Principal FPGA Verification Engineer

Overview

Stirling Dynamics is recruiting a Principal FPGA Design and Development Engineer to join the Software & Electronic Hardware team.

Are you ready to take ownership of FPGA design for high-integrity aerospace products?

Due to recent contract wins, continued growth, and the need to strengthen capability within our Software & Electronic Hardware team, Stirling Dynamics is looking for a talented and experienced Principal FPGA Design and Development Engineer to join our team delivering FPGA-based solutions for safety-critical and high-integrity aerospace systems. This role is intended for an engineer with strong hands-on FPGA design experience who can contribute across the full development lifecycle, from requirements capture and architectural definition through detailed VHDL design, implementation, review, verification support, integration and certification evidence. The successful candidate will support the development of gateware for electro-mechanical systems and airborne electronic hardware, including products developed within a DO-254 framework.

We are looking for someone who enjoys technical ownership and practical engineering delivery. The right person will bring the discipline and rigour expected from safety-critical FPGA development, while also being comfortable working in a dynamic, multi-disciplinary environment where processes are continuously being optimised, and Principal engineers are expected to help shape the way we work. This would suit someone who has gained strong experience and is looking for a broad, and influential role in a smaller and more agile engineering business.

The role is based in our Bristol office with occasional travel to our clients’ sites as required, however as part of our commitment to flexible working, employees can work a hybrid working model.

Responsibilities

• The successful candidate will join a team responsible for the design, implementation and verification support of FPGA solutions for safety-critical and high-integrity aerospace systems.
• Lead or contribute to FPGA architectural definition, detailed design and implementation activities using VHDL.
• Develop requirement-based FPGA designs, ensuring traceability from system and hardware requirements through to FPGA low-level requirements, design artefacts and verification evidence.
• Produce and maintain FPGA design documentation, including design descriptions, interface definitions, implementation notes and review evidence.
• Support DO-254 planning, requirements capture, design, review and verification activities for complex electronic hardware.
• Work closely with systems, safety, electronics, software, test and certification engineers to ensure FPGA designs are correctly integrated within the wider product architecture.
• Support the development and maintenance of FPGA development workflows, including configuration management, branch-based development, pull requests, design reviews and formal release baselines.
• Contribute to FPGA implementation activities including synthesis, constraints, timing closure, build scripting and implementation tool flow management.
• Support verification engineers in developing requirement-based verification strategies, test plans, simulation environments and coverage closure.
• Participate in code and documentation reviews, including independent review of VHDL design code and review of evidence generated by linting, simulation and implementation tools.
• Help maintain and improve Stirling Dynamics’ FPGA development processes, toolchains and engineering practices.
• Provide technical leadership, mentoring and guidance to less experienced engineers.
• The level and scope of responsibilities will be dependent on the successful candidate’s knowledge and experience.

Qualifications

• Candidates will ideally be degree qualified in Electronic Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Computer Engineering or a similar relevant discipline. Equivalent industrial experience in FPGA, ASIC, firmware or airborne electronic hardware development will also be considered. Chartered Engineer status, or working towards professional registration, would be advantageous.

Essential skills

• Strong VHDL design capability, including requirements-based RTL design and development of maintainable, reviewable FPGA code.
• Practical understanding of DO-254 processes and the artefacts required to support FPGA or complex electronic hardware development.
• Ability to work effectively with electronics hardware engineers, systems engineers, software engineers and verification engineers.
• Ability to work with incomplete or evolving requirements and apply sound engineering judgement to progress practical design solutions.
• Strong written communication skills and the ability to produce clear design documentation, review records and engineering rationale.

Experience

• Significant experience of FPGA design and development for complex digital systems.
• Experience of FPGA development for high-integrity, safety-critical or mission-critical applications.
• Experience of developing FPGA designs from system or hardware requirements, including requirement decomposition, derived requirements and traceability, with the use of tools such as such as Siemens Polarion or DOORS.
• Experience with FPGA simulation and debug using tools such as QuestaSim or ModelSim.
• Experience with FPGA implementation toolchains such as Xilinx Vivado, Intel Quartus or equivalent vendor tools.
• Experience conducting code reviews and documentation reviews within a controlled development process.
• Experience using configuration management and source control tools, for example Git, Azure DevOps, Bitbucket or similar.
• Experience working on DO-254 development projects, particularly DAL A, DAL B or DAL C airborne electronic hardware.
• Experience of requirements-based FPGA verification using SystemVerilog, UVM or a similar structured verification methodology.
• Experience defining FPGA verification strategies, test plans, coverage objectives and verification evidence.
• Experience using linting tools and applying coding rule sets suitable for DO-254 or high-integrity FPGA development.
• Experience with formal verification, code coverage, functional coverage or coverage closure activities.
• Experience creating or maintaining automated build, simulation or regression test workflows.
• Scripting experience using Python, Tcl, shell scripting or similar for FPGA build, simulation, automation or toolchain control.
• Experience with HIL, SIL or test-rig environments used to support electronic hardware or FPGA verification.
• Experience integrating FPGA designs with processors, ADCs, DACs, motor control electronics, communications interfaces or other mixed hardware/software systems.
• Experience with aerospace communication interfaces, control systems, electromechanical actuators or airborne electronic hardware.
• Experience mentoring engineers or providing technical leadership within a small or multi-disciplinary team.
• Experience gained in a large aerospace, defence or avionics organisation, with an interest in applying that knowledge in a more agile and hands-on engineering environment.

Benefits

Competitive Package - Grade 7 with a salary banding of £57,500 - £72,500

We offer a range of benefits to our employees to recognise their efforts. Playing hard is equally as important as working hard, so regular events are held throughout the year which provide an ideal opportunity to mix socially