Principal FPGA Engineer

Step into an exciting, mission-led career as a Principal FPGA Engineer, shaping secure firmware that powers high-assurance defence and cyber capabilities. If you enjoy leading complex technical work, mentoring others, and turning challenging requirements into robust, testable FPGA-based systems, this Principal FPGA Engineer role is built for you. The work is collaborative, highly technical, and genuinely impactful, with the opportunity to influence architecture from the earliest stages through verification and qualification.

What You Will Do:

• Lead the architecture, design, implementation, integration and verification of firmware systems built on FPGAs as a Principal FPGA Engineer.

• Translate inbound user and systems needs into clear, verifiable firmware requirements, providing constructive feedback where requirements are ambiguous.

• Produce high-quality firmware designs and documentation, including specification, reports and requirement traceability with verification methods.

• Chair and contribute to significant technical design reviews, ensuring deliverables meet the expected standards and maturity.

• Estimate delivery time and effort accurately for self and others, driving cost-effective solutions and predictable progress.

• Provide specialist guidance across the engineering team, mentor firmware engineers, and champion continuous improvement in firmware development processes.

What You Will Bring:

• Proven experience delivering firmware on FPGA platforms using VHDL across more than one project, with a full life-cycle approach.

• Strong understanding of FPGA tool flows and verification practices, plus the confidence to work with industry-standard communication protocols such as UART, SPI, I2C and TCP/IP.

• Demonstrable technical leadership, including design-methodology maturity (for example requirements through verification using a structured V-model approach).

• Experience with version control, change control and defect tracking, ensuring governance and traceability are embedded in day-to-day delivery.

• Willingness to obtain and maintain the relevant security clearance required for this Principal FPGA Engineer position, including eligibility rules tied to residency and citizenship.

In the wider cyber and defence engineering industry, this Principal FPGA Engineer role helps this business deliver confidential, reliable cryptographic and key management solutions. By integrating firmware considerations early, ensuring compliance and supporting robust verification, this Principal FPGA Engineer will directly strengthen the engineering organisation's ability to deliver secure outcomes for demanding operational environments.

Location:

Based onsite in Maidenhead, UK.

Interested?:

If Principal FPGA Engineer work that combines technical leadership, secure firmware delivery and real-world impact sounds like the next step, apply now to be considered for this exciting opportunity.

Your CV will be forwarded to Jonathan Lee Recruitment, a leading engineering and manufacturing recruitment consultancy established in 1978. The services advertised by Jonathan Lee Recruitment are those of an Employment Agency.

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