Principal FPGA (DIF) Engineer Full Time

ETL SYSTEMS LTD

Principal FPGA (DIF) Engineer
Rickmansworth, WD3 1RT

About ETL

ETL Systems has been at the forefront of RF design and manufacturing for over 35 years. It designs and builds essential elements of critical satellite communications infrastructure. Its culture of innovation and solutioneering approach have established it as a market leader in the field, with revenue growing 30x since 2003. In 2020, ETL Systems received significant investment from CBPE Capital, enabling the management team to drive their ambitious growth plan forward. ETL’s rapid growth and success have been recognised at the UK’s highest level, winning three Queen’s Awards for Enterprise in International Trade. As a testament to that success, the top 20 satellite operators and teleports in the world utilise ETL’s products. Around the world, 75% of NATO governments use ETL Systems equipment to protect their citizens. Today, the company offers a full suite of solutions between the antenna and the modem for both the uplink and downlink chains. In 2019, ETL expanded its range to include instrumentation and measurement equipment for the set-up and testing of RF chains through its acquisition of Atlantic Microwave Ltd.

As part of the ETL team, you can develop your career in Digital IF whilst being part of our exciting growth.

ETL People Benefits:

• Hybrid working available
• 25 days holiday per year (plus bank holidays), increasing with service
• Buy and sell holiday scheme
• Company Pension
• Annual Bonus & Salary Review
• Career Development and Training for all roles
• Casual Business Dress
• Free employee refreshments
• Annual company events
• ETL Employee Wellbeing Support (free annual flu vaccination, free eye tests, free employee assistance programme, Free GP Access)
• ETL People Perks: Employee discounts (shopping, holidays, gym membership, days out, cinema, dining )
• Free onsite parking, car share scheme and EV charging
• Flexible Lunchbreaks for all eligible staff wishing to take a lunch for up to 1 hour between the hours of 12-2
• Our core business hours are Monday to Friday, 8 am to 4 pm

Role overview

As the Principal FPGA (DIF) Engineer, you will report to the Digital RF Technical Lead and be responsible for designing, developing, and testing digital intermediate frequency (IF) systems utilising field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). Working within ETL’s Engineering team, you will contribute to developing the latest digital IF distribution products for ETL’s extensive product portfolio.

This is a fantastic opportunity to join forces with the world’s foremost DIF experts to innovate and enhance ETL’s state-of-the-art Digital IF products portfolio.

The ideal candidate:

We need a candidate with a strong background in network protocols, communications systems engineering, and digital signal processing. You should have experience implementing FPGA-based network equipment, ideally with SoC FPGAs like Zynq or Cyclone device families.

You will have outstanding FPGA skills and experience working on mid to large-sized designs with multiple code authors in a cloud CI environment to succeed in this role. You will be familiar with high-speed sampling, processing of signals, including adding metadata, and transmission of data over high-speed Ethernet encapsulated in L4 protocols such as V49.2 or eCPRI.

Key Accountabilities:

• To design and develop a range of modules and equipment for digital IF.
• Integration and test of digital IF equipment.
• Produce HDL code for VITA-49 or similar network SDR transport protocols.
• Scripting in TCL designs utilising IP Cores for rapid development.
• Build scripting to support continuous integration.
• The design and development of test benches to prove HDL code.
• Conduct floor-planning and timing analysis of designs, achieving timing closure.
• Test of HDL code on the target platform.
• Integration of firmware into application design
• Leading and mentoring junior FPGA engineers and providing technical guidance

Desirable Skills and Experience:

• Relevant academic credentials at the level of a bachelor’s or higher.
• Industrial experience developing Radio Frequency SOC (RFSOC / MPSOC) is highly desirable.
• Experience with SDR protocols such as VITA-49.
• Experience in FPGA implementation of communications stacks.
• Extensive experience with FPGA synthesis tools such as Synplify, Vivado, Quartus or Mentor.
• Extensive experience in writing FPGA test benches, ideally with Verilator / cocotb.
• Experience with DSP Algorithm simulation in Python.
• Implement DSP algorithms in Verilog efficiently.
• FPGA code design, synthesis, implementation, and test, including achieving timing closure.
• Build scripting for reproducible builds in a team environment.
• Command line Linux.
• Experience in C / C++ / Rust or other high-level language.
• Experience of working in an Agile Test-Driven environment.

ETL Systems proudly supports those who serve

ETL Systems have officially signed the Armed Forces Covenant, reaffirming its commitment to supporting the UK’s Armed Forces community.

The Armed Forces Covenant is a pledge made by organisations to ensure that those who serve or have served, and their families, are treated fairly. By signing the Covenant, ETL Systems has committed to ensuring that veterans, reservists, and their spouses have access to the same employment opportunities, training, and support as any other employee.

Learn more about the Armed Forces Covenant