FPGA Prototyping and Emulation Engineer

Job Title

FPGA Prototyping and Emulation Engineer

Role Summary

Convert partner RTL designs into FPGA prototypes and emulation experiments to evaluate proposed AI hardware. Focus on RTL adaptation, reproducible build and bring‑up workflows, instrumentation, and mapping prototype observations to simulator models.

Hybrid role based in Cambridge with remote work across the UK; you will collaborate with software, simulation and external hardware partners.

Experience Level

Mid-level. Candidates with several years of hands-on FPGA/RTL prototyping experience are preferred; earlier-career engineers with strong evidence of ability may be considered.

Responsibilities

Deliver repeatable FPGA prototyping and emulation experiments and document workflows for colleagues and partners.

• Adapt and integrate partner RTL for FPGA prototyping or emulation, and document prototype-specific changes.
• Develop and maintain synthesis, implementation, timing-closure and reproducible build flows and scripts.
• Bring up and debug designs; develop tests and instrumentation to verify functional behaviour and support repeatable experiments.
• Develop or integrate control, stimulus and data-capture facilities and work with software colleagues on host interfaces.
• Relate prototype observations to simulator models, explaining how prototype frequency, interface overheads and platform limits affect interpretation.
• Assess platform, toolchain and hardware requirements and document reusable workflows.

Requirements

Required technical skills and hands-on experience. Qualifications are secondary to demonstrable practical ability.

Must-have:

• Hands-on experience taking RTL through an FPGA prototyping or emulation flow and debugging the resulting system.
• Strong digital-design skills in Verilog, SystemVerilog, VHDL or equivalent HDL, with practical timing and verification judgement.
• Experience with relevant FPGA or emulation toolchains and scripting to make builds and experiments repeatable.
• Ability to collaborate across hardware and software boundaries and clearly communicate prototype conclusions and limitations.
• Practical experience using AI coding agents and the judgement to validate generated HDL, scripts and software.

Nice-to-have:

• Experience with processor or accelerator designs, multi-FPGA partitioning, host interfaces or performance characterisation.
• Depth with a specific FPGA platform or emulation system.

Education Requirements

Relevant postgraduate study (e.g. Master's or PhD) is useful but not required; equivalent practical experience accepted. Qualifications are secondary to demonstrable hands-on FPGA/RTL prototyping experience.

About the Company

Company: CommonAI

Headquarters: Cambridge, England, United Kingdom

CommonAI is a UK-based non-profit community interest company focused on collaborative engineering to design, build and deploy AI systems. Its Scaling Inference Lab develops simulation and FPGA-based prototyping to evaluate AI hardware designs and inform investment and engineering decisions.