Characterization, Reliability and FPGA / Electronics Engineer

Project Foundation launched by The Fourth Law and Odd Systems is a semiconductor initiative to mass-produce thermal imaging sensors for Ukraine, the rest of Europe and the United States.
The initiative covers the development of LWIR sensors and the deployment of a network of partner-operated and in-house manufacturing facilities. It will create a new industrial base for defense and civilian needs and supply affordable sensors to manufacturers of drones, vehicles, and robotics.
The first sensors under the initiative are expected as early as 2027.

The Fourth Law is a leading Ukrainian manufacturer of autonomy technologies for drones. Our solutions are codified according to NATO standards and are currently utilized by over 50 units of the Security and Defense Forces of Ukraine, as well as 20+ drone manufacturers.

Odd Systems is a defense technology company specializing in the development and manufacturing of thermal imaging cameras. It was founded by a group of entrepreneurs, engineers, managers, and tech enthusiasts with prior experience at a number of international technology companies.

Purpose of the Role:

This role owns both the test infrastructure and the reliability/characterization work that qualifies the microbolometer device. It is a hybrid electronics and test engineering role: designing external test electronics, proxy boards and interface logic to capture raw data from the ROIC, developing early-stage Non-Uniformity Correction (NUC) algorithms, and running the long-term vacuum hermeticity, electro-optical performance and accelerated lifetime tests that qualify the device for use. The role works closely with the rest of the technical team in the Eindhoven R&D lab, and reports to the CTO.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design and build external test electronics and proxy boards to capture raw image and telemetry data from the ROIC.

• Develop FPGA-based interface logic to acquire, buffer and stream sensor data for characterization and algorithm development.

• Develop early-stage Non-Uniformity Correction (NUC) algorithms and supporting calibration routines.

• Design and run electro-optical performance measurements: NETD, time constant, responsivity, and related figures of merit.

• Design and run long-term vacuum hermeticity tests on packaged devices, and accelerated lifetime/reliability testing programmes.

• Maintain test data, qualification records and reporting to support Gen0 qualification decisions.

Experience and skills we are looking for:
• A degree in electronics, electrical engineering, physics, or a related field, with hands-on FPGA design experience (e.g. VHDL/Verilog).
• Experience designing test or interface electronics for imaging sensors or similar high-speed data-acquisition applications.
• Understanding of infrared detector characterization metrics - NETD, responsivity, time constant and how to measure them.
• Comfortable building test capability from scratch in a pre-production lab environment.
• Fluent English, with the communication maturity to work with an international, partly Ukrainian team.

It’s a plus if you have:
• Prior experience characterizing microbolometers or other cooled or uncooled IR detectors.
• Experience with vacuum hermeticity testing (e.g. helium fine-leak, residual gas analysis) of packaged MEMS or optoelectronic devices.
• Experience developing or implementing NUC algorithms for infrared focal plane arrays.
• Based in, or willing to relocate to, Eindhoven for the Odd Factory One R&D lab.

We are not just looking for employees, but for like-minded individuals who share our values and are ready to build the future of Ukrainian MilTech.