Principal FPGA Engineer Verified today
About Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab is an end-to-end space company delivering launch services, spacecraft design and manufacturing, payloads, and satellite components. The Electron rocket has delivered more than 230 satellites to orbit. We are developing Neutron, a medium-lift reusable launch vehicle. Our Space Systems business designs and builds satellites, payloads, and components including spacecraft selected for NASA lunar and Mars missions.
The Role
As a Principal FPGA Engineer in our Optical Systems division based in Chantilly, VA, you will design FPGAs for advanced electro-optical (EO/IR) spacecraft payloads supporting Tranche 3 of the U.S. Space Development Agency's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA). Our Optical Systems division solves mission-critical space and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) challenges for Department of Defense and Intelligence Community customers.
What You'll Do
- Work with the hardware design team on requirements
- Complete FPGA logic design, coding, simulation, and testing
- Support hardware and software development teams in bring-up and test of products
- Provide subject-matter expertise regarding design and automated test development procedures to customers and production support team
- Perform research and analysis of customer specifications, datasheets, and manuals to determine design approach and feasibility
- Execute debugging of the design in the lab
- Perform synthesis, implementation, and timing analysis
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in computer engineering, electrical engineering, or equivalent discipline with 12+ years of experience
- Experience in FPGA firmware design with VHDL
- Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance
Nice to Have
- Experience with Xilinx/AMD Versal architecture
- Experience with FPGAs and embedded systems in a radiation environment, including SEU/SEL impact and mitigation
- Experience in FPGA- or ASIC-based image processing algorithms
- Experience creating IP from scratch in RTL and integrating existing IP into RTL and block designs
- Familiarity with C, Python or MATLAB and/or experience translating algorithms from scripted language to HDL
- Experience with software interfaces including interrupts and DMA
- Experience with DDR4, Aurora, and high-speed transceiver design and verification
- Familiarity with AXI Stream and AXI Memory Mapped interfaces
- PCB design and schematic capture and layout with tools such as Altium Designer
- Active TS/SCI security clearance
Work Environment
This position may require prolonged periods of sitting, standing, walking, and computer work, with occasional exposure to moderate levels of noise, dust, and fumes in production areas.
Requirements for U.S. Employees
To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), employees must be a U.S. citizen, lawful U.S. permanent resident, or lawfully admitted refugee or asylee, or be eligible to obtain required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State and/or Department of Commerce.