Principal FPGA Engineer

Req Id: 428

Location:

CLARKSBURG, MD, US, 20871

Date: Oct 1, 2026

Thales Defense & Security, Inc. (TDSI) Headquartered in Clarksburg, MD, is a U.S. company that has been serving domestic and international defense Air, Land and Sea domains for 60+ years. With over 1,000 employees, TDSI and its four subsidiaries (Advanced Acoustic Concepts, Digital Receiver Technology, Tampa Microwave, and Trusted Cyber Technologies), supports U.S. Joint Services, special operations forces and multi-national partners with a variety of communication, visualization, signal intelligence/electronic warfare, and sensor/sonar capabilities. TDSI’s key technologies include tactical handheld radios, expeditionary satellite terminals, helmet-mounted displays, optics and target recognition capability, advanced radars, undersea sensing and missile systems. Lives depend on what we do!

Top Benefits (Subject to terms of applicable policies/plans)

• Competitive Salary
• Yearly Incentive Compensation Plan
• Medical insurance for self and eligible family members
• Generous 401(k) program- up to 7% company contribution and 100% immediate vesting
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Paid wellness, vacation, and holiday leave
• Paid maternity, paternity, and parental leave
• 9/80 Work Schedule (every other Friday off)
• Hybrid working environment

We are seeking a Principal FGPA Engineer to work in our Clarksburg, MD office. You will be part of small product development teams working with extremely talented, motivated people who take pride in knowing our products perform when it counts. You will also be able to see your design and development being manufactured right in our factory.

• Participate and lead FPGA architecture design.
• Own projects with regards to FPGA code and test bench development.
• Mentor junior engineers.
• System integration and test on target platforms.
• System functions and performance evaluation in LAB.
• Participate in TDSI Agile/SCRUM software development process.
• Maintain a high ethical standard of practice, including compliance with all company procedures.
• Develop signal processing, communication protocol software for an advanced communication system.

Qualifications The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• U.S. Citizenship required. - Applicants selected may be subject to a government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information to include obtaining and maintaining US Secret Level Security Clearance upon hire.
• BS in EE or CompE with at least 8 years relevant experience or MS in EE with minimum 6 years of FPGA-related experience.
• Extensive experience in FPGA design and programming using Verilog and/or VHDL.
• Hands-on-experience with industry-standard FPGA development tools such as QuestaSim/ModelSim, Synplify Pro, Altera/XILINX/Lattice design suites.
• Strong understanding of digital design fundamentals including meta-stability, clock-domain crossing techniques, and essential timing analysis for achieving reliable timing closure in multi-clock FPGA designs.
• Experience with hardware integration and system bring-up, including FPGA-to-board interface validation, high-speed I/O bring-up, ad debugging using lab instrumentation (logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, ect.)
• Expereince implementing digital signal processing algorithms and communication architectures in FPGA-based systems is a plus
• Familiarity with digital communicaitons concepts such as modulation/demodulation, filtering, synchronization, andchannel coding, etc.
• Good communication skills and self-motivation.
• Ability to comply with all Company guidelines, policies, procedures and embrace Company Core Values.

The annualized pay range for this role is $164,452-$210,133 USD along with a target incentive compensation plan (ICP) of 5% . The pay range provided is a good faith estimate representative of the experience level for the role described above. TDSI considers several factors when extending an offer, including but not limited to, the role, function and associated responsibilities, a candidate’s work experience, location, education/training, and key skills.

For specific questions about this job posting, candidates may contact talent acquisition at [email protected].

Thales Defense & Security, Inc. is committed to non-discrimination as applicable under federal, state and local laws. We are an E-Verify Employer. If you need an accommodation or assistance in order to apply for a position with Thales Defense & Security, Inc., please call Human Resources at 240-864-2000. Nearest Major Market: Washington DC