Principal Emulation & Prototyping Engineer

Job Title

Principal Emulation & Prototyping Engineer

Role Summary

Owner of Blue Origin's pre-silicon hardware platforms for a high-throughput satellite communications SoC program (TeraWave). Responsible for defining platform strategy, selecting and deploying emulation and FPGA prototyping hardware, building automated flows, and operating a nightly image service.

The role partners with architecture, DSP, RF, and antenna teams to integrate hardware-in-the-loop prototypes and enable system-level bring-up and verification.

Experience Level

Senior engineer. See Education Requirements for the explicit years-of-experience mapping tied to degree level.

Responsibilities

Lead definition, delivery, and operation of emulation and FPGA prototyping platforms for large SoC and subsystem designs.

• Define platform strategy, conduct tradeoffs (capacity, turnaround, debug visibility, cost), and select commercial or custom solutions.
• Build end-to-end flows: partitioning, synthesis, constraints, implementation, and timing closure for single- and multi-FPGA targets.
• Adapt RTL for platforms (clock/reset restructuring, memory-model substitution, replacing hard IP with platform equivalents).
• Define rate-reduction strategies for DSP/beamforming prototyping and validate scaled-fidelity criteria with architecture and modeling teams.
• Integrate hardware-in-the-loop: data converter interfacing, coherent multi-channel clock distribution, and latency-deterministic data paths.
• Establish and operate a nightly build/release service with versioning, qualification tests, release notes, and rollback procedures.
• Develop transactors, speed bridges, host-side software, and test harnesses to connect designs to test equipment and reference models.
• Manage platform capacity, scheduling, allocation, and forecast needs against program milestones.
• Debug at platform level (signal capture, waveform tracing, transaction debug) and triage with design and verification teams.
• Produce user documentation, onboarding material, and provide technical support to platform users.

Requirements

Must-have skills and experience to perform the role; preferred items are listed separately.

Must-have

• Hands-on experience with FPGA implementation tools and flows: synthesis, constraints, place-and-route, and timing closure for large designs.
• Experience with commercial emulation platforms and FPGA prototyping systems and with bringing up large digital designs on those platforms.
• Strong RTL skills in SystemVerilog or Verilog, including reading, modifying, and debugging production RTL.
• Experience defining and deploying FPGA prototyping or emulation flows, including build automation and release management.
• Proficiency in scripting for automation and CI integration (Tcl, Python, or similar).
• Experience with lab and board-level bring-up and debug using on-chip probes, waveform capture, and lab instrumentation.
• Experience supporting internal users of a shared platform: triage, documentation, and direct technical support.
• Ability to work effectively across cross-site, multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Must meet U.S. export-control eligibility (see location limits).

Nice-to-have

• Experience prototyping DSP or communications datapaths (LDPC/FEC, framing, beamforming).
• Experience with high-speed FPGA interfaces: JESD204B/C, multi-gigabit transceivers, DDR controllers, PCIe, Ethernet.
• Mixed-signal/RF lab integration experience: data converters, coherent clocking, jitter budgets, instrumentation-driven test.
• Host-side software development for transactors and speed bridges (C/C++, DPI, SCE-MI).
• Experience bringing up embedded processors and boot flows on FPGA (ARM SoC FPGAs or soft-core processors).
• Familiarity with advanced verification methodology and reuse of simulation content on hardware platforms.
• Experience applying AI/ML or LLM tooling for triage, log analysis, or flow automation.

Education Requirements

BS + 10 years, MS + 8 years, or PhD + 6 years in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience. (This mapping reflects the stated minimum experience expectations tied to degree level.)

About the Company

Company: Blue Origin

Headquarters: Kent, Washington, United States

Blue Origin is an American aerospace company developing technologies for spaceflight, including reusable launch vehicles, orbital and suborbital systems, and space infrastructure for commercial and government customers.