Lead Firmware & FPGA Engineer
Phoenix, AZ /Grand Rapids, MI
Avionics - Surveillance - Engineering /
Full Time Reg | F /
On-site
About Acron Aviation (Avionics - Surveillance):
Acron Aviation designs, engineers, and manufactures certified avionics systems that support safety-critical flight operations across commercial and military aviation. Within Avionics, the Surveillance product line develops and sustains systems that enable aircraft awareness, collision avoidance, and airspace interoperability. Our portfolio includes TCAS, Mode S transponders, ADS-B, and integrated surveillance solutions deployed across commercial, military, and rotorcraft platforms. This work is performed in highly regulated environments and demands deep expertise across systems, hardware, software, and RF throughout the full product lifecycle.
Job Title
Lead Firmware & FPGA Engineer - Surveillance
Position Summary
The Lead Firmware & FPGA Engineer is responsible for the technical leadership, architecture, development, certification support, and lifecycle management of advanced avionics systems spanning FPGA, firmware, and Complex Electronic Hardware (CEH) domains.
This role leads firmware, FPGA, and hardware engineering activities for airborne products including transponder, TCAS, surveillance, and communications systems while ensuring compliance with aerospace standards and customer requirements.
The position serves as the primary technical authority for firmware development, requirements definition, and design execution, including oversight of external engineering partners and contract design organizations. The successful candidate will lead firmware architecture and performance trade studies, leverage AI-enabled engineering tools to improve productivity and automation, and own the development of product hardware requirements and design documentation throughout the product lifecycle.
Technical Leadership
Lead engineering activities supporting the development of RF airborne avionics products from concept through certification and production
Define system architecture and allocate requirements across FPGA, firmware, CEH, RF, analog, digital, mixed-signal, software, mechanical, and systems engineering disciplines
Serve as technical lead for surveillance, communications, and collision avoidance products, including Mode S transponders, ADS-B systems, and TCAS equipment
Provide technical guidance, mentorship, and engineering oversight to multidisciplinary development teams
Support strategic product roadmaps and next-generation avionics technology initiatives
Firmware & FPGA Leadership
Lead firmware and FPGA architecture, design integration, and technical decision-making for avionics products
Establish firmware and FPGA requirements, interfaces, and performance budgets for timing, latency, throughput, resource utilization, determinism, fault handling, and system reliability
Drive firmware and FPGA trade studies and design reviews across requirements allocation, RTL implementation, state-machine design, timing closure, verification strategy, configuration management, and hardware integration
Lead execution of the DO-254 development process for Complex Electronic Hardware (CEH)
Coordinate validation, laboratory bring-up, and system integration activities across firmware, FPGA, hardware, software, and systems engineering teams
Support certification readiness by ensuring design evidence, verification coverage, traceability, lifecycle data, and compliance artifacts are complete and auditable
Requirements Development & Ownership
Develop, maintain, and own Hardware Requirements Documents (HRDs) and associated derived requirements
Ensure traceability between customer, system, hardware, software, and certification requirements
Lead requirements decomposition, validation, verification planning, and change management activities
Establish acceptance criteria and verification methods for hardware requirements
Outsourced Development Oversight
Manage and provide technical oversight of outsourced engineering partners supporting firmware, FPGA, RF, electrical, and hardware development activities
Define statements of work, technical deliverables, schedules, design reviews, and acceptance criteria
Conduct design audits and technical reviews to ensure compliance with company standards and certification requirements
Coordinate technical communication between internal stakeholders and external development organizations
Assess supplier technical risks and implement mitigation strategies
Firmware Design & Development
Direct the design and development of embedded firmware for complex avionics products
Review firmware architecture, detailed design artifacts, interface definitions, implementation approaches, and test results
Ensure firmware designs meet performance, determinism, reliability, maintainability, and certification objectives
Support integration activities across firmware, FPGA, electrical hardware, software, and system-level validation environments
Drive robust firmware development practices supporting traceability, verification coverage, configuration management, and certification compliance
Artificial Intelligence & Engineering Automation
Champion the adoption of AI technologies to improve engineering productivity, quality, and development efficiency
Maintain a continuous improvement mindset and evaluate opportunities for process optimization
Evaluate emerging AI technologies and integrate effective solutions into engineering workflows to reduce repetitive and low-value work
Verification & Validation
Lead firmware verification and validation activities throughout the development lifecycle, primarily through oversight of outsourced development partners
Review and approve test plans, procedures, reports, and qualification data
Support root cause analysis, troubleshooting, and corrective action investigations
Ensure complete requirements verification coverage and certification evidence generation
Required Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related engineering discipline
10+ years of experience in aerospace, avionics, or safety-critical embedded product development
5+ years of technical leadership experience leading complex firmware, FPGA, or embedded avionics development programs
Strong experience in embedded firmware architecture, design, integration, and verification for safety-critical electronic systems
Experience managing and overseeing external engineering design partners or contract development organizations
Experience developing and managing requirements documentation, traceability, and verification evidence for firmware or complex electronic hardware
Proven knowledge of RTCA DO-254 certification expectations applicable to airborne systems
Strong understanding of firmware integration challenges across FPGA, hardware, software, and system validation environments
Experience supporting certification and regulatory compliance activities for avionics or other highly regulated products
Preferred Additional Skills
Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related discipline
Experience leading firmware development for FAA, EASA, TSO, ETSO, or military avionics programs
Familiarity with DO-178C, ARP4754A, and ARP4761 development and certification processes
Experience
