Senior FPGA DSP Engineer – Defense Systems Leader

KBR Careers; Beavercreek (OH); On-site; USD 160,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

KBR’s National Security Solutions team is seeking a Senior FPGA Engineer to lead design, development, integration, and debugging of FPGA-based DSP systems for communications and RF applications. The role spans hardware, firmware, and software with independent operation and technical leadership across teams.

The ideal candidate has extensive FPGA/DSP experience, Proficient in VHDL/Verilog, and familiar with Vivado; DoD clearance is required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering.
• 8+ years of relevant FPGA, DSP, communications, or RF signal processing experience.
• Proficiency in VHDL and/or Verilog.
• Experience targeting FPGA devices from AMD or other major vendors.
• Experience with FPGA development tools such as Vivado or similar toolchains.
• Familiarity with AXI-based communication architectures.
• Strong DSP fundamentals including sampling, filtering, and Fourier transforms.
• Experience working in a Linux development environment.
• Experience using Git or similar version control systems.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. DoD security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain FPGA-based DSP architectures for advanced communications and RF systems.
• Lead the development and integration of FPGA logic across SDR platforms, ensuring reliability.
• Implement, optimize, and debug real-time DSP algorithms in hardware (filters, FFTs, modulation).
• Integrate FPGA designs with embedded processors and system interfaces (AXI).
• Develop supporting software/firmware to command and interface with FPGA modules.
• Perform hardware bring-up, test, and debugging with standard RF/digital test equipment.
• Create simulation environments, testbenches, and verification workflows.
• Collaborate with RF, software, firmware, and systems engineers for end-to-end integration.
• Analyze and optimize FPGA performance for throughput, latency, and power.
• Develop scripts and automation for build/test/deploy workflows.
• Support configuration management, documentation, and version control.
• Lead or participate in design reviews and provide engineering estimates.

Job description

KBR’s National Security Solutions team is seeking a Senior FPGA Engineer to lead design, development, integration, and debugging of FPGA-based DSP systems for communications and RF applications. The role spans hardware, firmware, and software with independent operation and technical leadership across teams.

The ideal candidate has extensive FPGA/DSP experience, Proficient in VHDL/Verilog, and familiar with Vivado; DoD clearance is required.