Principal FPGA & Hardware Developer

THE OPPORTUNITY

Join the Hyperconverged Solutions R&D team to develop FPGA, SoC, and high-speed hardware for professional live-video platforms. We are seeking a hands-on developer who can work across board design, FPGA logic, embedded software, signal integrity, bring-up, and production support. Principal-level ownership is preferred, while strong Mid- and Senior-level candidates are welcome.

Role essentials

• Office and lab based: This is not a mostly work-from-home role. Regular on-site presence is required for bring-up, rework, measurement, and design collaboration.
• Hands-on: Comfortable soldering and reworking boards, probing signals, operating oscilloscopes and logic analyzers, and debugging prototypes and production hardware.
• System thinker: Connects FPGA logic, embedded software, PCB design, power, clocks, resets, SI/PI, thermals, manufacturing, and product behavior.
• Pragmatic engineer: Applies sound fundamentals to deliver reliable, manufacturable products and can demonstrate practical SI simulation, PDN, PCB construction, stackup, and high-speed layout expertise.
• Cross-domain: Brings useful FPGA and embedded-software experience across HDL, low-level C/C++, device configuration, register access, and hardware/software integration.

What you will do

• Own or contribute to FPGA/SoC and board architecture, requirements, component selection, schematic design, implementation, verification, and production release.
• Guide high-density PCB placement and layout, including transceiver breakout, PCB launches, connectors, vias, stackups, return paths, power integrity, thermals, and manufacturability.
• Develop FPGA, CPLD, and embedded-control functions using SystemVerilog/Verilog/VHDL and C/C++; establish boot, diagnostics, and board-control flows.
• Bring up prototypes, validate high-speed links and memory interfaces, and drive hardware/software issues to evidence-based root cause using lab measurements and simulation.
• Develop and tune transceiver initialization, calibration, equalization, control, and status software for reliable operation across units, revisions, and environments.
• Partner with PCB, mechanical, software, verification, PV/QA, manufacturing, support, and program teams; document architecture, bring-up, test, and troubleshooting methods.
• For Principal-level scope, lead major design decisions and reviews, manage systemic risk, mentor developers, and improve reusable engineering practices and diagnostics.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience developing and debugging complex FPGA and board-level hardware, with ownership appropriate to a Mid, Senior, or Principal developer.
• Strong FPGA fundamentals, including architecture, CDC/reset design, timing constraints and closure, transceivers, SoC integration, and speed/area trade-offs.
• Experience with AMD and/or Intel FPGA/SoC platforms, vendor IP and tools, on-chip debug, and integrated transceiver configuration, tuning, and diagnostics.
• High-speed interface experience such as SDI, PCIe, Ethernet, DDR3/DDR4/DDR5, source-synchronous buses, PLL/clock networks, and serial transceivers.
• Ability to design and analyze NRZ and PAM4 channels applicable to aggregate interfaces up to 400 Gb/s, including loss, return loss, crosstalk, discontinuities, eye diagrams, and equalization trade-offs.
• Practical SI/PI capability using HyperLynx or equivalent, including simulation-to-measurement correlation, PDN analysis, PCB materials and construction, stackups, reference planes, return paths, impedance, launches, connector and via transitions.
• Proficiency with schematic capture and PCB design-review workflows; Cadence Allegro or equivalent experience is strongly valued.
• Effective communication, documentation, estimation, risk management, cross-functional collaboration, and structured root-cause analysis.

Additional valued experience

• Embedded soft-processor development using Intel Nios II/Nios V or AMD MicroBlaze, including memory maps, interrupts, peripherals, and low-level firmware.
• BSP creation and bring-up, including boot configuration, linker and memory-map setup, device drivers, peripheral validation, and hardware/software integration debugging.
• Linux or RTOS systems, Embedded C/C++, Python, Tcl, shell scripting, PCIe-to-Ethernet architectures, automation, and diagnostic tooling.
• Professional broadcast-video routing, distribution, multiviewer, or hyperconverged systems.
• Disciplined use of AI-assisted tools such as Microsoft Copilot, GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, or Cursor for design exploration, code/HDL review, debugging, verification, scripting, and documentation.