Senior Digital Electronics/FPGA Engineer

Introduction 

We are looking for an experienced Electronics Engineer to help us develop some of the world’s most advanced communications systems.

Our company has a rich history in satellite, cellular and private network communications. As we expand these capabilities to include innovative new communications systems in the fields of Low Earth Orbit Satellites and High-Altitude Platform Systems, we are looking for someone to join us on this journey.

Your core role will be to lead development in these areas using your expertise in board-level electronics, FPGA and signal processing, working alongside our commercial teams to understand technology trends, develop and exploit market opportunities, as well as inspiring your colleagues to develop technology breakthroughs that add real value for our customers.

Your role 

You will take responsibility for specification, architecture and technical leadership on projects, whilst contributing to the future technology direction of the department and company.

You’ll act as a key specialist for digital design projects, with opportunities to work across general-purpose electronics as well. Our project teams tend to be small and highly collaborative, giving you significant ownership and the chance to learn from experts in software, signal processing, AI, test, and RF engineers.

Some interesting high-speed electronics challenges we’ve previously solved include:

• The world’s largest commercial airborne antennawith internal data rates over 10Tb/s 
• The world’s lowest power voice detection system
• Communications system for a swarm of warehouse robots
• Satellite terminal development

Every project we do is different – we are always innovating rather than iterating, so each no project will be a brand-new challenge.

What can you bring? 

The essential technical requirements for this position include:

• Strong academic background with an excellent electronics-related undergraduate degree 
• Solid understanding of the fundamentals of electronic circuit design 
• Electronic design experience including high-speed design and high-level layout 
• Experience of FPGA design and verification 

As this is a client-facing role, we need someone who demonstrates great communication skills and a genuine passion for engineering. This being said, if you have never worked in a client-facing position we can help to develop this aspect of your skillset.

Depending on level of experience we would also consider some of the following to be advantageous:

• Ability to find and down-select high-performance devices, such as application processors, FPGAs and SoCs to fulfil system requirements such as data throughput and power consumption 
• Familiarity with embedded interconnects such as DDR4, QSPI, PCIe, JESD204 
• Design-for, test and debugging of EMC 
• Experience of schematic entry using electronic computer-aided design (ECAD) tools such as Altium Designer and driving the layout using our specialist PCB layout team. 
• Basic understanding of Linux, C and Python for the purposes of board bring-up and debug. 
• Hardware description languages such as Verilog or VHDL, possibly within a continuous integration environment 
• Some exposure to radio frequency engineering 
• An interest in, or experience of, technical leadership 
• Embedded software and scripting 
• Understanding of Digital Signal Processing and its applications in RF 
• A passion for understanding and developing new technologies 
• Enthusiasm for mentoring more junior engineers 
• You may have experience of some of the tools we use, including GitLab, Altium (PCB), Hyperlynx (SI), Doors Next, Verilog or VHDL, UVM, C(++), Tcl, Python

What we can offer 

You’re likely to have far more variety in your work here than in your current role: Cambridge Consultants develops breakthrough technology across a broad range of industries including Telecommunications, Sustainable energy, Industrial, Consumer, Media, Healthcare, Biotechnology and many others for clients ranging from start-up to blue chip. Some are looking to optimise their existing technologies, while others come with a vision to develop something entirely new and unexpected.  

You won’t be working alone to reach these goals. We have a friendly and supportive culture and a passion for solving technical challenges. 

You will also have access to our extensive in-house facilities: 

• Prototype PCB manufacturing facilities, including SMT pick-and-place, vapour-phase reflow and x-ray inspection 
• Skilled PCB layout team 
• EMC emissions test facility 
• Custom anechoic radio and antenna test chamber. 
• Prototype development mechanical workshop. 

We support the development of our employees and offer an extensive inhouse training program. As you advance within the organisation there will be plenty of opportunities for you to develop your technical skills and specialism, take on more leadership responsibilities and/or focus more on supporting the development of sales opportunities.