Principal FPGA Engineer (VHDL)

General Dynamics Mission Systems engineers a diverse portfolio of high technology solutions, products and services that enable customers to successfully execute missions across all domains of operation. With a global team of more than 13,000 top professionals, we partner with the best in industry to expand the bounds of innovation in the defence and scientific arenas. In the UK, we are leading the way in avionics and communication systems. Given the nature of our work and who we are, we value trust, honesty, alignment and transparency.

General Dynamics in St Leonards-on-Sea currently provide avionic mission computing systems for a wide range of military fast jets, helicopters, and UAV’s. Recent success has resulted in General Dynamics developing the next generation of Advanced High Performance, Safety Critical Mission Computer Systems to meet the needs of latest platforms in development by several aircraft manufacturers. These Mission Computing Systems provide the functionality that integrates aircraft systems, sensor systems and stores management systems with the information and control systems required by the aircrew to meet the demanding operational needs of these aircraft.

Join our Hastings engineering team as a Principal FPGA Engineer, taking technical ownership of complex VHDL-based FPGA solutions for advanced mission computing systems.

You will remain closely involved in hands-on FPGA development while providing technical leadership throughout the full engineering lifecycle. This will include requirements capture, architecture, design, implementation, simulation, verification, integration and technical review.

Working collaboratively with all functions in the business, you will help deliver robust FPGA solutions for complex, high-integrity applications. You will also guide other engineers, support technical decision-making and contribute to the continued development of our FPGA engineering capability.

Your key responsibilities will include:

• Designing, implementing and verifying complex FPGA solutions using VHDL.
• Taking FPGA designs from requirements capture through to integration and verification.
• Developing simulation environments and verification test benches.
• Contributing to FPGA architecture and technical design decisions.
• Leading technical and design reviews.
• Investigating and resolving complex design, integration and verification issues.
• Estimating, planning and taking ownership of FPGA development activities.
• Providing technical guidance and mentoring to other engineers.
• Working closely with various functions within the organisation.
• Supporting the continuous improvement of FPGA development processes, tools and engineering practices.

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Essential experience

• Significant experience designing and implementing FPGA solutions using VHDL.
• Strong knowledge of FPGA design, simulation and verification, including test-bench development.
• Experience taking FPGA designs through requirements capture, implementation, integration and verification.
• Practical experience with an established FPGA development toolchain, ideally AMD Xilinx Vivado.
• The ability to lead technical reviews and resolve complex FPGA design and verification issues.
• Experience estimating and planning FPGA development activities.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to work effectively across systems, hardware, software and verification disciplines.
• The ability to provide technical guidance and support to other engineers.

Desirable experience

• Experience with AMD Xilinx SoCs or Microchip/Microsemi FPGA devices.
• Knowledge of high-integrity or safety-critical FPGA development.
• Familiarity with DO-254 or comparable development assurance standards.
• Experience with video processing, high-speed interfaces or embedded digital systems.
• Experience mentoring or technically leading FPGA engineers.
• A relevant degree, equivalent qualification or substantial industry experience.
• Chartered Engineer status, or an interest in working towards professional registration.
• Programming experience in languages such as C, Python, or other scripting languages.
• Experience using source control tools such as Git.
• Experience with requirements capture and management tools.
• Familiarity with SysML and Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) tools.
• Experience with Siemens QuestaSim or comparable tools for FPGA simulation, validation and verification.
• Experience working with or familiarity with AI/ML models is preferred

This role has a salary of between £65,000 and £85,000 plus our flexible benefits package.

We are open to this role being spent with time working from home and in the office (hybrid - typically 3 days working in office) on a weekly basis or fully in our offices.

Relocation assistance may be available for qualifying UK based applicants to move closer to our sites.

We pride ourselves in being a great place to work with a shared sense of purpose, offering impressive benefits: 

• A compressed nine-day fortnight and compressed hours - which means every other Friday off. 
• A personalized career development plan, alongside regular progress reviews - supporting and valuing your progression within the Company. 
• A flexible working environment where your contributions are recognized and rewarded with flexible benefits 

We believe in maintaining a diverse workplace - inclusive of beliefs, cultural background, job experiences, thoughts and ideas. If who we are and what we do resonates with you, we welcome you to join our inclusive team!

Our success is fuelled by our colleagues and the wide variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills they bring to the Company.

We are a Disability Confident Employer, as such we offer an interview to disabled people who meet the minimum criteria for the job.
Please email [email protected] if you would like your application to be considered under the DC Scheme.

All successful/appointed applicants must be able to obtain a level of UK Security clearance that is appropriate for the role and undertake suitable Right to work checks