Digital Engineer - FPGA / VHDL Design

Digital Engineer - FPGA / VHDL Design

Location: San Diego, CA
Work Arrangement: On-site
Schedule: 9/80
Clearance: Active Secret clearance required to start
Citizenship: U.S. citizenship required


Position Overview

We are seeking a Digital Engineer to design, develop, integrate, and test FPGA-based digital systems, with a focus on VHDL firmware for software-defined radios and defense communications systems. This role works closely with systems engineering, digital engineering, hardware, and integration and test teams to develop and verify digital designs that meet system requirements, performance targets, and timing constraints.

Responsibilities

- Design, develop, integrate, and test VHDL-based digital designs and FPGA firmware.
- Support software-defined radio firmware development and verification.
- Use FPGA development tools and environments to implement and validate programmable logic.
- Review system concepts of operation, requirements, and design documentation.
- Troubleshoot functional, performance, and timing issues.
- Translate system-level requirements into programmable logic requirements, design documentation, and test specifications.
- Develop test benches and support formal VHDL verification.
- Collaborate with multidisciplinary engineering teams throughout the development and integration process.
- Work within established engineering development processes, including Agile or waterfall environments.
- Support hardware and system-level troubleshooting using test equipment as needed.

Basic Qualifications

- Bachelor's degree in a related STEM field with 5 years of relevant experience, or a master's degree with 3 years of relevant experience.
- Current, hands-on experience with VHDL design.
- Working knowledge of formal engineering development processes, VHDL design, and verification.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to work independently and collaboratively.
- Active Secret security clearance required before starting.

Preferred Qualifications

- 8 or more years of professional technical experience.
- Experience with VHDL design and OSVVM verification for FPGA firmware.
- Experience with AMD/Xilinx FPGA families, including Zynq, Kintex, UltraScale, or Versal.
- Familiarity with communication protocols such as I2C, SPI, UART, PCIe, and Ethernet.
- Experience with FPGA and electronic design automation tools such as AMD/Xilinx Vivado, Intel Quartus, and QuestaSim.
- Knowledge of FPGA physical constraints and timing closure.
- Experience developing test benches and supporting formal VHDL verification.
- Experience debugging boards and systems using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and other electronic test equipment.
- Experience translating system requirements into programmable logic designs and verification plans.
- Hands-on experience with Department of Defense communications systems.

Ideal Candidate

A hands-on digital engineer with strong VHDL design and verification skills, practical FPGA development experience, and the ability to troubleshoot complex digital systems. Experience with software-defined radios, defense communications, and AMD/Xilinx FPGA platforms is especially valuable.