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Position Description:
Position Summary
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is a prestigious research and development organization that plays a vital role in the study of the universe. Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI) is a nonprofit organization that manages and operates the NRAO under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. The Observatory is a hub for technological and scientific collaboration, operating state-of-the-art radio telescope facilities for use by the international scientific community
The Central Development Laboratory (CDL) at NRAO is recruiting an experienced Embedded Software FPGA design engineer to work on its digital design team in Charlottesville, VA. The CDL is the largest laboratory in the US dedicated to radio astronomy instrumentation and this position will play a critical role in the development of digital correlators for future telescopes that will help reveal the hidden universe such as gravitational waves, the origins of galaxies, stars, and planet formation, and black holes.
What You Will be Doing:
- Performing embedded Linux software design, implementation, simulation, and verification.
- Performing research and solving complex technical issues, and work with minimal supervision.
- Exhibiting excellent time management skills and an ability to multi-task.
- Performing embedded application code development using the AMD/Xilinx Vitis tool flow and Python.
- Working well in a team environment.
Work Environment
Work is mission driven, team oriented and typically performed in an office setting within a research and development environment. The selectee will report to the Digital Design Team manager. CDL’s digital design team works cooperatively with other design groups in CDL and across NRAO and other international observatories. The selectee may be required to travel domestically and internationally by air carrier and to travel by car between NRAO sites.
Who You Are:
Education
Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering/Computer Science.
Experience
A minimum of 5 years’ embedded software programming experience within processor-based FPGA devices. Candidates with progressively more responsible experience will be considered for a higher-level position ranking.
Skills and Competencies
- Experience with AMD Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC/RFSoC Embedded SW Design Experience
- Experience with Embedded Linux OS (PetaLinux/Yocto) and Application Code Experience
- Experience with AMD Vitis Tool Flow and Board Support Package (BSP) Experience
- Proficient in Embedded Linux OS (PetaLinux/Yocto)
- Experience with AMD Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC Processing System (PS) architecture
Preferred Skills and Competencies
Bare metal processing system development is a plus.
Additional Requirements
Observatory employees must be authorized to work in the United States. The Observatory presently cannot sponsor H-1B Visas for this position.
Occasional travel may be required.
Total Rewards:
Compensation
The starting salary for this position is between $114,000-$162,000. Factors which may affect starting pay within this range may include; education, experience, skills, competencies, other qualifications of the successful candidate, as well as internal equity and labor market conditions.
Benefits:
Associated Universities, Inc (AUI) offers a comprehensive benefits package addressing the needs of employees and their families with most benefits beginning on the first day of employment, subject to eligibility requirements. AUI provides:
- Excellent paid time off (13 holidays, annual accrual of up to 24 vacation days)
- Medical, dental and vision plans are effective on the first day of employment.
- AUI’s retirement benefit contributes an amount equal to 10 percent of a qualified participant’s base pay with no required employee contribution.
- Click Total Rewards for more information.
Application Instructions:
Select the “Apply” button above. You will need to be prepared to upload your current resume and a cover letter describing interest and suitability for the position.
Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis.
Equal Opportunity Employer Statement:
AUI is an equal opportunity employer. To view our complete statement, please visit https://public.nrao.edu/careers/. If you require reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process, you may submit your request by sending an email to [email protected]. PM20
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or Computer Science
- At least 5 years of embedded software programming experience within processor-based FPGA devices
- Experience with AMD Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC/RFSoC embedded software design
- Experience with Embedded Linux OS, including PetaLinux or Yocto, and application code development
- Experience with AMD Vitis tool flow and Board Support Package development
- Experience with AMD Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC Processing System architecture
- Bare-metal processing system development
- Authorization to work full-time in the United States without H-1B sponsorship
What We Do
Developed over the past seven years in collaboration with 60,000 human agents, Apollo is a breakthrough language model for objective-oriented conversational agents. Apollo replaces the transformer architecture of traditional LLMs with a neuro-symbolic architecture that couples the conversational skills of generative AI with the predictability and actionability of rule-based AI, making it better suited for agents. Companies of any kind can fine-tune the Apollo base model on a specific task and deploy conversational agents that work on their behalf. These fine-tuned agents can continuously improve from human feedback, which is integrated into their updated versions. They further feature fine-grained control, the capacity to adhere to the deploying company’s policies and a white-box view of their operations. With native tool use, defined scope and guardrails and superior steerability, Apollo Agents outclass LLM Agents across all conversational use-cases. Apollo does not train on company data, instead, it can be pre-integrated with any number of internal systems, and seamlessly call the relevant API endpoint whenever necessary. Like transformer-based LLMs, Apollo has a “system prompt”, broken down to structured, conditional policies. Workflows and tools are native to Apollo and do not rely on function calling or chaining. This enables 100% success rate in executing complex API calls and the ability to return grounded answers in each interaction from any number of endpoints or sources. Unlike transformer-based LLMs, Apollo is fine-tuned at the interaction level. In the Simulator, companies can generate automated conversations simulating the agent in production in front of users. They then proceed to fine-tuning the agent by correcting its output in each unsatisfactory interaction. This process can be repeated continuously to improve the performance and alignment of the agent. Unlocked with Apollo are some exciting new agentic use-cases, including the ability for companies to responsibly communicate with their customers using conversational AI, and to sell their products and services without the need for human involvement, the example featured in the Live Demo Agent.
