewith PCB and hardware design
• Strongunderstanding of the FPGA design flow (synthesis, place & route, etc)
• Strongunderstanding of software and hardware interactions