Senior FPGA Engineer

Autonomai Recruitment; Philadelphia (Philadelphia County); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Autonomai Recruitment partners with a highly successful quantitative trading firm in the Greater Philadelphia Area to hire a genuinely senior FPGA Engineer for its specialist hardware team. You will own end-to-end FPGA projects from architecture and hardware selection through design, simulation, testing, deployment and performance optimisation.

You will collaborate with quantitative researchers, trading teams and software engineers to translate complex problems into high‑performance hardware.

Qualifications

• 8+ years FPGA/ASIC architecture and design experience.
• Strong VHDL, Verilog or SystemVerilog expertise.
• Experience delivering full development lifecycle for complex hardware.
• Knowledge of Ethernet and PCIe high-speed interfaces.
• Strong performance-focused digital design fundamentals.
• Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, or related field.
• Trading/finance experience helpful but not required.

Responsibilities

• Architect FPGA-based ultra-low-latency solutions.
• Own designs from board level to APIs and production deployment.
• Develop functional blocks and select hardware.
• Collaborate with researchers and engineers to translate requirements into hardware.
• Continuously measure and tune system performance.
• Contribute to technical direction of a seasoned FPGA team.

Skills

FPGA/ASIC design

VHDL/Verilog/SystemVerilog

Ethernet/PCIe

C/C++/C#/Java

Education

Electrical Engineering / Computer Science related degree

Job description

Greater Philadelphia Area | On-site

I’m partnering with a highly successful quantitative trading firm seeking a genuinely senior FPGA Engineer to join its specialist hardware team.

This is an opportunity to work at the intersection of advanced hardware engineering and real-time trading, building FPGA solutions where every nanosecond matters. You will have end-to-end ownership of your work, from architecture and hardware selection through design, simulation, testing, deployment, and continuous performance optimisation.

You will collaborate directly with quantitative researchers, trading teams, and software engineers to translate complex problems into highly performant production hardware. The projects range from major strategic platform developments to fast-moving initiatives with extremely short design cycles, so your work will have a direct and measurable impact.

What you’ll be doing:

• Architecting and developing FPGA-based solutions for ultra-low-latency systems
• Owning designs from the board level through to APIs and production deployment
• Developing key functional blocks and selecting appropriate hardware
• Working closely with researchers and engineers to translate requirements into hardware designs
• Continuously measuring, tuning, and improving system performance
• Contributing to the technical direction of an established and highly capable FPGA team

What we’re looking for:

• 8+ years of FPGA or ASIC architecture, design, and development experience
• Strong expertise in VHDL, Verilog, or SystemVerilog
• Experience taking complex hardware solutions through the complete development lifecycle
• Knowledge of high-speed interfaces such as Ethernet and PCIe
• Strong understanding of performance-focused digital design
• Experience with C, C++, C#, or Java would be beneficial
• Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, or a related technical discipline

Previous trading or financial markets experience is useful, but it is not essential. Engineers from telecommunications, networking, defence, semiconductor, aerospace, or other performance-intensive environments are strongly encouraged to apply.

This role is best suited to a senior engineer who wants genuine technical ownership, direct access to the users of their technology, and the opportunity to solve some of the most demanding latency challenges in the industry.