Space-Grade Mixed-Signal Engineer for High-Speed FPGA

PLP Group; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous equity

Healthcare including vision & dental

401(k)

Unlimited PTO

Job summary

Azora is designing mixed-signal electronics for space terminals and ground stations, focusing on high-speed ADC/DAC chains, laser driver circuits, and precision bias loops. Engineers will design schematics and PCBs, perform SI/PI analyses, and develop FPGA interfaces.

The role requires a BS/MS in EE and 4+ years of experience, with hands-on lab skills, and familiarity with space radiation tolerance and time-transfer systems.

Qualifications

• BS/MS in Electrical Engineering or related field.
• 4+ years of mixed-signal hardware design experience, including high-speed PCB design.
• Strong analog fundamentals: noise analysis, op-amp and TIA design, PLLs/clocking, power supply design.
• Hands-on lab experience with oscilloscopes, spectrum/network analyzers, and automated board characterization.
• Experience interfacing data converters to FPGAs.
• Preferred FPGA development experience (VHDL/Verilog/SystemVerilog) on Xilinx/AMD or Intel platforms, including high-speed transceivers.
• Experience with optical transceiver electronics, coherent receivers, or photon-counting detector readout.
• Familiarity with space-grade electronics design: radiation effects (TID, SEE), redundancy, and derating standards (ECSS or NASA EEE-INST-002).
• Experience with low-jitter clock distribution and time-transfer systems.

Responsibilities

• Design schematic and PCB layouts for mixed-signal boards: high-speed data converters, transimpedance amplifiers, laser/modulator drivers, low-noise bias supplies, and clocking.
• Perform signal integrity and power integrity analysis for multi-GHz analog paths and high-speed serial links (JESD204, SerDes).
• Develop precision analog control loops: laser temperature/current control, photodiode bias, FSM drive electronics, and AGC chains.
• Bring up, debug, and characterize boards in the lab; own noise, linearity, and bandwidth verification against link budget allocations.
• Define and implement FPGA interfaces to data converters and control peripherals; collaborate on (or implement) RTL for data capture, calibration, and real-time control.
• Design for reliability and environment: derating, worst-case analysis, and parts selection for space applications (rad-tolerant/rad-hard component trades).
• Support EMC/EMI design and testing, and environmental qualification campaigns.

Skills

Mixed-signal hardware design

High-speed PCB design

Signal integrity analysis

Power integrity analysis

Data converter interfacing

FPGA interfaces

Noise analysis

Time-transfer knowledge

Education

BS in Electrical Engineering

MS in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Altium

Cadence Allegro

Oscilloscopes

Spectrum/Network analyzers

Job description

Azora is designing mixed-signal electronics for space terminals and ground stations, focusing on high-speed ADC/DAC chains, laser driver circuits, and precision bias loops. Engineers will design schematics and PCBs, perform SI/PI analyses, and develop FPGA interfaces.

The role requires a BS/MS in EE and 4+ years of experience, with hands-on lab skills, and familiarity with space radiation tolerance and time-transfer systems.