FPGA Engineer — Custom Compute Hardware (Internship)

Job Title

FPGA Engineer — Custom Compute Hardware (Internship)

Role Summary

Hands-on internship role developing FPGA prototypes and verification for novel compute accelerators. Work directly with founding engineers on architecture translation, implementation, and validation of custom processing blocks and subsystems.

The role focuses on FPGA architecture, implementation, verification, and testing, with exposure to system-level integration and ASIC-relevant flows. Suitable for candidates interested in early-stage accelerator development and digital prototyping.

Experience Level

Entry-level internship; suitable for students or recent graduates and early-career engineers.

Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities include prototyping, implementing, and validating FPGA-based accelerator components and supporting verification and integration activities.

• Translate architectural concepts into FPGA prototypes.
• Design and simulate custom processing modules using Verilog, VHDL, SystemVerilog, or HLS.
• Implement and validate components on FPGA platforms using tools such as Vivado or Quartus.
• Build testbenches, run timing/area analysis, and execute verification test plans and matrices.
• Benchmark and optimize latency, area, throughput, and memory bandwidth tradeoffs.
• Collaborate with system architects, FPGA designers, and embedded software engineers for system integration.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and tools experience for hands-on FPGA development.

• Experience with FPGA development and RTL or HLS-based design (Verilog/SystemVerilog, VHDL, or C).
• Familiarity with FPGA toolchains such as Vivado, Quartus, or equivalent flows.
• Strong digital logic fundamentals, including pipelining and timing closure.
• Experience with simulation, debugging, synthesis workflows, and building testbenches.
• Understanding of digital system partitioning and memory mapping/hierarchy on FPGAs.
• Ability to benchmark performance and optimize area/latency/throughput tradeoffs.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced R&D environment on proof-of-concept and production tasks.

Nice-to-have:

• Experience with OpenCL or HLS targeting FPGAs.
• Hardware/software co-design and system-level integration experience.
• Project experience in digital design, computer architecture, or embedded systems.
• Exposure to numerical computing, AI workloads, custom arithmetic units, or ASIC design concepts.
• Familiarity with high-speed interfaces or analog/mixed-signal concepts.

Education Requirements

B.S. degree or higher in engineering, preferably Electrical Engineering or Computer Science.

About the Company

Company: Ludwig Computing

Ludwig Computing develops energy-efficient AI compute hardware and software using a co-designed approach to deliver high-performance, low-power accelerators. The company focuses on custom compute platforms, FPGA prototyping, and ASIC-relevant flows for AI and high-performance workloads.