Senior Firmware & FPGA Engineer - Aircraft Surveillance

Real Time Consulting, LLC; Phoenix (AZ); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Real Time Consulting leads the search for a Lead Firmware & FPGA Engineer for Aircraft Surveillance Products in the North Phoenix area. The role drives architecture, development and lifecycle management of avionics hardware and firmware, including DO-254 considerations, FPGA design, and external partner oversight.

You will own requirements, verification, and certification support across product lifecycles, with emphasis on cross-functional collaboration and AI-assisted engineering to boost

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical or related engineering discipline.
• 10+ years in aerospace/avionics/safety-critical embedded product development.
• 5+ years of technical leadership in firmware/FPGA/embedded avionics.
• Experience in embedded firmware architecture, integration, verification for safety-critical systems.
• Experience managing external engineering partners or contract organizations.
• Experience developing and managing requirements documentation and traceability.
• Knowledge of RTCA DO-254 for airborne systems.
• Understanding firmware integration across FPGA, hardware, software, and system validation.
• Experience supporting certification and regulatory activities for avionics or similar products.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead firmware, FPGA, and hardware activities for airborne products.
• Define requirements and design documentation for firmware/hardware.
• Manage external design partners and contract developers.
• Oversee certification support and product lifecycle activities.
• Apply AI-enabled tools to improve productivity and automation.

Skills

Firmware architecture

FPGA

Embedded systems

Requirements management

DO-254

External partner management

Technical leadership

Communication

System integration

AI-enabled engineering

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or related

Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering or related

Tools

DOORS

Job description

Real Time Consulting leads the search for a Lead Firmware & FPGA Engineer for Aircraft Surveillance Products in the North Phoenix area. The role drives architecture, development and lifecycle management of avionics hardware and firmware, including DO-254 considerations, FPGA design, and external partner oversight.

You will own requirements, verification, and certification support across product lifecycles, with emphasis on cross-functional collaboration and AI-assisted engineering to boost