Senior Principal FPGA Engineer

Cubic Transportation Systems; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 202,000 - 224,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

On-site workspace

Benefits

Job summary

Cubic Corporation, a leader in defense and security solutions, is seeking a Senior Principal FPGA Engineer to steer complex FPGA/RTL efforts on mission-critical systems at our San Diego headquarters. You will guide architecture, mentoring teams, and driving state-of-the-art designs across programs.

You will lead secure firmware development, coordinate with product and quality teams, and present technical updates to internal and external stakeholders.

Qualifications

• 12+ years in RTL/firmware with leadership in high-impact environments.
• Experience guiding FPGA/RTL/DSP projects and mentoring teams.
• Strong RTL design, HDL coding, timing closure, and lab debugging.

Responsibilities

• Drive firmware/RTL development and engineering efforts.
• Provide technical vision, leadership, and mentorship to teams.
• Lead FPGA architectural reviews and risk mitigation.
• Design, code, and deploy high-assurance firmware for DoD/NSA.
• Define test strategies and automate performance testing.
• Collaborate with product management, QA, and operations.

Skills

RTL development

FPGA architecture

HDL coding

VHDL

Linux

MATLAB modeling

version control

build scripts

C/C++/Python

testbench development

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Master’s degree

PhD

Tools

Xilinx PS embedded

RFSOC

MATLAB

Git

HDL simulators

Job description

**Job Title: Senior Principal FPGA Engineer USA****Location: On-site at San Diego HQ****Travel:** **The role may require occasional domestic and international travel****Clearance: Must be eligible for DoD security clearance****Job Summary:**As a Senior Principal FPGA Engineer, you will lead complex engineering projects, serve as a subject matter expert, and provide technical direction across programs. This role requires deep technical expertise and leadership in designing, developing, and testing innovative FPGA solutions for mission-critical systems. You will oversee project lifecycles, ensuring quality and efficiency, support new business developments and work with cross-functional teams to define strategies and implement state-of-the-art technologies. This position offers autonomy and requires significant problem-solving, decision-making, and collaboration with diverse stakeholders across the company and externally.**Essential Job Duties and Responsibilities:*** Drive firmware/RTL development and engineering efforts, ensuring alignment with industry best practices and emerging technologies.* Provide technical vision, strategy, leadership, and mentorship to teams, guiding the execution of complex initiatives, which includes breaking down tasks into smaller sub-tasks, estimating, scheduling, and monitoring of project status, budgets, and schedule.* Lead FPGA architectural design reviews and risk mitigation strategies, ensuring secure and scalable solutions.* Foster innovation by identifying, researching, and implementing cutting-edge technologies.* Design, code, and deploy high-assurance DoD/NSA security worthy firmware.* Partner with cross-functional teams, including product management, quality assurance, and operations, to deliver high-quality products.* Communicate technical advancements through presentations, whitepapers, trade studies, and briefings to internal teams and external customers (e.g. supporting CDRLs, SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, TIMs, etc.)* Maintain vendor relationships to evaluate and integrate third-party technologies as needed.* Define test strategies and establish frameworks for automated and performance testing.* Monitor system performance and scalability, driving improvements to meet evolving demands.* Identify and implement process improvements to enhance FPGA engineering practices across the organization.**Minimum Job Requirements:*** Minimum of 12 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 8 years and a Master’s degree; or a PhD with 5 years experience; or equivalent experience. in RTL/Firmware engineering, with a focus on developing and deploying advanced systems in high-impact environments.* Experience leading FPGA/RTL/DSP development projects, providing technical direction, and mentoring team members.* Strong understanding of RTL design/architecture, HDL coding/simulation, FPGA implementation/test, HW/lab debug/integration, VHDL experience is required, MODEM design, networking protocols, DSP, communications systems, MATLAB modeling, Linux, version control, build scripts, fixed-point RTL implementation, timing closure, directed/automated testbench development, sub-system/system-level integration, etc.* Exceptional problem-solving abilities, with experience in conceptualizing and implementing solutions for complex challenges by breaking down complex blocks into smaller ones and defining the implementation approach for junior engineers to implement.* Strong written and verbal communication skills, capable of conveying advanced concepts to diverse audiences.* Strong leadership and collaboration skills, with experience leading cross-functional teams.**Preferred:*** Experience with Xilinx PS embedded processers, RFSOC, beam-forming technologies, SATCOM, protected waveforms, ISR datalinks, CDL waveforms, NSA certification process, COMSEC experience, bug tracking, C/C++/Python, etc. a plus.Cubic Pay Range:$202,000.00 - $224,000.00 + benefits.