FPGA Electrical Engineer III

Application close date:

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight! 

Honeybee Robotics' Exploration Systems division is seeking an Electrical Engineer specializing in Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). In this role you will be interfacing with inter-disciplinary project teams to develop custom avionics systems and motor controllers for robotic missions to the Moon, Mars, Titan, and elsewhere around the solar system. You will be responsible for flight avionics development, rovers, deployable structures, and geotechnical science instruments used in planetary exploration and space applications. In this role you’ll interface with electrical design, mechanical, test, systems, integration, software and control engineering disciplines throughout the entire product lifecycle from conception to flight ready hardware.

We are looking for someone to apply their technical expertise, leadership skills, and commitment to quality to positively impact safe human spaceflight. Passion for our mission and vision is required!

• This is an onsite role at our Altadena, CA office
• Relocation assistance is provided

• Serve as a flight FPGA design owner within small teams of electrical engineers throughout a project life cycle (design, build, test, deliver). This includes close collaboration and independent work, as well as some mentoring of more junior engineers
• FPGA hardware design and bare metal programming, optimization, bring-up, and V&V
  • Design and develop digital hardware architectures for embedded robotic systems in extreme environments
  • Create and implement RTL code for critical SoC blocks and interfaces
  • Contribute to architecture optimization for performance, power, and cost trade-offs
  • Collaborate on design verification to ensure robust and reliable designs
  • Support prototype development for early validation
  • Document design specifications, architecture decisions, and implementation details
  • Participate in design reviews and technical discussions with cross-functional teams
  • Troubleshoot and debug digital design issues
  • Implement interfaces between digital hardware and firmware/software components
• Checkout of custom high-reliability PCBs for various avionics applications
• Define and execute tests at the integrated assembly level in avionics development labs, environmental test labs, radiation test labs and vendor test labs
• Apply technical expertise to problem solving throughout product lifecycle, including design review support and verification planning and execution, scheduling, etc.

• Minimum of a B.S. in Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field
• 5+ years of developing and testing complex hardware equipment over the entire product lifecycle
• Proficiency in SystemVerilog or Verilog for RTL implementation
• Experience with SoC integration and interface design
• Understanding of digital timing and synchronization concepts
• Knowledge of industry-standard bus protocols (AXI, AHB, etc.)
• Familiarity with synthesis tools and RTL-to-gates methodology
• Experience with simulation and debugging of complex digital systems
• Strong background in Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) and FPGA tool flow
• Passion for hands-on problem solving and avionics integration and test
• Ability to work independently on avionics programs with aggressive schedules
• Highly organized, safety and quality conscious, with excellent technical written and verbal communication skills

• Graduate degree in related engineering or technical field
• 8+ years of experience in developing hardware across entire product lifecycle
• Experience using Microchip Libero design tools
• Experience implementing custom FPGA-based motor controllers
• Experience developing and testing complex electronic systems combining hardware, firmware, and software
• Experience leading the development and testing of embedded/motorized/power systems
• Proficiency with scripting; programming and analysis/modeling tools: Python, Linux/Windows shell scripting; assembly language, C, C++; MATLAB / Simulink / SPICE (or similar)
• Experience using Altium to design complex printed circuit boards

Base Pay Range for:

Don’t meet all desired requirements? Studies have shown that some people are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single desired qualification. At Blue Origin, we are dedicated to building an authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every desired qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.