Principal Emulation & Prototyping Engineer

Blue Origin; Town of Texas (WI); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Blue Origin is seeking senior engineers and technical leads to define and build our pre-silicon emulation and prototyping capabilities. You will own the end-to-end platform strategy, deployment, and nightly image service, enabling DSP and beamforming datapaths to connect with real RF hardware and lab instrumentation.

Experience in emulation, FPGA prototyping, and system-level integration is valued. Responsibilities include evaluating platform options, managing build flows, and coordinating

Qualifications

• Industry- or academia-level degree in Electrical/Computer Engineering or related field.
• Advanced hardware design and pre-silicon development experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Define and build pre-silicon emulation and prototyping capability from the ground up.
• Develop platform strategy, flows, and infrastructure; lead tradeoff studies on capacity and cost.
• Evaluate platform choices including emulation/prototyping systems and off-the-shelf boards.
• Own end-to-end build flow: partitioning, synthesis, constraints, and timing for large SoCs.
• Adapt designs for platform; manage clocking, memory models, and IP substitution.
• Define rate-reduction strategies for DSP/beams forming prototyping with fidelity criteria.
• Build hardware-in-the-loop platforms connecting DSP/beamforming to real hardware.
• Establish nightly build service with versioning, release notes, and rollback.
• Develop test harnesses that connect designs to reference models and test equipment.
• Manage platform capacity and forecast future needs across teams.
• Debug at platform level; triage failures with teams to isolate root cause.
• Partner with RF/antenna and DSP teams on lab integration and validation.
• Produce and maintain user documentation and onboarding material.

Education

BS in Electrical Engineering

MS in Electrical Engineering

PhD in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Palladium

Veloce

ZeBu

Protium

HAPS

Job description

Application close date:

Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the requisition is closed.

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We're working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight!

Blue Origin is pioneering the future of space-based communications with TeraWave, a revolutionary satellite communications network designed to deliver symmetrical data speeds of up to 6 Tbps anywhere on Earth. This multi-orbit constellation will consist of optically interconnected satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) and medium Earth orbit (MEO), providing enterprise-grade connectivity for critical operations worldwide.

Job Description

The Emerging Systems business unit at Blue Origin is pioneering the future of space-based communications with TeraWave, a revolutionary satellite communications network designed to deliver symmetrical data speeds of up to 6 Tbps anywhere on Earth. This multi-orbit constellation will consist of 5,408 optically interconnected satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) and medium Earth orbit (MEO), providing enterprise-grade connectivity for critical operations worldwide.

The digital system comprises two ASICs: a high-throughput modem and a DSP-intensive digital beamforming (DBF) chip, with first tapeout targeted for 2027. This is Blue Origin's first in-house silicon, which means the development strategy, methodology, and infrastructure are being defined now - and we are hiring senior engineers and technical leads to define them.

Our strategy treats constrained-random simulation, formal methods, and pre-silicon hardware platforms as equal first-class tools, with dedicated engineers for each. This role owns the hardware platforms end to end, across two complementary capabilities: Emulation primary targeting pre-silicon vehicle for design and verification bring-up, FPGA prototyping driving DSP and beamforming datapaths against real data converters, RF front ends, antenna hardware, and lab instrumentation at scaled sample rates.

You will define the platform strategy, select and deploy the hardware, build the flows, and stand up a nightly image service that the rest of the program runs on - because none of it exists today.

Wireless communications experience is welcome but not required. If you want to define methodology and tooling rather than consume someone else's, that opportunity is genuinely available here.

Responsibilities

• Define and build Blue Origin's pre-silicon emulation and prototyping capability from the ground up.
• Develop platform strategy, flows, and infrastructure, and lead tradeoff studies covering capacity, build turnaround, debug visibility, and cost.
• Evaluate and recommend platform choices, including commercial emulation systems (e.g., Palladium, Veloce, ZeBu), commercial prototyping systems (e.g., Protium, HAPS), off-the-shelf boards, and custom board solutions.
• Own the end-to-end build flow: partitioning, synthesis, constraints, implementation, and timing closure for large SoC and subsystem designs across single- and multi-FPGA targets.
• Adapt designs for the platform, including clock and reset restructuring, memory model substitution, and replacement of hard IP with platform equivalents.
• Define the rate-reduction strategy for DSP and beamforming prototyping - decimation, clock ratios, reduced beam and element counts - and establish, with architecture and modeling, the fidelity criteria that show a scaled slice is representative of the full design.
• Build hardware-in-the-loop platforms connecting DSP and beamforming datapaths to real converters, RF front ends, and antenna hardware, including data converter interfacing, coherent multi-channel clock distribution, and latency-deterministic data paths.
• Establish and operate a nightly build service producing qualified images on a predictable cadence, with versioning, release notes, and rollback, and define the qualification tests that validate each image before release.
• Develop transactors, speed bridges, host-side software, and test harnesses that connect designs to reference models, test equipment, and real-world interfaces.
• Manage platform capacity, scheduling, and allocation across competing users, and forecast future capacity needs against program milestones.
• Debug at platform level - signal capture, waveform tracing, transaction-level debug - and triage failures with design and verification teams to isolate root cause.
• Partner with RF, antenna, and DSP teams on lab integration, calibration, and end-to-end signal chain validation.
• Produce and maintain user documentation, onboarding material, and usage guidance so teams can operate independently.

Basic Qualifications

• BS+10, MS+8, or PhD+6 years in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Hands-