Senior Firmware (FPGA) Engineer

Thales is a global technology leader with more than 83,000 employees on five continents. With over 7,500 people in the UK, operating across defence, space, aerospace, and digital security, we help build a future we can all trust. Thales supports the security and stability of our nation by providing extraordinary technology to our customers, as well as delivering social value to the UK with our products and services.

Become a key part of a team with a proven track record for delivering firmware for a wide range of defence, related products. Typical firmware services provided:

• Architecture, requirements specification, design, verification and validation.

• Working in conjunction with systems, software and hardware engineers to develop electronic systems.

Projects involve using the latest industry class development tools for FPGA and system on a chip hardware technologies. Work is carried out to a structured firmware design process.

These roles can be based in Crawley or Reading and can support a mix of on-site and remote working. There is a requirement to that periods of time to be spent at Customer sites and/or integration facilities.

As a People 1st Employer, we are passionate about providing you with opportunities to advance your engineering career and are committed to giving our employees the support they need to reach their professional goals. This includes support in submission of Professional Registration applications, funding membership of a professional body, and access to a wide variety of learning resources through our comprehensive e-Learning Engine. We also offer development pathways towards roles such as Firmware Architect, Firmware Engineering Manager, or a recognised Thales Specialist or Expert. 

Each successful candidate will have demonstrable experience of Firmware engineering in the defence and/or transportation and/or aerospace domain and will ideally have experience interfacing with external customers as well as internal stakeholders.

The role holder reports to the Firmware Team Lead. The key individual responsibilities are:

• Work as part of firmware teams to deliver firmware projects to agreed time, cost and quality

• Verify firmware using Hardware Verification Languages or Hardware Description languages

• Design firmware using Hardware Description Languages

• Enhancement of firmware related processes (documenting, scripting, reporting, process automation)

• Working closely with multi-disciplinary teams

Desired knowledge, qualifications and experience

• Strong communications, verbally and in writing. A relevant degree (BEng, MEng, EngD, PhD) in electronics, supported by 5+ years of relevant experience.

• Membership or fellowship of a professional engineering body preferably with or working towards chartered status.

• Previous experience working on Electronic Warfare project(s) would be advantageous.

Specialisation/knowledge in some of the following:

• Leading Firmware design/architecture

• Leading small team of firmware engineers

• Verification Test bench architecture with System Verilog or C++

• Verification Methodology: Advanced VHDL verification or OSVVM/UVVM

• Requirements Management: IBM Rationale DOORS

• Simulation of designs using simulator tool: Mentor Graphics Modelsim / Questasim

• Digital electronic design in hardware development languages: VHDL and either Verilog or System Verilog

• Implementation of complex designs using any vendor specific development tools

• Technologies: PCIe, Ethernet, Serial Comms, AXI4

• Object Orientated design Techniques

• Image processing techniques and algorithms

• Algorithm development using development tool: MatLab

• Linux development environments

• Creation of Firmware development plans and other design documentation

The successful candidate will be someone who :

• Is a team player with a “can-do” attitude that performs effectively in a multi-disciplinary team environment and promotes the values of inclusiveness and diversity

• Is confident in their ability to help solve complex problems, asks challenging questions to develop their understanding, and suggests new ideas to further our product offering and increase our added value

• Is a self-starter, with an ability to manage their own workload and meet their agreed objectives, whilst also contributing to the development and delivery of wider operational goals

Security Clearance Statement

Due to the nature of the work that we do at Thales, many of our roles are subject to security restrictions. This role requires you to be a UK National and achieve Security Clearance (SC) without any caveats. It would be advantageous if currently held, however, if not currently held, it is a requirement that the successful applicant undergo, achieve, and maintain SC Clearance prior to commencing employment. If approved by the MOD, a dual national from a Non-ITAR country may be considered. Please visit the UKSV website for further guidance.

To be eligible for full SC, you generally need to have resided in the UK for the last 5 years. In some circumstances, a minimum of 3 years’ residence in the UK over the last 5 years may be accepted, with additional overseas checks.

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At Thales, we ensure equal opportunities, pay and working conditions for all. The benefits we offer include private medical insurance, buying or selling annual leave, cycle to work schemes, employee discounts, paid volunteering day, stocks and shares, annual bonus and much more depending on the role. Read more about our benefits here.

We are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels valued for who they are and the unique strengths they bring. Discover more about our programmes, employee networks, wellbeing policies, and inclusive features here.

If this role isn’t quite right for you, we encourage you to join our talent community where your details will be shared with our recruitment teams for other potential opportunities. Join the Talent Community here.

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