Lead Firmware Engineer Level 7

FPGA Firmware Engineer (VHDL)

Location: South East UK (primarily onsite, ~90%)

Contract Length: 6 Month contract (chance of extension) (Inside IR35)

Rate: £54.52 PAYE p/h - £74.07 Umbrella p/h

Overview

An opportunity for an experienced FPGA Firmware Engineer to join a multidisciplinary engineering team working on advanced sensing and embedded systems. The role spans the full product lifecycle, from concept through to early production, with a focus on high-speed FPGA and SoC development for complex embedded applications.

Key Responsibilities

• Capture and manage firmware requirements
• Design, develop, and analyse FPGA-based firmware (VHDL)
• Produce technical documentation and support design reviews
• Develop test, verification, and integration plans
• Collaborate with hardware and software engineers on system integration
• Modify and maintain existing firmware and test benches
• Support designs through structured development processes

Required Skills & Experience

• Strong experience with FPGA technologies (e.g. Xilinx, Microsemi/Actel, or Lattice)
• Advanced verification using VHDL and/or SystemVerilog/UVM
• Expertise in timing constraints and FPGA optimisation
• Ability to derive detailed firmware requirements from system-level specifications
• Experience across the full firmware lifecycle within structured standards (e.g. DO-254 or similar)
• Debugging and integration at hardware/system level

Desirable

• Familiarity with Siemens EDA tools (e.g. ModelSim, Questa, HDL Designer)
• Experience with safety-critical standards (e.g. IEC 61508)
• Exposure to electro-optic or imaging systems

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