FPGA Design Engineer III

Firefly Aerospace; Town of Texas (WI); On-site; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health plan

Dental plan

Vision plan

Parental leave

Educational reimbursement

Short-term disability

Flexible PTO

Job summary

Firefly Aerospace is seeking an experienced FPGA RTL Design Engineer with 3+ years of Verilog experience to design, implement, verify, and optimize digital logic in Microchip PolarFire SoCs for high-reliability embedded space systems.

The role emphasizes HDL development, IP core creation, RTL verification with UVM, synthesis, timing analysis, and integration with BSPs and Linux drivers, focusing on radiation-tolerant designs and space-grade requirements.

Qualifications

• 3–5 years of professional RTL design experience using Verilog for FPGAs.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and verify FPGA logic using VHDL, Verilog, or SystemVerilog for Microchip PolarFire SoCs, including programmable logic, DSP blocks, and high-speed interfaces such as PCIe, Ethernet, and SERDES.
• Create and optimize IP cores and custom peripherals/accelerators tailored to PolarFire's architecture.
• Integrate FPGA firmware with embedded processors (e.g., RISC‑V cores) and collaborate with software teams to support BSPs and Linux kernel drivers.
• Build RTL verification environments with testbenches using UVM methodologies for design correctness and coverage.
• Perform functional verification, simulation, regression testing, and coverage analysis.

Skills

RTL design with Verilog

FPGA design flow

Synthesis & timing analysis

Hardware verification

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical/Computer Engineering

Tools

Xilinx Vivado

Intel Quartus

Libero SoC

Job description

Firefly Aerospace is a space and defense technology company on a mission to reliably and repeatedly launch, land, and operate space systems from Earth to the Moon and beyond. Headquartered in North Austin, Texas, Firefly looks for passionate and hardworking innovators to join our team and help fuel our successful trajectory into space.

Summary

Firefly is seeking an experienced FPGA RTL Design Engineer with 3+ years of direct professional Verilog hardware design experience. This role focuses on designing, implementing, verifying, and optimizing custom digital logic in the FPGA fabric of Microchip PolarFire SoCs for high‑reliability embedded systems.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and verify FPGA logic using VHDL, Verilog, or SystemVerilog for Microchip PolarFire SoCs, including programmable logic, DSP blocks, and high‑speed interfaces such as PCIe, Ethernet, and SERDES.
• Create and optimize IP cores and custom peripherals/accelerators tailored to PolarFire's architecture.
• Integrate FPGA firmware with embedded processors (e.g., RISC‑V cores) and collaborate with software teams to support Board Support Packages (BSPs) and Linux kernel drivers.
• Build RTL verification environments with testbenches using UVM methodologies for design correctness and coverage.
• Perform functional verification, simulation, regression testing, and coverage analysis (e.g., functional, code, assertion).
• Conduct synthesis, place‑and‑route, timing analysis, and debugging using tools such as Libero SoC, logic analyzers, and oscilloscopes.
• Implement radiation‑tolerant and fault‑tolerant designs for space‑grade applications.
• Develop automated test benches and CI pipelines for verification, including hardware‑in‑the‑loop testing.
• Contribute to system architecture, security, and real‑time processing requirements.
• Participate in code reviews, documentation, and stay updated on FPGA technologies and open‑source contributions.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
• 3–5 years of professional RTL design experience using Verilog for FPGAs.
• Demonstrated experience with the full FPGA design flow: RTL coding, simulation, synthesis, place‑and‑route, and static timing analysis.
• Proficiency with at least one major FPGA tool suite (Xilinx Vivado or Intel Quartus).
• Solid understanding of synchronous digital design, clock domain crossing, finite state machines, and resource/timing optimization.

Benefits

Firefly offers outstanding benefits for our employees, including generous health, dental, and vision plans with low deductibles, parental leave, educational reimbursement, short‑term disability, and flexible PTO options.

Compliance and Eligibility

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Firefly Aerospace, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Firefly is governed based on merit, competence, and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability, or any other legally protected status.