Senior Firmware Engineer Space-Based Electro-Optical Systems

$140,000 - $210,000 | Herndon, Virginia | Relocation Paid

The Opportunity

This is firmware work on hardware that leaves the atmosphere. You'll architect and implement firmware for space-based electro-optical payloads and laser systems, working on lasers for atmospheric sensing, laser communications, and LIDAR sensors built for NASA, DoD, and commercial customers.

You'll own the full development lifecycle: requirements analysis, design, coding, simulation, verification, and validation. This isn't maintenance work on legacy platforms. You're building firmware for systems that have to work the first time, every time, in one of the most unforgiving environments there is.

Why You'll Love This Role

You'll work in VHDL (RTL) and System Verilog on Xilinx, Microchip, and Lattice FPGAs, applying Hi-Rel and space-grade techniques like fault tolerance and radiation mitigation. The technical surface area is broad: digital signal processing, precision timing, optical comms, LIDAR, high-speed serial links (GTY/GTM, JESD204B/C, Ethernet, SpaceWire), and memory interfaces (DDR3/4, QDR, FRAM).

You'll be embedded in a cross-functional team of hardware, systems, software, and optical engineers, working from schematics and block diagrams, resolving interface issues directly with the people designing the hardware. Development runs on modern tooling, with GitHub-based CI/CD covering code review, automated linting, synthesis, regression testing, timing closure, bitstream generation, and release tagging.

What Your Week Looks Like

Expect a mix of architecture and hands-on lab work: writing and reviewing RTL, building test benches and simulations to verify designs against spec, and running hardware-in-the-loop testing and system-level validation with diagnostic tools. You'll work iterative, task-based development cycles with frequent integration points, so you're seeing your firmware meet real hardware often, not just at the end of a long cycle. Peer code review and documentation are part of the regular rhythm, along with contributing to design reviews and risk identification.

What We're Looking For

Experience:

• 7+ years of relevant firmware engineering experience
• BS/MS in Electrical Engineering or equivalent

Core technical expertise:

• Firmware development in VHDL (RTL) and System Verilog (testing)
• Digital signal processing, precision timing, optical comms (modems), LIDAR
• Xilinx, Microchip, and Lattice FPGAs and their development toolchains
• Test bench development and simulation for design verification
• Working directly from schematics and block diagrams during firmware design
• High-speed serial links: GTY/GTM, JESD204B/C, Ethernet, SpaceWire
• Standard peripheral interfaces: SPI, I2C, UART, LVDS
• Memory interfaces: DDR3/4, QDR, FRAM
• GitHub and CI/CD for FPGA flows, including linting, synthesis, regression testing, timing closure, and bitstream generation

Nice to have:

• Python for build/test automation and data analysis
• Linux, scripting, and Docker-based automation
• Hi-Rel/space program experience and TMR coding
• C/C++ for microcontrollers
• VS Code

Note: This role requires no visa sponsorship.

Why Candidates Say Yes

The products themselves are the draw here: laser and electro-optic systems supporting NASA, DoD, and commercial space missions, not commodity electronics. The technical scope spans FPGA architecture through hardware-in-the-loop validation, giving you ownership across the full firmware lifecycle rather than a narrow slice of it. And the team structure puts you in direct contact with the hardware and optical engineers you're building for, so your design decisions carry real weight. Relocation is paid for the right candidate.

Ready to Apply?

If space-based electro-optical systems and high-reliability firmware sound like the kind of problems you want to spend your time on, we'd like to hear from you.

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