FPGA Design Engineer
US$180,000 – US$280,000 / yr base salary
Posted 28 Jul 2026
Advertised as “Staff Engineer, FPGA Design (R5347)”
BranchFactor Summary
The original posting with the fluff stripped out
- Level
- R5347
- Management level
- Individual contributor
- Employment
- On-Site
- Contract
- Full-time
| Base salary | US$180,000 – US$280,000 / yr |
|---|
Field of studyAerospace Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Engineering, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Science, Technology
Study levelDoctorate
Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.
Job Description:
We are seeking a highly motivated FPGA Design Engineer with experience developing high-performance digital designs.
The ideal candidate will be responsible for designing, implementing, verifying, and debugging FPGA-based solutions for complex avionics solutions for cutting-edge Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). This role requires strong digital design fundamentals, experience with AMD/Xilinx development tools, and the ability to collaborate across hardware, firmware, and software teams.
What you'll do:
- Design and develop FPGA-based communication modules for advanced UAV platforms.
- Develop solutions that enable precise timing synchronization and redundance across flight controllers.
- Integrate FPGA solutions with system-level architecture in collaboration with cross-functional engineering teams.
- Perform synthesis, implementation, timing closure, bitstream generation.
- Debug, test, and optimize for reliability, latency, and throughput.
- Collaborate with PCB designers during board bring-up and hardware validation.
- Contribute to FPGA architecture discussions and help define long-term technical direction within the platform.
- Participate in design reviews and maintain engineering documentation.
Required qualifications:
- B.S., M.S, PhD degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering or STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics) discipline, such as Aerospace, Mechanical, or Electrical Engineering
- Strong experience with FPGA design, implementation, and verification using VHDL or SystemVerilog.
- Demonstrated ability to build reliable, high-performance digital communication systems.
- Solid understanding of timing closure, clock domain crossing, and system-level integration.