Staff FPGA Engineer

Job Title

Staff FPGA Engineer

Role Summary

Senior FPGA engineer responsible for developing, testing, and deploying FPGA designs on Xilinx SoC/FPGA platforms in support of a defense customer based in Reston, VA. Work covers full design lifecycle including requirements, HDL implementation, simulation, board bring-up, and system-level verification.

Position is contingent upon contract award.

Experience Level

Senior — requires substantial experience. Posting specifies 12+ years of professional FPGA design and development experience.

Responsibilities

Primary duties include:

• Develop, simulate, and implement FPGA designs (VHDL/Verilog) on Xilinx SoC/FPGA platforms.
• Integrate third-party IP and verify interoperability.
• Participate in full design lifecycle: requirements, architecture, RTL design, verification, and documentation.
• Perform board bring-up and hands-on hardware testing, including SoC/ARM-based systems.
• Implement and validate high-speed communications (Ethernet, serial) and signal-processing functions.
• Investigate and resolve bugs at HDL and system levels; perform root-cause analysis and corrective actions.
• Ensure designs meet relevant safety and performance standards with traceability to top-level requirements.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams and third-party vendors to meet schedule and technical objectives.

Requirements

Must-have qualifications:

• 12+ years of professional FPGA design and development experience.
• Proficient in VHDL and/or Verilog and RTL design practices.
• Experience with Xilinx SoC platforms (highly preferred).
• Familiarity with design and simulation tools such as Vivado, ModelSim, or Quartus.
• Experience with SoC hardware bring-up, preferably ARM-based systems.
• Strong problem-solving, organizational, communication, and teamwork skills.
• Currently holds and can maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance.

Nice-to-have / preferred:

• Experience designing for safety-critical functions and traceability.
• Working knowledge of FPGA interfaces and high-speed buses.
• Experience with systems-on-chip (SoC) architectures.
• Low-level firmware (C/C++) development for bring-up and test.

Education Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Computer Engineering or a related technical field was specified in the posting.

About the Company

Company: Katalyst Healthcares & Life Sciences

Recruitment and consulting group focused on healthcare and life sciences sectors, placing technical and engineering professionals (e.g., medical device, biotech) into contract and permanent roles.