Principal FPGA Designer - TeraWave

Job Title

Principal FPGA Designer - TeraWave

Role Summary

Lead technical design, development, verification, and hardware bring-up of complex FPGA-based systems for the TeraWave satellite communications program. Work on high-speed data processing, communications, and signal-processing functions that will operate in LEO/MEO spacecraft.

Join a small, cross-disciplinary engineering team and take ownership of deliverables from architecture through flight, providing technical leadership and mentoring to junior engineers.

Experience Level

Senior - 12+ years of hands-on FPGA design and verification experience with demonstrated leadership at a principal or senior level.

Responsibilities

Provide technical leadership across FPGA design, verification, integration, and operations.

• Lead FPGA designs through requirements capture, architecture, RTL design, functional simulation, synthesis, place-and-route, timing closure, and hardware bring-up.
• Define and refine FPGA design methodologies, coding standards, and best practices.
• Develop and maintain verification environments, including testbenches, constrained-random stimulus, and functional coverage.
• Partner with stakeholders to define interfaces and ensure end-to-end system performance.
• Support lab integration, board bring-up, debugging, and troubleshooting.
• Conduct and participate in design reviews and provide technical feedback.
• Mentor and develop junior and mid-level FPGA engineers; provide technical direction.
• Evaluate and select FPGA devices, IP cores, and EDA tools to meet program requirements.
• Contribute to program planning: estimates, risk identification, and mitigation strategies.
• Maintain design documentation, interface control documents, and test plans under configuration management; support qualification, production, and on-orbit operations.
• Include DFT and DFM features suitable for high-volume production where applicable.

Requirements

Key technical and programmatic requirements. Candidates who meet most but not all items may still be considered.

• Must-have: 12+ years of FPGA design and verification experience with demonstrated leadership at a principal level.
• Must-have: Proficiency in VHDL, Verilog, and SystemVerilog for RTL design and simulation; experience with simulation and verification methodologies.
• Must-have: Experience with industry-standard FPGA families (e.g., AMD Versal, IGLOO or equivalents) and toolchains for synthesis, place-and-route, and timing analysis.
• Must-have: Strong understanding of high-speed digital design including signal integrity, clock domain crossings, SERDES-based interfaces (PCIe, GTH/GTY), and DSP architectures in FPGAs.
• Must-have: Demonstrated ability to close complex timing constraints and optimize resource utilization.
• Must-have: Experience in structured engineering environments with configuration management, formal design reviews, and requirements traceability; strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Must-have: U.S. work authorization in accordance with export control: U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.
• Must-have: Ability to pass Blue Origin standard background checks and any role-specific checks.
• Nice-to-have: Experience with space-grade design practices (SEE mitigation such as TMR and scrubbing), formal verification tools or UVM-based constrained-random environments, and high-speed communications/modem development in FPGAs.
• Nice-to-have: Prior experience mentoring and technically developing FPGA engineers and experience on space, defense, or satellite communications programs.

Education Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline is required. Master's degree or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field is preferred.

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.