Senior Principal FPGA Engineer

Job Title

Senior Principal FPGA Engineer

Role Summary

Lead development of FPGA designs across major vendors (AMD/Xilinx, Altera, Microchip) for weapon-system electronics in the Effector Subsystems Products organization. Deliver architecture, implementation, verification, and production releases for FPGA-based subsystems used in RF/EO DSP, controls, data links, and embedded processing.

Experience Level

Senior-level. Minimum 10 years of prior relevant electrical engineering experience; expected to lead complex projects and cross-discipline teams.

Responsibilities

Deliver production-quality FPGA releases and lead FPGA architecture and implementation from requirements through production.

• Architect FPGA-based systems, determine parts and interfaces.
• Design and code in VHDL emphasizing reliability, maintainability, and reuse.
• Verify designs with directed and constrained-random tests; track functional and code coverage.
• Develop timing constraints and achieve timing closure; perform simulation using tools like Questa or RivieraPro.
• Integrate and debug hardware using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, multimeters, and similar tools.
• Create and maintain documentation: requirements, verification plans, user guides, and configuration management.
• Participate in internal and external technical reviews and support integration and test activities.
• Independently drive projects to meet program schedules and budgets; may lead large integrated or cross-product teams.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and experience.

• At least 10 years of experience in multiple FPGA engineering areas, including digital design and HDL coding for configurable logic devices and delivering FPGA solutions to system-level applications.
• Extensive hands-on experience with one or more FPGA vendor device families and toolchains (Altera, Lattice, Microchip, AMD).
• Hardware integration and debug experience using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, multimeters, etc.
• Experience with FPGA timing constraints, timing closure, and place-and-route flows.
• Experience with digital simulation tools (Questa, RivieraPro, or similar).
• Familiarity with industry-standard protocols and interfaces (AXI, PCIe, SPI, I2C, etc.).
• Programming experience in Python or C and experience with FPGA IP cores.

Nice-to-have:

• Radar or image-processing techniques for visual/infrared sensors.
• Gigabit serial interfaces and multi-gigabit transceivers (MGTs).
• Embedded processor/SoC development for FPGA devices (Microblaze, Nios, ARM) and Linux-based FPGA development.
• Familiarity with git/GitHub, encryption/decryption standards (AES, RSA, ECC).
• Verification using hardware platforms and system-level FPGA requirements/architecture development.
• Leadership experience (team lead, technical lead), proposal experience, and practical project-management knowledge.

Education Requirements

Typically requires a Bachelors degree in a STEM field (Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics). MS or Ph.D. in Electrical or Computer Engineering is listed as preferred. The role also specifies a minimum of 10 years of relevant experience.

About the Company

Company: Raytheon Technologies

Headquarters: Arlington, VA, USA

Raytheon Technologies is an Aerospace and Defense company offering advanced systems and services for commercial, military, and government customers worldwide. Formed in 2020 from the merger of Raytheon Company and United Technologies Corporation, it operates through three major business units: Collins Aerospace Systems, Pratt & Whitney, and Raytheon. The company specializes in delivering cutting-edge solutions across various fields including quantum physics, hypersonics, and cybersecurity.