Senior FPGA Engineer

avav; Albuquerque (NM); On-site; USD 112,500 - 171,750; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

401K with company matching

9/80 work schedule

Holiday shutdown

Job summary

AeroVironment seeks skilled FPGA engineers to join a multi‑disciplinary Space Tech team building high‑reliability firmware and RTL for SOc/FPGA platforms. Work includes SpaceWire, MIL‑STD interfaces, and radiation‑hardened environments.

Responsibilities cover RTL/firmware development, peripheral interfaces, and automated build scripts, plus system integration and validation in aerospace tests.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in electrical/computer engineering or computer science.
• 5 years of professional HDL design experience (VHDL/Verilog).
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain RTL/firmware for general‑purpose and mission use.
• Develop firmware for peripheral interfaces and space‑grade devices.
• Architect and develop firmware for space electronics (FPGA, microcontrollers, RTOS).
• Optimize embedded software for radiation‑hardened, high‑reliability environments.
• Support system integration, testing, and validation in aerospace scenarios.
• Ensure compliance with space industry standards (NASA, ESA, MIL‑STD).

Skills

HDL design

RTL/firmware

Firmware development

Embedded systems

Clock‑domain design

RTOS

VHDL/Verilog

US security clearance

Education

Bachelor's degree in EE/CE/CS

Tools

Vivado

ISE

Libero

Xilinx SoC toolchain

In-system debuggers

Job description

Worker Type: Regular

Summary

AV is seeking skilled and adaptable FPGA engineers to work as members of a multi-disciplinary team supporting multiple technology areas. Our Space Tech division develops high-performance electromechanical, electro‑optical, control, and communication systems. These solutions include digital signal processing algorithms deployed using System on Chip (SoC) or Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) in combination with General Purpose Processors (GPPs) and microcontrollers.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain general‑purpose and mission specific RTL/Firmware
• Develop and maintain firmware for peripheral interfaces
• Analog to Digital Converters
• Digital to Analog Converters
• Serial links and communication interfaces (SpaceWire, SPI, CameraLink, 1Gb+ Ethernet, MIL-1553B)
• Develop and maintain automated FPGA firmware platform build scripts
• Deploy firmware to physical devices
• Architect and develop firmware for space electronics, including FPGAs, microcontrollers, and RTOS‑based systems.
• Optimize embedded software for radiation‑hardened and high‑reliability environments.
• Conduct system integration, testing, and validation of firmware in simulated and real‑world aerospace conditions.
• Support compliance with space industry standards (NASA, ESA, MIL‑STD).
• Other duties as assigned

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or computer science.
• 5 years of professional experience designing using hardware description languages (VHDL or Verilog).
• Ability to obtain and maintain a US security clearance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Some experience using Xilinx devices (Zynq, Virtex / Kintex) and toolchains (Vivado / ISE) and/or Microchip devices (RTAX / ProASIC / RTG4) and toolchains (Libero).
• Some experience doing firmware development in embedded systems, preferably for aerospace or space applications.
• Knowledge of serial communication protocols and standards.
• Familiarity with multiple clock‑domain digital design techniques.
• Familiarity with in‑system debuggers and logic analyzers.
• Familiarity with designing and managing FPGA physical constraints.
• Familiarity with Tool Command Language (TCL).
• Proven, demonstrated experience taking VHDL or Verilog designs to a hardware environment.
• Familiarity with the Xilinx SoC devices.
• Familiarity with FPGA floorplanning techniques.
• Familiarity with Xilinx System Generator.
• Familiarity with other computing languages (C/C++, Python, Java).
• Familiarity with verification techniques, including linting and constrained random testing.
• Knowledge of RTOS, bare‑metal firmware, and hardware‑software co‑design.
• Experience working with hardware accelerators and space communication protocols.
• Familiarity with other synthesis and simulation environments (Synopsys, Aldec).

Physical Demands

• Ability to work in an office and manufacturing environment (Frequent)
• Ability to support field testing and integration assignments (Infrequently)
• Required to sit and stand for long periods; talk, hear, and use hands and fingers to operate a computer and telephone keyboard (Frequent)

Clearance Level

No Clearance

The salary range for this role is: $112,500 - $171,750

ITAR Requirement

This position requires access to information that is subject to compliance with the International Traffic Arms Regulations (“ITAR”) and/or the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”). In order to comply with the requirements of the ITAR and/or the EAR, applicants must qualify as a U.S. person under the ITAR and the EAR, or a person to be approved for an export license by the governing agency whose technology comes under its jurisdiction. Please understand that any job offer that requires approval of an export license will be conditional on AeroVironment’s determination that it will be able to obtain an export license in a time frame consistent with AeroVironment’s business requirements. A “U.S. person” according to the ITAR definition is a U.S. citizen, U.S. lawful permanent resident (green card holder), or protected individual such as a refugee or asylee. U.S. Citizenship required.

Benefits

AV offers an excellent benefits package including medical, dental vision, 401K with company matching, a 9/80 work schedule, and a paid holiday shutdown. For more information about our company benefit offerings please visit: http://www.avinc.com/myavbenefits

Equal Employment Opportunity

We are proud to be an EEO/AA Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability/veterans. AeroVironment, Inc. is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer and welcomes all qualified applicants. Qualified applicants will receive fair and impartial consideration without regard to race, sex, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, genetic data, sexual orientation, gender identity or other legally protected status.