Hardware Engineer

Athari; Lexington (VA); Hybrid; USD 103,000 - 152,000; Full time

Job summary

Athari is seeking a Digital Hardware Engineer to design, implement, and validate advanced digital systems with a focus on FPGA-based development. You will translate specifications into HDL architectures, perform simulations, and integrate these designs into hardware prototypes and full systems.

The role requires hands-on experience with radar/ RF systems, Xilinx FPGA development, and a mix of HDL and software in an embedded environment.

Qualifications

• Requires 5+ years of design experience with HF/microwave radar systems.
• Proficient in VHDL/Verilog and FPGA toolchains (Vivado/ISE, ISIM, EDK).
• Experience developing VHDL/Verilog test benches for functional and timing simulations.
• Detailed PCB design and bring-up using Mentor Graphics and Altium Designer.
• Proficiency with MATLAB and RF/digital signal processing concepts.
• Strong communication and teamwork, able to present results clearly.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and validate advanced digital systems with emphasis on FPGA-based development.
• Translate specs into optimized HDL architectures and verify through simulations.
• Build prototypes, diagnose defects, and oversee hardware integration.
• Develop supporting hardware and PCBs, refine designs for performance and reliability.
• Collaborate with teams across groups and conduct field testing.

Skills

VHDL/Verilog

MATLAB

C/C++

Xilinx FPGA

Radar systems

PCB design

Lab equipment

Windows/Linux

HDL test benches

System integration

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Tools

Vivado/ISE

Mentor Graphics

Altium Designer

Altium

IEEE/education tools

Job description

The Digital Hardware Engineer will design, implement, and validate advanced digital systems

with an emphasis on FPGA-based development. The engineer will translate functional or

algorithmic specifications into optimized HDL architectures, perform simulation and

verification, and integrate these designs into prototypes and full hardware systems. This role

requires expertise in complex, highspeed digital design and hands-on experience bringing FPGA

implementations into working hardware.

In addition to digital design, the engineer will develop and test supporting hardware such as

power distribution, digital control and other PCBs. Responsibilities include building and refining

prototypes, diagnosing and resolving defects, overseeing hardware integration, and maintaining

detailed design documentation. The ideal candidate has strong FPGA/HDL skills, experience

with hardware design tools, and the ability to evaluate, iterate, and improve both digital and

physical system performance.

Required Skills:

• 5 years or more of relevant design experience, hands-on radar systems design, system realization, and field testing of HF and microwave radar systems.
• Strong knowledge of VHDL/Verilog, Vivado/ISE, ISIM, EDK, System Generator, 3rd Part IP
• Developing VHDL/Verilog test benches for functional and timing simulation
• Detailed PCB design and bring up using Mentor Graphics and Altium
• Usage of Test Equipment, RF signal generators, Oscilloscopes and Logic Analyzers
• Working in Windows 7/10 and Linux environments, and TCL
• Candidate should be familiar with digital receiver design, including direct detect (i.e. RF sampling) receiver architectures
• Proficiency with MATLAB
• Candidate must have good organizational skills with the ability to complete assignments working independently and in a team environment, and effectively present results.
• Effective communication with colleagues, sponsors, and other research sites
• Radar timing and basic signal processing.
• RF converters
• Xilinx FPGA development and test in an Embedded environment
• PCB design, schematic capture, component selections and simulation using Altium/Mentor Graphics. Evaluating design tradeoff against speed and resource utilization
• Strong knowledge and understanding of analog/digital components, ADC and DAC performances
• Experience with various hardware interfaces and communication: PCIe, I2C, LVDS, Serial Data over Fiber Optics with Protocol knowledge
• Software design and development in C/C++
• Desire and ability to participate in field experiments and data collection efforts, which could involve travel

Work location: Hybrid - Candidates should expect to be onsite 3 days a week

Clearance: Candidates must have an active secret clearance to be considered for this role

Travel: Estimated at 5% domestic and international

Interview Process: Initial pre-screen with Group Leader(s). If candidate advances to

next round, will be a larger group interview with technical staff.

Must Have

• Degree Level
• Bachelor's Degree Yes
• Design
• Circuit Design 5 years
• Electrical/Electronics
• New Circuit Characterization and Qualification 5 years
• New Circuit Debug 5 years
• PCB Design and Layout 5 years
• Hardware
• Experience with Xilinx/AMD FPGAs, MPSoCs, and ACAPs 5 years
• Hardware Design 5 years
• Hardware Design Tools such as SolidWorks, PCB Layout Tools such as Altium Designer
• 5 years
• Programming
• C/C++ 5 years
• FPGA Development (VHDL/Verilog or SystemVerilog) 5 years
• FPGA development and diagnostic tools 5 years
• MATLAB 5 years
• Signal Processing
• Advanced Signal Processing, Receiver/Transmitter Design, Radar Architectures 5 years
• Develop DSP algorithms optimized for FPGA implementation 5 years
• Systems
• FPGA Embedded Systems Development (Xilinx, ARM, Microblaze, PetaLinux) 5 years
• Testing
• Testing and Evaluation 5 years
• Duration: 36 Months
• Security Clearance Requirement: Yes
• Security Clearance Level: Active Secret
• Location: Lexington, MA 02421
• Pay Range: $75-$110 an hour