Senior Digital Electrical Engineer

Acara Solutions, An Aleron Company; Orlando (FL); On-site; USD 114,000 - 165,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Sign-on bonus

Job summary

Acara Solutions, An Aleron Company seeks a senior digital hardware engineer to design high-density, HDI multilayer boards for advanced imaging systems. You will translate system requirements into hardware designs from schematic to layout and build around AMD/Xilinx FPGAs, with no HDL required.

You’ll work largely as an independent contributor, perform bring-up and debug in the lab, and release designs into production with manufacturing support.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering
• 5+ years of board design experience with high-speed digital design
• 5+ years designing boards around AMD/Xilinx FPGAs (Artix/Kintex 7, UltraScale, Zynq 7000/MPSoC)
• 5+ years integrating and debugging systems in the lab
• Experience with Altium or Mentor Graphics PADS (either)

Responsibilities

• Translate system requirements into hardware designs from schematic through layout
• Design and debug high-density interconnect (HDI) multilayer boards for high-resolution, high-speed imaging systems
• Build the board around the FPGA — no HDL required
• Get hands dirty in the lab: bring‑up, debug, and integration on real prototypes
• Release designs into production and support the transition to manufacturing
• Work independently, with the autonomy to solve hard problems your own way

Skills

Board design

High-speed digital design

FPGA experience

HDI/multilayer boards

Lab bring-up & debug

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Altium

Mentor Graphics PADS

Job description

Additional locations are in Wilsonville, OR, and Billerica, MA

Design the boards behind imaging systems that see what most technology can't.

Still writing HDL you don’t want to write? Buried in meetings instead of the lab? Stuck on legacy 4-layer boards when you’re ready for something harder?

If you’re a senior digital hardware engineer who wants to spend your time actually designing — not managing, not sitting in status meetings, not writing firmware you were never hired to write — this one’s worth a look.

The Work

You’ll design the high-speed digital circuit boards inside some of the most advanced imaging systems in the defense and space industry — boards built from 10 to 20 stacked layers of fiberglass and copper, packed with AMD/Xilinx FPGAs (Artix, Kintex, UltraScale, Zynq), high-speed sensors, and the thermal and signal-integrity challenges that come with cramming serious compute into a tight, high-performance package.

This is a hands‑on, individual-contributor role — you’ll:

• Translate system requirements into real hardware designs, from schematic through layout
• Design and debug high-density interconnect (HDI) multilayer boards for high-resolution, high-speed imaging systems
• Build the board around the FPGA — no HDL required (though it’s a nice‑to‑have if you enjoy that side of things)
• Get your hands dirty in the lab: bring‑up, debug, and integration on real prototypes
• Release your designs into production and support the transition to manufacturing
• Work independently, with the autonomy to solve hard problems your own way

You’ll collaborate with product management, software, mechanical, and systems engineering — but the bulk of your day is yours. Client interaction is minimal. There’s no travel. And no one’s asking you to manage people — just great hardware.

Why This One's Different

The tech is the perk.

You’ll be working on imaging systems most engineers only read about — genuinely advanced, genuinely interesting problems, on hardware that ships and matters.

No clearance required.

You get defense‑industry stability and cutting‑edge hardware, without the clearance process, the waiting, or the restrictions that usually come with it. (US citizenship is required, and sponsorship isn’t available — but if you’re already eligible, there’s no clearance hurdle standing between you and the work.)

Standard hours can flex around 7am to 5pm. It’s an onsite role with occasional remote days when you need them —

Compensation that reflects the seniority of the work.

$113,600–$151,400 based on experience, with room to go up to $165K for the right background. If you’re relocating, there’s a sign‑on bonus of $5,000–$10,000 to help make the move.

What You Bring

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering
• 5+ years of board design experience, including high-speed digital design
• 5+ years designing boards around AMD/Xilinx FPGAs (Artix/Kintex 7, UltraScale, Zynq 7000/MPSoC)
• 5+ years integrating and debugging systems in the lab
• Comfortable in Altium or Mentor Graphics PADS — either is fine, we’re not precious about it
• Bonus points for HDI/multilayer board experience and knowledge of thermal constraints tightly packed hardware

The Process

A quick 30‑minute technical phone screen to start, followed by a panel interview — no endless rounds no runaround.

Ready to trade committee meetings for soldering iron and legacy boards for HDI stacks?