Senior Firmware Engineer

About Barber-Nichols:

Barber-Nichols (BN) is a premier provider of custom turbomachinery solutions serving the Defense, Aerospace, Cryogenics, and Energy industries. Our team consists of industry leaders who collaborate closely with equally accomplished customers to deliver technologies that advance their markets and establish enduring partnerships. At BN, we foster a results-driven environment that values professional growth, rewards achievement, and supports innovation. From designing the blower for NASA’s Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s moon Titan to engineering critical components for the U.S. Navy’s MK-48 program, BN’s portfolio spans some of the most exciting and impactful projects in the world. For those seeking to contribute to impactful projects alongside a highly skilled team, BN offers an exceptional place to build your career. 

Position Summary:

The Senior Firmware Engineer owns the analysis, design, integration, documentation, and troubleshooting of Embedded FPGA designs for the product platforms primarily consisting of motor controllers in the 100W to 50kW range within Space, Defense, Energy and Thermal Management product segments. They develop solutions that ensure both project and long-term business success in coordination with other members of the electrical engineering department as overseen by the project lead. Projects may include clean sheet designs, modifications/enhancements to existing designs, repeat manufacturing support, and/or sustaining and support of existing products.

Key Results Areas:

1. Work directly with department leads to collaboratively develop designs, and products compliant with all customer requirements including technical, schedule, budget, and quality.
2. Decompose customer requirements necessary for system definition and Firmware allocation.
3. Develop designs and documentation to determine conformance to project specifications and requirements.
4. Own all firmware related content in cross functional design reviews.
5. Collaborate with leadership to help define programmatic activities such as creating and maintaining project budgets, schedules and formal milestones
6. Define firmware integration and formal test plans and specify/procure associated test hardware for developing, validating and troubleshooting designs.
7. Review testing (both design, assembly and product), preparing results and deriving conclusions as appropriate.
8. Resolve technical challenges across a wide range of products, ranging from obsolescence support of heritage products to troubleshooting designs under active development to testing emerging technology for future integration into the business.
9. Own the technical analysis and design effort with minimal oversight.
10. Own system troubleshooting and control development activities.
11. Analyze and recommend design approaches and processes to ensure both project and long-term business success.
12. Interfacing and mentoring with other team members.

Qualifications:

To qualify for this position, an individual must possess the knowledge, training, experience and abilities required.

Education and Training

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical or computer engineering or equivalent combination of education and work experience

Experience:

• Minimum of 8 years related experience developing complex products with multiple subsystems (i.e. sensors and signal conditioning, diagnostics, motor controls, etc.).
• Demonstrated ability to develop firmware for embedded controller hardware from proposal to final shipment.
• Demonstrated ability to review customer specifications, develop designs to best support them and flow derived requirements to other analysts and engineers.
• Familiar with the following toolsets (Vivado/Libero/Quartus/Diamond)
• Strong proficiency in MATLAB Simulink
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience with building Simulink models
• Strong ability to debug FPGA hardware on target in a laboratory environment
• Exceptional knowledge of SPI/PCIe/Rs422/CAN/ARINC/I2C/CRCs/JTAG
• Experience with Xilinx, Microsemi, and Lattice FPGA devices
• Working knowledge of safety critical systems and architectures
• Working knowledge of switching power supplies, inverter design, and motor controls

Other:

• Must be willing to work overtime as required
• Travel up to 10% of working time.

Desired Job Qualification:

• 8 years’ experience designing safety critical architectures using FPGA’s
• Experience using MTALB’s HDL Coder for FPGA development
• Experience designing motion control systems
• Experience Designing FPGAs using DO254/MIL-STD 882 Guidance
• Experience Designing FPGAs for Aerospace/defense applications
• Experience with FPAG Elemental analysis or ARP4754 design verification.
• Experience with ARP4761 FMECA and FHA/SHA processes
• Experience with requirements management tools such as Polarion/Jama/Doors
• Experience designing FPGA functions from scratch that can be ported to any device with our vendor specific support.

Skills:

To perform the job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the following competencies:

• Comprehensive electronics skills specifically as it relates to developing and troubleshooting low volume devices.
• Comprehensive understanding of rotating machine control algorithms, digital filtering, gate drive algorithms, and VHDL coding as it relates to the control of any electromechanical system.
• Excellent communication (written and verbal), organization and time management
• Demonstrate behavior consistent with company values
• Ability to successfully plan and implement objectives within established timelines.
• Ability to analyze problems and develop effective solutions at both strategic and functional levels.
• Ability to work independently, with minimal direction as a highly motivated self-starter and within a team-oriented culture

Compensation and Benefits:

The salary range for this role is $135,000-$165,000 and is commensurate with the applicant’s experience. This range represents the anticipated minimum and maximum base for this position. The final compensation for this position will be set based on the applicant’s qualifications (education, training and/or experience related to this role), and therefore, may fall outside the range shown, depending on the circumstances.

Barber-Nichols offers a comprehensive benefits package including: 

• Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• FSA and HSA with company paid HSA quarterly contributions
• Disability, Life, and AD&D Insurance
• 401(k) with 4% Company Match and Profit Sharing
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan (NYSE: GHM)
• Generous PTO and Paid Holidays with an option to purchase additional PTO
• Tuition reimbursement 
• Performance-based bonus program
• Paid Parental Leave, Military Leave, Jury Duty, and Bereavement Leave

To view our full list of benefits, please visit Careers - Barber-Nichols.

ITAR Requirements: To conform to U.S. Government commercial space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), 8 U.S.C. § 1324b(a)(3), applicants for employment at Barber-Nichols must be a U.S. citizen or national, lawfully admitted for permanent residence into the U.S. (i.e., current green card holder), or lawfully admitted as a refugee or granted asylum under 8 U.S.C. § 1157-1158. Security clearance is not required for this position.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Barber-Nichols is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer committed to a workplace free from discrimination, harassment, and retaliation of any type. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other protected status as defined by law. Barber-Nichols will ensure individuals with disabilities are provided with reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation. 

Barber-Nichols participates in E-Verify, the federal program for electronic verification of employment eligibility.