FPGA Verification & Control Systems Engineer

Zero Point Motion; Bristol; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Share options

Pension

Private medical insurance

Job summary

A technology innovation firm is seeking an FPGA / Digital Systems Engineer to design and verify real-time digital control systems. This role focuses on applying mathematics to develop and stabilize FPGA systems interfacing with MEMS and photonic hardware. The successful candidate will possess strong skills in digital design and hands-on experience with FPGA implementations. Compensation includes share options, pension, and private medical insurance, promoting a culture of equity and inclusion.

Qualifications

• Strong fundamentals in digital design and real-time systems.
• Solid grounding in control theory or signal processing.
• Hands-on experience bringing up FPGA designs on real hardware.
• Experience implementing and verifying control loops, PLLs, or equivalent feedback systems.
• Comfort working at the boundary between digital logic, analog signals, and physical systems.
• High personal standards around correctness, verification, and documentation.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and verify FPGA systems interfacing with photonic sensors, MEMS devices, and high-speed ADCs/DACs.
• Implement and stabilize real-time systems like PLLs, AGC, nested feedback loops.
• Translate mathematical models into discrete-time digital implementations.
• Build verification environments with structured testbenches, invariants, deterministic stimuli, and metrics.
• Write clean RTL and use Python for test automation and data analysis.

Skills

Digital design fundamentals

Real-time systems

Signal processing

FPGA design

Control theory

Testing and verification

Python

Lab instrumentation

RTL verification

Tools

Verilog

SystemVerilog

Python

Job description

At Zero Point Motion, the FPGA is not glue logic.

It is a core part of the sensing system.

This role exists to design, verify, and operate real-time digital systems that directly interact with physical reality: MEMS motion, photonic signals, noise, timing, and control loops.

If you think of FPGA work as abstract RTL design, this role is not for you.

If you think of digital systems as applied mathematics implemented in silicon, it might be.

The Role

As an FPGA / Digital Systems Engineer, you own real-time digital control and signal processing that directly interfaces with MEMS and photonic hardware.

Your work directly determines lock stability, noise floors, measurement fidelity, and whether demos succeed or fail.

This is a hands‑on role. Verification quality, timing discipline, and physical intuition matter more than clever architectures. If you write the code, you own proving that it is correct.

The role sits close to R&D: the FPGA is part of discovering system truth, not just implementing a frozen design.

What You’ll Do

Digital control & signal processing

• Design, implement, and verify FPGA systems interfacing with photonic sensors, MEMS devices, and high-speed ADCs/DACs

• Implement and stabilise real‑time systems such as:

  • PLLs

  • AGC

  • nested feedback loops

  • quadrature demodulation

  • force‑to‑rebalance control

• Reason explicitly about timing, latency, jitter, phase noise, quantisation, and numerical stability

Digital ◂ physical reasoning

• Translate mathematical models and control theory into discrete‑time digital implementations

• Understand how RTL decisions affect mechanical motion, optical phase, thermal drift, and noise coupling

• Treat the FPGA as part of the physical system, not an isolated digital block

Hardware interfaces & IO

• Implement and debug SPI, I²C, UART, GPIO, and high‑speed ADC/DAC interfaces

• Design safe clock‑domain crossings intentionally

• Build reliable data logging and streaming under real‑time constraints

Verification & observability (non‑negotiable)

• Build proper verification environments:

  • structured testbenches

  • assertions tied to invariants

  • deterministic stimuli

  • quantitative pass/fail metrics

• Verification must be automated, repeatable, and explainable

• Eyeballing oscilloscope traces is not verification

• Design for observability with internal instrumentation and clear failure modes

Tooling, lab work & data

• Write clean, disciplined RTL (Verilog / SystemVerilog)

• Use Python as a first‑class tool for test automation, bring‑up, verification support, and data analysis

• Be fluent with lab instrumentation and understand their limitations, not just their outputs

Required Background

You must have:

• Strong fundamentals in digital design and real‑time systems

• Solid grounding in control theory or signal processing

• Hands‑on experience bringing up FPGA designs on real hardware

• Experience implementing and verifying control loops, PLLs, or equivalent feedback systems

• Comfort working at the boundary between digital logic, analog signals, and physical systems

• High personal standards around correctness, verification, and documentation

• Experience with ASIC flows is a plus, not a requirement

Who This Role Is For

This role is not for:

• MATLAB‑first engineers

• simulation‑only designers

• FPGA developers who avoid lab work

• people who “verify” by visual inspection

• engineers uncomfortable with noise, timing, or pressure

What This Role Is Not

This is not:

• a pure web, SaaS, or framework‑driven role

• a narrowly scoped backend position

• a job for people who only write one‑off scripts and move on

• a place for over‑abstracted code no one can debug

• a role for people who wait for perfect specifications

How You Show Up

• You are motivated by the underlying mathematics, not just by making something work

• You do not ship what you cannot explain

• You treat verification as a core engineering discipline

• You communicate clearly, especially under pressure

• You design margins so systems work without heroics

What Success Looks Like

After 6–12 months:

• FPGA‑based control loops are stable, low‑noise, and explainable

• Verification is trusted because it is systematic and repeatable

• Timing closure is boring because it was designed correctly

• Demos work because margins exist, not because of last‑minute tuning

• Bugs are found early and are diagnosable when they do occur

• The FPGA is a transparent, instrumented part of the system - not a black box

Working with us

• Compensation: Our framework is built on fairness and transparency, with regular reviews to reflect growth and performance.

• Benefits: Share options, pension, and private medical insurance.

• Culture: A deep‑tech rocketship backed by leading investors. We’re building breakthrough technology with real commercial impact. Pace is high. Standards are higher.

Zero Point Motion is determined to foster belonging and empowerment at work. We are committed to providing a work environment where there’s a zero‑tolerance approach to discrimination, and everyone is treated with respect. Equity, diversity and inclusion are central to our mission, and we strongly encourage candidates of all different backgrounds and identities to apply. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please contact us.