Principal Firmware Engineer

Job Title: Principal Firmware Engineer

Rate: up to £85 per hour, Umbrella, inside IR35

Duration: Initial 6 Month Contract

Clearance Required: SC

Sector: Defence

Location: Basildon, full-time on site

Opportunity Overview

Join our Mission Systems team to develop state-of-the-art solutions for Electronic Counter Measure (ECM) programmes, enhancing safety against threats such as IEDs in Civilian or Military environments. Contribute to delivering equipment that protects the UK Armed Forces from IEDs.

Key Responsibilities

• Capture and manage firmware requirements
• Design and analyze FPGA systems
• Produce documentation for engineering and design reviews
• Develop FPGA test and integration plans
• Perform system integration with PCB designers and embedded software engineers
• Support firmware designs through the company process (training provided)
• Modify existing firmware and test benches

Candidate Profile

Essential Skills & Qualifications

• Experience with FPGA technologies from Xilinx, Microsemi (Actel), or Lattice
• Proficiency in VHDL or SystemVerilog/UVM for verification
• Ability to specify complex timing and area constraints
• Ability to analyze system requirements and derive detailed firmware specifications
• Experience with structured firmware processes such as RTCA DO-254
• Experience with safety-related firmware to IEC 61508 (advantageous)
• Debugging firmware and supporting verification at hardware and system levels
• Effective communication skills across disciplines
• Familiarity with Siemens EDA FPGA tools (advantageous)
• Experience with radio systems, software-defined radio, or signal processing (advantageous)
• Mentoring experience

Preferred Additional Skills

• Awareness of safety, security, legislative constraints
• Experience in Electronics Warfare and Countermeasures

Security Clearance: Must be capable of achieving full SC clearance and access caveated information such as UK eyes only.

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