Senior FPGA Engineer

Job Title

Senior FPGA Engineer

Role Summary

The Senior FPGA Engineer will lead design, implementation, integration, and verification of FPGA-based architectures for Inversion's re-entry vehicles. You will work on the Avionics team to deliver high-performance digital systems for RF, communications, telemetry, and real-time signal processing across flight and ground hardware.

Experience Level

Senior — typically 5+ years of professional FPGA design experience. Exceptional candidates with 8+ years may be considered at a Staff level.

Responsibilities

Contribute across the full hardware lifecycle from architecture through lab and field validation, focusing on low-latency, high-reliability FPGA systems.

• Design, implement, and verify FPGA processing architectures for RF, DSP, telemetry, and real-time embedded applications.
• Translate signal processing, communications, and control algorithms into efficient RTL implementations.
• Develop and validate interfaces between FPGAs and ADCs/DACs, processors, RF front ends, memories, and other digital subsystems.
• Own FPGA development flow: architecture definition, RTL design, simulation, synthesis, place-and-route, timing closure, and hardware validation.
• Optimize designs for latency, throughput, resource utilization, power, and reliability.
• Create reusable IP cores, testbenches, and verification infrastructure.
• Support board bring-up, integration, debugging, and troubleshooting in lab and field tests.
• Collaborate with DSP, RF, software, embedded, and electrical engineers for end-to-end system performance.
• Document architecture, design decisions, verification results, and integration procedures.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and constraints for this role.

Must have:

• 5+ years professional experience in FPGA design for high-speed digital, communications, or signal processing systems.
• Proficiency with VHDL, Verilog, and/or SystemVerilog.
• Experience with Xilinx, AMD (formerly Xilinx), Intel/Altera, or equivalent FPGA toolchains.
• Experience implementing high-speed, real-time signal processing on FPGAs.
• Knowledge of digital communications and common interface protocols.
• Strong understanding of high-speed interfaces: JESD204, PCIe, Ethernet, SPI, UART, etc.
• Experience with simulation, synthesis, timing analysis/closure, resource optimization, and hardware debugging.
• Familiarity with MATLAB/Simulink, Python, C, or C++ for modeling, verification, or automation.
• Hands-on experience with lab equipment: logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance up to Top Secret; must meet ITAR/U.S. person requirements.
• Clear technical communication across multidisciplinary teams.

Nice to have:

• Experience with RF, telemetry, SDR, or communications systems.
• Experience implementing DDC/DUC, filtering, channelization, packetization, synchronization, or other DSP functions in FPGA fabric.
• Processor/FPGA co-design experience and familiarity with embedded Linux or bare-metal control interfaces.
• Experience with high-speed ADC/DAC interfaces and mixed-signal board-level integration.
• Familiarity with verification methodologies, constrained-random simulation, HIL testing, or automated regression infrastructure.
• Experience supporting qualification, environmental testing, and deployment of hardware in aerospace/defense or high-reliability applications.
• Experience working in startup environments or small collaborative teams.

Education Requirements

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Physics, or a related technical field.

About the Company

Company: Coherix

Headquarters: Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Engineering company focused on FPGA-based embedded systems and custom digital circuitry, supporting imaging, embedded processors, and FPGA codebase development for product and software engineering teams.