Principal FPGA Engineer

Overview

As a Principal FPGA Engineer, you will own FPGA and firmware architecture, design, integration, and verification for complex embedded systems. You will lead cross-functional delivery, mentor engineering teams, and influence product architecture from concept to deployment. The role combines hands-on design with technical leadership in a high-security, high-assurance context. You will work on cutting-edge FPGA solutions for demanding environments, delivering robust, secure systems.

Pay / Benefits

• Annual bonus scheme
• Private medical insurance
• Enhanced pension contribution
• Life assurance
• Flexible working arrangements
• Additional holiday purchase scheme

Responsibilities

• Lead FPGA architecture, design, development and verification across the full engineering lifecycle
• Derive robust firmware requirements from system-level specs
• Create high-quality FPGA designs using industry best practices
• Produce technical documentation and design artefacts
• Drive requirement traceability, verification and validation
• Provide technical leadership, mentoring and guidance to engineering teams
• Chair technical reviews and contribute to critical design decisions
• Support project planning, estimation and risk management
• Champion continuous improvement, innovation and engineering excellence
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to deliver complex programmes

Key requirements

• Strong FPGA development experience using VHDL
• Proven expertise across the complete FPGA/Firmware development lifecycle
• Experience with Xilinx, Intel (Altera), Lattice or Microchip/Microsemi
• Strong understanding of FPGA verification methodologies and tool flows
• Experience with synchronous and asynchronous digital designs
• Ability to interpret hardware schematics and interface specifications
• Knowledge of SPI, I²C, UART/ USART, TCP/IP, UDP
• Experience with version control, change management and defect tracking tools
• Strong systems thinking and problem-solving abilities
• Ability to lead and influence technical teams

• leadership
• mentoring
• problem-solving
• VHDL
• FPGA verification methodologies
• Xilinx

…