Principal FPGA/Prototype Design Engineer

Job Title

Principal FPGA/Prototype Design Engineer

Role Summary

Lead development of FPGA prototypes and emulation platforms to validate ASIC designs, accelerate software development, and support post-silicon bring-up. Work closely with design, verification, and software teams to enable early hardware integration and delivery of validated prototype releases.

Experience Level

Senior - 10+ years of relevant experience.

Responsibilities

Own FPGA and emulation prototype delivery, validation, and support across design and verification flows.

• Develop and maintain ASIC-to-FPGA retargeting flows (resource mapping, clock rate reduction, memory retargeting).
• Design and deliver FPGA prototype platforms for multiple configurations, top levels, and release qualification.
• Qualify commercial emulation platforms and assess test-case compatibility and coverage partitioning relative to simulation.
• Reproduce and debug prototype and emulation failures with design and verification teams through resolution.
• Build portable platform environments spanning block and top level, RTL and gate, pre-silicon and silicon.
• Support post-silicon bring-up using shared pre-silicon benches and simulation platforms.
• Accelerate software development and early hardware integration through prototype releases with documented limitations.
• Support internal platform users via triage, documentation, and direct technical assistance.

Requirements

Key technical requirements and desirable skills.

Must-have

• 10+ years of experience in FPGA prototyping, emulation, or digital design verification.
• Experience with FPGA implementation tools and flows, including synthesis, constraints, and timing closure.
• Experience developing and debugging production RTL in SystemVerilog or Verilog authored by others.
• Experience defining FPGA prototype or emulation flows, including build automation and release management.

Nice-to-have

• Experience with large-scale emulation platforms for SoC validation and release.
• Background in space-based or wireless communications, modem/baseband, or DSP hardware.
• Experience verifying LDPC, FEC, framing, beamforming, interconnect/NoC (performance, bandwidth, QoS), or fault-tolerance features.

Education Requirements

Required: Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline. Preferred: Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer 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.