Senior Specialist, FPGA Digital Design Electrical Engineer

L3Harris Technologies, Inc.; West of England; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k) match

Paid time off

Parental leave

Job summary

L3Harris Technologies is seeking a Senior FPGA Digital Design Engineer to develop FPGA firmware for airborne telemetry, RF, and secure communications. You will translate system requirements into FPGA architectures using VHDL and work with cross‑functional teams to ensure robust, flight‑ready designs at the TRF Bristol site.

Requires strong VHDL experience, FPGA toolchain proficiency, and 6+ years in related roles; eligibility for US security clearance and collaboration across RF, systems,

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 6 years of related engineering experience.
• Graduate degree with 4+ years of related experience as alternative.
• Experience with VHDL, FPGA toolchains, and timing constraints.
• Experience with high-reliability, ruggedized hardware and RF/telecom systems.

Responsibilities

• Estimate, plan, and schedule FPGA development across the full product lifecycle.
• Translate system requirements into FPGA architectures and specifications.
• Implement FPGA designs in VHDL with proper synthesis and timing closure.
• Verify FPGA functionality via simulation and integration on hardware.
• Develop DSP and communications FPGA functions (filtering, encoding, error‑correction).
• Document designs, reviews, tests, and interface definitions.
• Collaborate with RF, electrical, systems, and software teams for integration.
• Prepare designs for production readiness with qualification and testing.

Skills

VHDL development

FPGA design

MATLAB/Simulink

RF/telemetry knowledge

Schematic to PCB

Embedded systems

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Vivado

Quartus

Libero

Job description

L3Harris is dedicated to recruiting and developing high-performing talent who are passionate about what they do. Our employees are unified in a shared dedication to our customers’ mission and quest for professional growth. L3Harris provides an inclusive, engaging environment designed to empower employees and promote work-life success. Fundamental to our culture is an unwavering focus on values, dedication to our communities, and commitment to excellence in everything we do.

L3Harris is the Trusted Disruptor in defense tech. With customers’ mission-critical needs always in mind, our employees deliver end-to-end technology solutions connecting the space, air, land, sea and cyber domains in the interest of national security.

Job Title: Senior Specialist, FPGA Digital Design Engineer

Job Code: 46045

Job Location: Bristol, PA

Job Schedule: 9/80- employees work 9 out of 14 days- totaling 80 hours- and have every other Friday off

Job Description

The FPGA Digital Design Engineer supports the development of field‑programmable gate array (FPGA) firmware for airborne telemetry, radio frequency (RF), secure communications, and embedded flight‑safety systems developed at L3Harris’s TRF Bristol site. This role contributes to the design, implementation, verification, and integration of advanced digital telemetry, signal processing, instrumentation, and encryption functions used in ruggedized mission‑critical embedded hardware. The position works closely with electrical, RF, systems, and software engineering teams to translate system‑level requirements into FPGA architecture and very‑high‑speed integrated circuit hardware description language (VHDL) implementations. The successful candidate will join a collaborative engineering organization focused on delivering high‑reliability solutions supporting United States and allied aerospace and defense platforms.

Essential Functions

• Support estimation, planning, and scheduling of FPGA development activities across the full product lifecycle.
• Translate system and circuit‑card‑level requirements into FPGA requirements, specifications, and architectures.
• Implement FPGA designs in VHDL, ensuring proper synthesis, timing closure, constraint management, resource efficiency, and platform‑specific optimization.
• Verify FPGA functionality through simulation, then integrate and test designs on targeted circuit card assemblies in airborne and ruggedized environments.
• Develop digital signal processing and communication‑oriented FPGA functions such as filtering, mixing, signal conversion, encoding, and error‑correction.
• Follow, apply, and refine disciplined firmware development processes, peer reviews, and documentation practices.
• Generate clear technical documentation including design review materials, block diagrams, interface documents, and test plans and procedures.
• Collaborate closely with RF, systems, electrical, and software engineers to ensure clean digital‑to‑RF and digital‑to‑system integration.
• Prepare FPGA designs for production readiness by supporting qualification, environmental testing, and performance validation.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a United States Secret security clearance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 6 years of relevant engineering experience; or a graduate degree and a minimum of 4 years of related experience; or, in lieu of a degree, a minimum of 10 years of related engineering experience.

Preferred Additional Skills

• Minimum four years of experience with VHDL development, FPGA design methodologies, and FPGA toolchains.
• Experience implementing FPGA designs with demanding timing, routing, or resource constraints.
• Experience integrating FPGA designs onto circuit card assemblies and using laboratory equipment such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and signal generators.
• Experience with digital circuit design, schematic generation and PWB layout.
• Experience with at least one major FPGA vendor platform such as AMD (Xilinx), Intel (Altera), or Microchip (Microsemi).
• Experience designing FPGA‑based hardware for ruggedized airborne, secure communications, telemetry, or RF applications.
• Experience verifying FPGA implementations against MATLAB or Simulink system‑level models.
• Experience developing FPGA‑based digital signal processing (DSP) algorithms for modulation, demodulation, filtering, or signal conversion.
• Experience with multiple FPGA toolsets (Vivado, Quartus, Libero) and embedded‑system integration.
• Experience supporting qualification, environmental testing, and performance validation for high‑reliability hardware.
• Experience with secure communications or encryption‑related FPGA processing.
• Familiarity with embedded microcontrollers or mixed FPGA‑processor architectures.

In compliance with pay transparency requirements, The salary range for this role in Pennsylvania is $92,500 - $171,500. This is not a guarantee of compensation or salary, as final offer amount may vary based on factors including but not limited to experience and geographic location. L3Harris also offers a variety of benefits, including health and disability insurance, 401(k) match, flexible spending accounts, EAP, education assistance, parental leave, paid time off, and company-paid holidays. The specific programs and options available to an employee may vary depending on date of hire, schedule type, and the applicability of collective bargaining agreements.

#LI-CS3

L3Harris Technologies is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. L3Harris is committed to treating all employees and applicants for employment with respect and dignity and maintaining a workplace that is free from unlawful discrimination. All applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, national origin, ancestry, ethnicity, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or other related medical conditions), gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, disability, genetic information, citizenship status, characteristic or membership in any other group protected by federal, state or local laws. L3Harris maintains a drug-free workplace and performs pre-employment substance abuse testing and background checks, where permitted by law.

Please be aware many of our positions require the ability to obtain a security clearance. Security clearances may only be granted to U.S. citizens. In addition, applicants who accept a conditional offer of employment may be subject to government security investigation(s) and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information.

By submitting your resume for this position, you understand and agree that L3Harris Technologies may share your resume, as well as any other related personal information or documentation you provide, with its subsidiaries and affiliated companies for the purpose of considering you for other available positions.

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