Senior FPGA Engineer II — Space Payloads

Rocket Lab Corp.; Tucson, Northern (AZ, KY); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 165,000; Full time

Job summary

Rocket Lab Corp. in Tucson, AZ is seeking a Senior Firmware Engineer II to design and implement FPGA firmware for advanced electro‑optical space payloads, collaborating with hardware, software and test teams.

The role emphasizes FPGA logic, timing, synthesis, and validation across requirements, simulations, bring‑up, and field support. 8+ years in FPGA/VHDL and eligibility for a U.S. government security clearance are required.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience writing FPGA firmware from scratch in VHDL.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance.
• Bachelor’s degree in computer or electrical engineering or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Work with hardware design on requirements.
• Complete FPGA logic design, coding, simulation, and testing.
• Support hardware and software teams in bring-up and test of products.
• Provide SME regarding design and automated test procedures to customers and production support.
• Analyze data from datasheets and manuals to determine design approach.
• Debug the design in the lab.
• Perform synthesis, implementation, and timing analysis.

Skills

FPGA firmware development

VHDL

Security clearance

Education

Bachelor's degree in computer engineering or electrical engineering

Tools

Xilinx Versal

Altium Designer

Job description

Rocket Lab Corp. in Tucson, AZ is seeking a Senior Firmware Engineer II to design and implement FPGA firmware for advanced electro‑optical space payloads, collaborating with hardware, software and test teams.

The role emphasizes FPGA logic, timing, synthesis, and validation across requirements, simulations, bring‑up, and field support. 8+ years in FPGA/VHDL and eligibility for a U.S. government security clearance are required.