FPGA Engineer

Job Title

FPGA Engineer

Role Summary

Design, verify, and test RTL for FPGAs used in spacecraft systems. Work closely with DSP, firmware, software, and hardware engineering teams to meet performance, reliability, and integration requirements.

Experience Level

Entry-level / Early career — 2+ years of relevant FPGA or digital design experience.

Responsibilities

Primary duties include architecture, implementation, verification, and test of FPGA-based systems:

• Design RTL for high-performance systems such as software-defined radios, avionics, and ground systems.
• Develop and maintain FPGA interfaces to high-speed data converters, memories, and microcontrollers.
• Implement and test radiation mitigation and other reliability techniques for space applications.
• Integrate FPGA logic with DSP algorithms and embedded firmware; iterate on system-level requirements.
• Use multiple FPGA families and toolchains to synthesize, place-and-route, and validate designs.
• Support verification, hardware bring-up, and circuit-level debugging on boards and test benches.
• Participate in hiring and mentoring as the team grows.

Requirements

Must-have qualifications and core skills:

• U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent resident status (legal requirement for this role).
• Minimum 2 years of hands-on FPGA or RTL design experience.
• Proven experience designing, implementing, verifying, and testing high-throughput FPGA systems.
• Strong proficiency in Verilog and/or SystemVerilog for synthesis and verification.
• Comfort working in fast-paced, hardware-focused development environments and performing hands-on debug.

Nice-to-have (concise):

• Experience with Xilinx devices, Vivado/TCL, UVM, JESD204, ADC/DAC interfaces, or space systems.
• Background in DSP/radio design, communication systems, or hi-reliability/fault recovery design.
• Experience with system-level tradeoffs (power, thermal, timing, resource utilization).

Education Requirements

Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent required. MS or PhD in computer engineering or a related field is preferred. Equivalent practical experience is acceptable.

About the Company

Company: Astranis

Headquarters: San Francisco, CA, USA

Astranis designs, builds, and operates small geostationary satellites and satellite communications networks, providing secure, customizable connectivity to commercial, government, and military customers. The company handles end-to-end satellite development, manufacturing, and operations and has raised substantial venture funding to support launches and commercial deployments.