Senior ASIC & FPGA Engineer - HFT Trading

Senior ASIC & FPGA Engineer – HFT Trading

Our client is a leading propriety trading firm headquartered in Chicago and is seeking a senior technologist to join their trading research and development team. The firm's team integrates innovative technology and trading strategies while utilizing a sophisticated research platform and development environment to realize consistent trading alphas.

As a key player, you will lead the architecture, design, and implementation of custom hardware for competitive trading. Drive system architecture evaluation, circuit and board design, and comprehensive hardware testing. You will join the trading research and development team to architect, design, and develop FPGA applications from scratch, including synthesis, place & route, and static timing analysis. Create and optimize APIs and low-level code to enhance software integration. Innovate to solve FPGA, hardware, and software challenges. You will be building new FPGA applications to integrate with new asset classes and strategies, giving you wider exposure to the firm's trading strategies and latencies, and directly impacting the PnL.

Responsibilities:

• Led the vision and set the technical course for the new ASIC and FPGA program.
• Architect and develop new FPGA applications, including synthesis, place & route, static timing analysis, and documentation.
• Investigate and assess the latest in FPGA hardware and cutting-edge technologies.
• Devise innovative solutions to overcome hardware and FPGA constraints.
• Collaborate directly with software and other design teams to ensure seamless integration.
• Perform lab debugging and characterization of new hardware to ensure optimal performance.

Qualifications:

• A Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or Computer Science from a top-tier university with a minimum of 3 years of experience working within hardware engineering, especially with FPGA.
• Solid experience in hardware engineering, particularly with FPGAs also open to pure ASIC backgrounds.
• Highly autonomous with a proactive attitude, capable of leading FPGA-based projects from initial requirements to production.
• Ability to rapidly evaluate the feasibility of FPGA projects based on hardware limitations.
• Strong skills in RTL logic design and verification, with multiple years of experience in Verilog or VHDL.
• Proficiency in the FPGA design flow, including synthesis, place & route, and static timing analysis.
• Experience designing system-on-chip (SOC) architectures, memory and processor subsystems, networking, and peripheral interconnects would be beneficial.
• Understanding of the TCP/IP stack.
• Expertise in either XILINX or ALTERA FPGA design flows would be beneficial.
• Experience with high-level verification methodologies (e.g., System Verilog) is a must.
• Ability to think big while staying grounded in practical realities.
• A passion for learning and adapting in a fast-paced environment.
• Ready to set technical direction, advocate for best practices, and uphold our values.

Excellent opportunity with a high-performing trading team rewarding package on offer.