Principal Firmware Engineer – Digital ASIC

Job Title

Principal Firmware Engineer – Digital ASIC

Role Summary

Lead the architecture, development, integration, and delivery of embedded firmware for custom digital ASICs supporting the TeraWave satellite communications network. Coordinate firmware work across pre-silicon simulation, FPGA prototyping, post-silicon bring-up, test, and manufacturing teams.

Experience Level

Senior - approximately 10 years of embedded firmware or hardware/software systems development experience is expected.

Responsibilities

Accountable for firmware architecture, implementation, verification, and production readiness; provide technical leadership and mentor engineers.

• Architect, design, implement, integrate, and validate embedded firmware for custom digital ASICs, including digital beamforming (DBF) ASICs.
• Develop ROM code and runtime firmware for beam pointing, analog calibration, FEIC management, and related control functions.
• Define and manage hardware/software interfaces, control protocols, and interrupt handling.
• Create firmware verification and validation strategies, test plans, and performance characterization.
• Drive pre-silicon firmware development and integration using simulation and FPGA prototyping.
• Lead post-silicon firmware bring-up and debugging; resolve hardware/software integration issues.
• Deliver firmware for silicon validation, system test, and manufacturing, including production test firmware and documentation.
• Collaborate with test and manufacturing teams to define firmware requirements and support manufacturing readiness.
• Develop automated firmware testing frameworks and continuous integration workflows.
• Identify and mitigate technical risks and provide technical leadership through reviews and mentoring.

Requirements

Must-have skills and experience for immediate contribution; education requirements are listed separately below.

• Approximately 10 years of experience in embedded firmware development or hardware/software systems development.
• Extensive embedded C development experience in resource-constrained environments.
• Proven experience architecting and delivering firmware for complex digital ASICs or microcontrollers.
• Strong understanding of embedded processor architectures and hardware register programming.
• Experience defining hardware/software interfaces and collaborating with ASIC and FPGA design teams.
• Proven ability to develop firmware verification strategies and automated validation frameworks.
• Experience with pre-silicon integration (simulation/FPGA) and post-silicon bring-up.
• Experience with automated testing and continuous integration workflows.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills; ability to independently manage complex firmware efforts and drive technical decisions.

Education Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical discipline.

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.