Senior Hardware Designer

Fidus is a front runner in embedded software design, system and hardware. We provide a technical advantage to our global Clients ranging from tech giants to start-ups. We are looking for a Senior Hardware Designer position for our Ottawa or Kitchener Design Centres. We are looking for someone who is passionate about designing and working with new technologies, is driven to win and is excited to apply their creative skills.

This is a great opportunity to be a key contributor on challenging projects (Virtual Reality, High-Res Video, High speed communications, High-Performance Computing FPGA Designs etc.) for F100/F500 companies, explore new industries, influence strategy, processes and culture. Lead in your area of expertise, influencing change and growth in our product and services roadmaps, all the while working with some of the biggest names in the Ottawa and Silicon Valley high tech industry.

If you want to be part of a creative team, you like to be challenged, you thrive on project diversity, you love to grow, change, and evolve, you enjoy a work environment that is built on openness, opportunity and career development and you think it is important to have fun while reaching your goals and exceeding customer expectations, then Fidus is the place for You!

What’s in it for You?

• Working with a Proudly Tier 1 High-Tech Design House at a Rapidly Expanding Industry: Fidus is pleased to provide customers with full end-to-end development solutions or more selective targeted engagements. Being a Xilinx Premier Design Services Member, Fidus has delivered more than 4000 projects for 400+ clients, from Tier-1 multinationals to SMEs to start-ups. Fidus is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada with local design centers in Kitchener-Waterloo and San Jose. Fidus is involved in assessing and implementing the newest technologies, often before they are released to the market.
• Join an Evolving Company: Make your voice heard and create the change you want to see. Be a contributor on challenging projects, lead in your area of expertise influencing change and growth in our product and services roadmaps. Fidus is recognized for accelerating the product development cycle and optimizing system implementation for better cost, performance and power to our clients!
• Join During Rapid Growth Mode: With growth achieved over 55% in the past few years and strong projections for 2024/2025, you’re joining at an exciting time in Fidus history. Recognized as a trusted design partner, Fidus is dedicated to meeting customer expectations and develop long-term relationships with clients built on integrity, quality and open communications.
• Work with Cutting Edge Technology: Fidus specializes in leading-edge electronic product development. Work on a variety of leading technologies, be part of a team that solves the hard problems that new technologies present. Our training, mentoring, and exposure to different types of projects allow Fidus engineers to become highly sought after experts, more quickly than in other environment. Exposure to various diverse industries and clients which means exciting new technologies.

What You’ll Need for the Position:

• Minimum 10 years of direct electronics design experience
• Bachelor's degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering, or equivalent.
• Ability to lead a design technically and as a mentor
• Strong fundamental knowledge of high-speed circuit and multi-layer PCB design
• In depth understanding of all aspects of the hardware product development cycle including requirements, architecture, schematic capture, PCB layout, signal integrity, verification, and manufacturing
• Background in FPGA designs, including 32Gbps diff pairs, power/thermal design
• Experience with high-speed devices and protocols including DDR4, PCIe Gen4, MIPI, Gigabit Ethernet, USB-C, HDMI, SerDes and JESD204B.
• Experience with development tools such as Cadence CIS/Orcad/Cadence Allegro
• Experience using optical test sets, signal analyzers, and GHz+ oscilloscopes for analysis of eye diagrams, phase noise, and overall signal quality
• Hands-on debugging experience involving scopes, VNAs, signal generators, electronic loads
• Familiarity with ESD, EMI, and RF design considerations
• Ability to use Verilog, RTL, or HLS an asset

What You’ll Be Doing:

• Develop the system and board level architectural design, but working collaboratively with the software and FPGA programmers to analyze requirements
• Provide schematic design and component selection for high-speed circuits, SerDes to 32Gbps, control circuits, power supply sequencing, inter-board connectors, and memory busses
• Conduct design simulations using LTSpice and prove circuits using prototype bench tests
• Work with the Signal Integrity team to ensure a detailed analysis of critical nets
• Participate in design reviews (Signal Integrity, PCB Layout, FPGA coding, Software) to ensure Fidus quality standards are met
• Perform parts library creation and schematic capture, including embedded layout constraints, using OrCAD Capture CIS
• Develop comprehensive test plans and test procedures
• Lab bring-up and in-depth verification of hardware prototypes
• Actively collaborate with the team to address hardware & software integration issues
• Lead regulatory certification testing
• Generate technical and user documentation
• Provide pre-project technical support to the business and sales teams on project scope, schedule, effort estimates, and deliverables, and post-project technical support to customers
• Act as a mentor and sounding board to junior and intermediate electronic designers.

About Fidus

In Latin, Fidus means “trustworthy and dependable”. We live up to the meaning of our name with our customers, suppliers, partners and each other.

With design center locations in Ottawa, Waterloo and San Jose, Fidus is a global leader and dynamic high-tech design firm. Fidus specializes in leading-edge electronic product development. Our hardware, software, FPGA and signal integrity teams innovate, design and deliver next-generation products for clients in emerging technology markets.

Established in 2001, Fidus successfully completed over 4,000 projects for over 400 customers by serving diverse clientele at such industries as Telecom/Datacom, Aerospace and Defense, Consumer, Semiconductors, Industrial/Automotive Controls, Medical etc. Being the inaugural Xilinx Premier North American Design Services member means that we have great FPGA designers with leading edge expertise and we solve some of the customers toughest design challenges.

Believing that Fidus employees are the most important resource we have to offer, Fidus aims to always challenge their employees to be the best that they can be. We are proud of the operating culture that is maintained as well as our fantastic employee retention. With a reputation known for relentlessly providing expert service and knowledge into the different markets that we serve with emerging technology and inventions - overachieving is how things are done.