Firmware Engineer for Phased Array Communication Ground Systems
AeroVironmentJob Title
Firmware Engineer for Phased Array Communication Ground Systems
Role Summary
Early-career firmware engineer on the phased-array communication ground-systems team in Albuquerque. The role focuses on firmware and FPGA development, modeling, and verification to implement high-throughput digital beamforming and signal-processing pipelines.
Experience Level
Entry-level / Early-career. Suitable for candidates with initial industry experience in firmware and FPGA engineering.
Responsibilities
Primary duties include firmware and digital-design development, modeling, verification, and cross-team collaboration to deliver phased-array communication ground systems.
- Assist in the design, development, and implementation of firmware and digital designs.
- Model, simulate, and implement complex firmware concepts for digital beamformed phased-array antennas.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to optimize performance, cost, and manufacturability.
- Identify and mitigate technical risks associated with firmware and programmable logic systems.
- Support hardware debugging, integration, and verification activities.
- Other duties as assigned.
Requirements
Key technical skills, experience, and hiring constraints.
Must-have:
- Hands-on experience in firmware and FPGA engineering, including RTL development and hardware debugging.
- Working knowledge of FPGA/ASIC design, analysis, and simulation.
- Experience with AMD/Xilinx Vivado for RTL synthesis, place-and-route, timing closure, and hardware debugging.
- Experience using MATLAB for algorithmic modeling, fixed-point conversion, and bit-true simulation.
- Expertise optimizing AMD/Xilinx FPGA architecture (primitives, block RAM, IP cores) for high-throughput pipelines.
- Experience with 100Gb Ethernet and Xilinx Virtex UltraScale+ or similar interconnect technologies.
- Strong communication, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
- U.S. person status or U.S. Citizenship required due to ITAR/EAR export restrictions.
Nice-to-have:
- Experience with MATLAB System Generator, HDL Coder, and Xilinx RFSoC high-speed data-converter integrations.
- Prior work on digital beamforming, phased-array antenna systems, or similar signal-processing pipelines.
Education Requirements
Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field is required (as stated in the posting).
About the Company
Company: AeroVironment
Headquarters: Simi Valley, California, United States
AeroVironment is a U.S.-based developer of unmanned aircraft systems and autonomous technologies for defense and commercial applications. The company produces drones, loitering munitions, and advanced autonomy solutions across air, land, sea, and space, and provides engineering and integration services for military and aerospace customers.
