Senior FPGA RTL Architect for Spaceflight Systems

Terran Orbital Corporation; Irvine (CA); On-site; USD 175,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

100% Company-paid medical, dental, and

vision coverage

401(k) Match

Flexible Time Off (FTO)

Education Reimbursement

Competitive Paid Parental Leave

Job summary

Terran Orbital is seeking a Principal FPGA Design Engineer to lead architecture, development, verification, and flight-readiness of FPGA-based avionics subsystems. You will own RTL design from concept through qualification, working with cross-functional teams to deliver high-reliability digital logic for space missions. The role requires SystemVerilog or VHDL mastery, hands-on FPGA toolchains, and strong verification skills.

U.S. citizenship with DoD clearance is required.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of FPGA RTL architecture, development and verification.
• Strong proficiency in SystemVerilog or VHDL.
• Experience with Microsemi PolarFire, AMD Zynq Versal/Ultrascale.
• Experience with high-speed data buses and interfaces (AXI, PCIe, DDR4/5, JESD204B/C, 100Gb Ethernet).
• U.S. Citizenship with ability to obtain DoD security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Own FPGA RTL development from architecture definition through verification, integration and flight readiness.
• Define FPGA architecture and requirements in collaboration with systems, hardware and software teams.
• Develop RTL in SystemVerilog or VHDL for Microchip PolarFire and AMD Zynq US+ and Versal.
• Perform comprehensive verification including simulation, test benches, timing closure and hardware validation.
• Lead design reviews, ensure requirement traceability, and produce documentation for FPGA operation and integration.
• Define and execute verification and validation testing (DVT) and support board bring-up.
• Support system bring-up, integration, and troubleshooting during avionics and flight test activities.
• Lead cross-functional technical discussions, drive architecture decisions and mentor junior engineers.

Skills

FPGA RTL design

SystemVerilog/VHDL

Verification & timing analysis

Polarfire / Zynq Versal / Ultrascale

Vivado / Modelsim/Questasim

Linux C/C++

Git

Python / Tcl / Bash

Space radiation awareness

DoD security clearance readiness

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering or equivalent

Tools

Vivado

Mentor Modelsim/Questasim

Git

Python

Tcl

Bash

Job description

Terran Orbital is seeking a Principal FPGA Design Engineer to lead architecture, development, verification, and flight-readiness of FPGA-based avionics subsystems. You will own RTL design from concept through qualification, working with cross-functional teams to deliver high-reliability digital logic for space missions. The role requires SystemVerilog or VHDL mastery, hands-on FPGA toolchains, and strong verification skills.

U.S. citizenship with DoD clearance is required.