Principal FPGA/DSP Engineer

Kirintec is an exciting and ambitious R&D-led company with market leading technology and expertise. Kirintec offers a fast-paced dynamic environment fostering innovation at all levels with rewards to match. Kirintec are seeking a flexible, enthusiastic and experienced Principal FPGA/DSP Engineer to join the R&D Concept Development team at their premises in Malvern developing prototype systems, hardware, software and techniques to drive the next generation of Electronic Warfare products.

The candidate must be able to take ownership of a project from the idea generation phase, through the concept development phase to system demonstration in the laboratory and in the field. The candidate must be capable of managing their own work whilst being a member of a small dynamic team. Reporting to the Concept Development Lead Engineer, you will work closely with our software, FPGA, and hardware engineers to develop advanced prototype systems and techniques (typically up to Technology Readiness Level 6). This is a role in a small team which will also include the mentorship of less experienced engineers who may be brought into the team at a later stage. You will be encouraged to contribute your ideas on process and quality improvement and will use the breadth of knowledge you’ve developed to help identify appropriate technologies to use in new products.

Key Responsibilities

• Designing, verifying and debugging embedded system/sub-system components.
• Development of advanced RF Signal Processing in the latest FPGA technologies.
• Working within a multi-disciplinary team to integrate firmware into the system.
• Capturing requirements from external/internal customers.
• Managing/designing test strategies/procedures for verification of designs.
• Liaising with technology suppliers to keep the company’s technology up-to-date and to apply latest fixes to third-party components used by the company.
• Ensuring design description information is produced in Confluence and kept up-to-date.
• Ensuring that designs for successful prototypes are handed over to the R&D Product Development team for further development beyond Technology Readiness Level 6.
• Development of Statements of Work and tasking of subcontractors and suppliers.
• Management of subcontractors and suppliers who are contributing to Concept Development projects.
• Reporting project status to the Concept Development Lead Engineer.
• Demonstrating developed prototype systems in the laboratory and/or the field to internal Kirintec teams and to Kirintec’s customers/partners.

Essential Skills

• FPGA design experience using VHDL.
• Verilog design experience not essential but must be able to integrate/debug third party design components written in Verilog.
• Designing pipelined Digital Signal Processing blocks in FPGA.
• Writing automated VHDL test benches to verify designs.
• Debug of embedded systems comprising hardware, software (processor) and firmware (FPGA) designs.
• Experience in designing/integrating firmware for high-speed standards e.g. PCIe, JESD204B, 10GBASE-X, 25GBASE-X.
• Experience in using test equipment associated with digital hardware/firmware design testing such as high-speed oscilloscopes and logic analysers.
• Design of sophisticated prototype systems/techniques.
• Ability to analyse solutions and make prototype design trade-offs.
• Strong desire to dive deep into system level issues and drive problems to closure in a team-based environment with a proactive attitude.
• Excellent verbal, written, and presentation skills.
• Familiarity with the challenges of taking a concept design from early idea generation through to mature prototype.
• Ability to work within a small, flexible and dynamic team.
• Very good attention to detail.

Desirable Skills

• Design experience with Xilinx Vivado FPGA/SoC tools.
• Design experience with embedded Linux.
• Experience in using PetaLinux/Yocto tools.
• Verification experience using Aldec Active-HDL.
• Note, ModelSim experience equally desirable but the company uses Active-HDL.
• Experience in designing components/applications using the OpenCPI framework.
• Experience in designing for Radio Frequency products and experience using associated test equipment such as RF Signal Generators, Spectrum Analysers, Network Analysers.
• PCB design experience (schematic capture, PCB layout, component creating all desirable).
• Design experience with C/C++ for embedded systems.
• Design experience/working knowledge of Python to aid verification test.
• Experience in designing hardware for high-speed standards e.g. PCIe, JESD204B, 10GBASE-X, 25GBASE-X.
• Experience with the Atlassian toolset (Confluence, Jira, Bitbucket).

Employment terms:

• Hours: 37.5 per week
• Location: Malvern
• Clearance: SC essential
• Probation: 3 months
• Duration: Permanent
• Salary range: £70,000 - £95,000 DOE
• Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Benefits:

• Company pension
• Company events
• Private Medical Insurance
• Free, on-site parking
• Casual Dress

Schedule:

• Monday to Friday

Ability to commute/relocate:

• Malvern WR14: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)

Licence/Certification:

• SC clearance or be eligible to hold this? (required)

Work authorisation:

• United Kingdom (required)