Defense and Space Manufacturing

Senior Electrical Engineer - FPGA Firmware

Jacksonville, FLOnsiteFull TimeSeniorPosted 1 month ago

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Required skills

FPGA
Firmware
VHDL
Verilog
SoC
real-time control loops
PAT
synthesis
place-and-route
timing closure

Nice to have

Microchip RTG4
Microchip RT PolarFire
AMD XQR Kintex UltraScale+
AMD XQR Versal
Zynq UltraScale+
XQR Versal

Role summary

Star Catcher is seeking a Senior Electrical Engineer - FPGA Firmware to develop space-to-space power beaming spacecraft and its orbital power grid. This role involves leading FPGA gateware architecture for real-time control loops, including PAT, and interfacing with digital hardware and embedded software teams. Responsibilities include decomposing system requirements to FPGA specifications, architecting solutions for FPGA/SoC platforms, driving timing closure, and leading full lifecycle development of VHDL/Verilog gateware. The engineer will also mentor firmware engineers, establish design standards, and support qualification and testing for space-flight applications. A Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or a related field and 10+ years of experience are required.

Power the future of Space at Star Catcher

Star Catcher is building the first energy grid in space to power the orbital economy.

Today’s spacecraft must generate all of their own power, which caps what they can do and how long they can operate. But what if they could “plug” into a grid, the way buildings do on Earth? Instead of cables and outlets, Star Catcher is building the technology to wirelessly beam energy to spacecraft’s existing solar panels when and where they need it.Be an early member of a team building an entirely new energy infrastructure at scale to power the next frontier.

Star Catcher Industries, Inc., located in Jacksonville, Florida, has an opportunity for a Senior Electrical Engineer - FPGA Firmware to support the development of space-to-space power beaming spacecraft and the Star Catcher Network, its orbital power grid.

Key Responsibilities

Lead FPGA gateware architecture for real-time control loops, including beam-control servo logic for Pointing, Acquisition & Tracking (PAT), and co-own interfaces with digital hardware, embedded software, and systems leads.

Decompose and allocate system and board-level requirements to FPGA specifications, and architect solutions targeting FPGA/SoC platforms against those requirements.

Review product specifications and generate module-level block diagrams, flow diagrams, and design concepts for FPGA subsystems.

Drive timing closure, pipelining, and clock-domain crossing strategy for mission-critical designs.

Set partitioning strategy between hard processor subsystems and reconfigurable fabric on SoC platforms.

Lead full lifecycle development of VHDL or Verilog gateware, from architecture through simulation, integration, and test on the circuit card assembly.

Map FPGA simulation work products to system-level requirements and capabilities, using complex block- and top-level simulations to verify performance ahead of hardware integration.

Lead bench-level system integration of FPGA designs with hardware, firmware, and software.

Refine and enforce consistent firmware development processes and version control practices across FPGA designs.

Mentor firmware engineers and establish FPGA design/verification standards.

Select and qualify FPGA/SoC platforms and associated toolchains for high-reliability, space-flight applications.

Support qualification and production test efforts, including troubleshooting in the event of test failures.

Basic Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline.

Experience: 10+ years of professional experience designing and verifying FPGA gateware in VHDL or Verilog.

Experience with FPGA/SoC design toolchains, including synthesis, place-and-route, and timing closure.

Demonstrated experience implementing real-time control loops in reconfigurable logic.

Thorough understanding of version control best practices and tools for tracking changes to an FPGA baseline.

Desired Skills

Experience evaluating radiation-tolerant FPGA/SoC platforms, including Microchip RTG4/RT PolarFire nonvolatile configuration and AMD XQR Kintex UltraScale/XQR Versal SRAM-based configuration. Understand configuration-upset mitigation and scrubbing where applicable, plus separate risks in user memory, logic, processors, and transceivers.

Experience implementing DSP or signal-processing in FPGA fabric.

Familiarity with spacecraft communications protocols (CCSDS) such as AOS, EPP, TM/TC, SPP.

Experience with formal verification or advanced simulation methodologies, including transaction-based models for block- and top-level FPGA simulation.

Experience with high-speed serial interfaces (e.g., PCIe, SpaceWire, Ethernet), control interfaces (e.g., I2C, SPI, RS-232/422), and memory interfaces (e.g., DDR3/DDR4).

Experience with FPGA devices (e.g., AMD Kintex/Virtex UltraScale+, Microchip RTG4 or RT PolarFire) and processor-integrated SoCs (e.g., AMD Zynq UltraScale+ or XQR Versal), or equivalent platforms.

Familiarity with backplane-based architecture (e.g., SpaceVPX, VPX) and board-to-FPGA interface constraints.

Experience with NASA/DoD life cycle and technical reviews (e.g., SRR, PDR, CDR).

Experience mentoring engineers or establishing team-wide design standards.

Ability to prioritize assignments and complete design/project goals with minimal oversight in a fast-paced environment.

Help us deploy and scale space infrastructure that will drive our utilization of space forward! We offer a highly competitive benefits package including access to comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, 401(k) retirement plan, life insurance, and paid parental leave, in addition to other benefits.

Star Catcher is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Star Catcher is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

All offers of employment at Star Catcher are contingent upon results of a thorough background check and your ability to provide proof of eligibility to work in the US.

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

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