Staff FPGA Verification Engineer

CesiumAstro; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company stock options

Health

Dental

Vision

HSA

FSA

Life

Disability

Retirement plans

Job summary

CesiumAstro, a leader in space-grade communication systems, is seeking a Staff FPGA Engineer to lead verification of FPGA hardware for satellites and aerospace platforms. You will drive verification methodologies, tackle complex challenges, and contribute to product reliability and mission success.

This full-time role offers hands-on, autonomous work in a startup-like environment with opportunities to influence design quality, maintainability, and long-term performance.

Qualifications

• BS/MS in EE or CE from an accredited university.
• 8 years of FPGA design, HDL development and verification experience.
• Proficiency with FPGA verification environments and UVM.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills for cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex FPGA verification, debugging, and qualification activities.
• Evaluate simulation results and drive improvements for reliability.
• Validate FPGA designs through verification planning, testing, failure analysis, and root cause investigations.
• Develop verification plans and verification review packages.
• Support customer meetings, design reviews, and hardware integration with FPGA guidance.
• Evaluate verification methods and requirements to identify improvements.
• Drive initiatives to improve FPGA performance, engineering efficiency, product reliability, and maintainability.

Skills

HDL development

FPGA design

Verification planning

UVM framework

Digital logic

Embedded systems

Strong communication

Cross-functional teamwork

Education

BS in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering

MS in related field

Tools

Vivado

Quartus Prime

ModelSim/QuestaSim

MATLAB

Git

Jira

Windchill

Job description

Please Note: To conform with the United States Government Space Technology Export Regulations, the applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., conditional resident, asylee or refugee (protected individuals as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

At CesiumAstro, we are developers and pioneers of out-of-the-box communication systems for satellites, UAVs, launch vehicles, and other space and airborne platforms. We take pride in our dynamic and cross-functional work environment, which allows us to learn, develop, and engage across our organization. If you are looking for hands-on, interactive, and autonomous work, CesiumAstro is the place for you. We are actively seeking passionate, collaborative, energetic, and forward-thinking individuals to join our team.

We are looking to add a Staff FPGA Engineer to our team. If you enjoy working in a startup environment, and are passionate about developing leading-edge hardware for satellites, spacecraft, and aerospace systems, we would like to hear from you.

In this position, you provide technical leadership for the verification of FPGA-based hardware solutions for products and platforms. This role contributes to product development by establishing FPGA verification methodologies, resolving complex engineering challenges, and advancing FPGA solutions that improve product performance, reliability, and mission success.

Job Duties And Responsibilities

• Lead complex FPGA verification, debugging, and qualification activities supporting product development.
• Evaluate simulation results and engineering risks while directing solutions that improve product performance and reliability.
• Validate FPGA designs through verification planning, qualification testing, failure analysis, root cause investigations, and engineering change implementation.
• Develop verification plans, and verification review packages supporting engineering decisions.
• Support customer meetings, design reviews, technical discussions, hardware integration, and product development activities by providing FPGA engineering guidance.
• Evaluate FPGA, verification methods and technical requirements to identify improvements.
• Drive initiatives that enhance FPGA performance, engineering efficiency, product reliability, design quality, and long‑term maintainability.

Job Requirements And Minimum Qualifications

• A Bachelor of Science (BS) or Master of Science (MS) degree in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering from an accredited university or institution.
• 8 years of industry or university research experience in the design, analysis, and implementation of FPGA systems at the HDL level.
• Extensive knowledge of digital logic design, FPGA architecture, hardware description languages (HDL), and digital systems.
• Considerable proficiency developing FPGA verification environments for complex products.
• Thorough understanding of FPGA verification methodologies, timing closure, embedded systems, and high‑speed interfaces.
• Working knowledge of the UVM Framework (UVMF), including developing reusable testbenches, verification components, and automated test environments.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite including Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams.
• FPGA development, simulation, and synthesis tools, e.g. Vivado, Quartus Prime, ModelSim, QuestaSim, or equivalent applications.
• Engineering analysis, version control, and collaboration tools, e.g. MATLAB, Git, Jira, Windchill, or equivalent applications.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Preferred Experience

• Experience with worst‑case analysis, failure method and criticality analyses, and reliability analysis.
• Familiarity with digital communications and digital signal processing.
• Experience with board‑level hardware design.
• Demonstrated ability to work efficiently with a distributed team.
• Proficiency with git source code control.
• Experience developing firmware using agile flows.

CesiumAstro considers several factors when extending an offer, including but not limited to, the role and associated responsibilities, a candidate’s work experience, education/training, and key skills.

Full‑time employment offers include company stock options and a generous benefits package.

• company stock options
• health
• dental
• vision
• HSA
• FSA
• life
• disability
• retirement plans

CesiumAstro is an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected Veteran Status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

Please note: CesiumAstro does not accept unsolicited resumes from contract agencies or search firms. Any unsolicited resumes submitted to our website or to CesiumAstro team members will be considered property of CesiumAstro, and we will not be obligated to pay any referral fees.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.