What are the responsibilities and job description for the FPGA Design & Validation Engineer position at PMTEK?
Job Title: FPGA Design & Validation Engineer
Location: Houston, TX, USA (Onsite)
Duration: 6-12 Months
C2C (DOE)- {No OPT- Other visa is fine}
As an FPGA Engineer in our Oil & Gas division, you will develop high-reliability digital systems for demanding environments, such as downhole drilling tools, subsea instrumentation, or refinery monitoring systems. You will leverage VHDL to implement complex data acquisition and signal processing algorithms that must operate under strict power and thermal constraints. A significant portion of this role involves hands-on lab validation to ensure system integrity before deployment in remote or hazardous field locations.
Key Responsibilities:
- Ruggedized Design: Implement synthesizable VHDL code optimized for low power consumption and high-temperature stability (e.g., surviving 150°C for downhole applications).
- High-Reliability Validation: Lead hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing in the lab to simulate harsh field conditions. Utilize oscilloscopes, logic analyzers (ILA/SignalTap), and thermal chambers to verify timing and functional reliability.
- Protocol Management: Develop and test custom and industry-standard communication bridges (e.g., Modbus, Ethernet/IP, CAN, or proprietary mud-pulse telemetry).
- Data Integrity: Design robust memory interfaces (DDR3/4) and error correction (ECC) for large-scale data logging during seismic or pipe inspection missions.
- Certification Support: Maintain detailed documentation of testing protocols and validation results to support safety and industry compliance standards.
- Perform functional and timing verification using respective simulators
- Conduct post-synthesis and post-layout verification.
Work Experience
Required Technical Skills
- Language & Logic: Expert proficiency in VHDL; experience with high-reliability design techniques like triple modular redundancy (TMR) is a plus.
- Tools: Expert-level use of Xilinx Vivado, Intel Quartus, Lattice FPGA or Microchip Libero.
- Lab Expertise: Mastery of high-speed digital probing, power analysis (using tools like XPE), and debugging hardware-software interfaces.
- Industry Interfaces: Experience with ADC/DAC interfacing (using JESD204B or LVDS) for high-precision instrumentation.
- Environment: Understanding of design constraints for battery-operated or power-limited remote systems.
Qualifications
- Education: B.E./M.Tech in Electrical, Electronics, or Instrumentation Engineering.
- Experience: 3 years in FPGA development, preferably with exposure to industrial automation, subsea electronics, or downhole tools.
- Soft Skills: Strong analytical mindset for "root cause" debugging in complex, multi-disciplinary systems.