Embedded Firmware & FPGA Engineer

Eaton’s Electrical Critical Power Solutions Division is seeking a Embedded Firmware & FPGA Engineer to join our innovative engineering team in Youngsville, NC. In this role, you will contribute to the architecture, design, development, verification, and release of FPGA-based solutions supporting next-generation power management products. Working alongside global, cross-functional teams, you will play a key role in bringing new products to market, including advanced silicon carbide (SiC)-based three-phase power conversion systems that deliver reliable power for mission-critical applications such as data centers.

The expected annual salary range for this role is $80000 - $118000 a year.  

Please note the salary information shown above is a general guideline only. Salaries are based upon candidate skills, experience, and qualifications, as well as market and business considerations. 

What you’ll do:

• Work as part of an engineering team to architect, develop, verify, test, and release FPGA-based designs in support of new product development. Collaborate with global cross-functional teams to support the launch of new products, including SiC-based three-phase power conversion systems designed to support critical loads such as data centers.
• Review product requirements and collaborate with systems, firmware, controls, power electronics, and hardware engineers to translate system-level specifications into FPGA architecture and detailed design requirements.
• Evaluate alternative FPGA architectures and implementation approaches to meet customer and product development requirements while considering performance, resource utilization, cost, reliability, and schedule.
• Design, develop, review, and maintain synthesizable RTL using Verilog, SystemVerilog, and/or VHDL.
• Develop FPGA logic for functions such as PWM generation, digital control, protection and fault management, high-speed data acquisition, sequencing, state machines, digital filtering, and processor/peripheral interfaces.
• Develop modular and reusable FPGA design components and establish effective FPGA coding and design practices.
• Develop testbenches and perform RTL simulation and functional verification to ensure designs meet functional and system requirements.
• Perform synthesis, place-and-route, static timing analysis, and timing closure using industry-standard FPGA development toolchains.
• Analyze and resolve FPGA implementation challenges related to timing, resource utilization, clock distribution, reset architecture, and clock-domain crossing.
• Design and integrate communication interfaces between FPGAs, microcontrollers, DSPs, ADCs, DACs, and other system components using interfaces such as SPI, I2C, UART, CAN, Ethernet, and parallel interfaces, as applicable.
• Support board-level bring-up, integration, and debugging of FPGA-based systems using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, JTAG debuggers, and embedded FPGA debugging tools.
• Participate in design reviews, RTL code reviews, verification reviews, and root-cause investigations.

Qualifications:

Required (Basic) Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related engineering discipline from an accredited institution with at least 1 internship experience in embedded software or firmware development.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Professional experience developing synthesizable RTL using VHDL, Verilog, and/or SystemVerilog.
• Experience with FPGA design workflows including RTL development, simulation, synthesis, implementation, timing analysis, and hardware validation.

• Design experience with power electronic, industrial control, energy conversion, or other real-time embedded products.
• Experience implementing digital control algorithms, PWM generation, modulation techniques and high-speed deterministic control functions in FPGA.
• Experience with FPGA development toolchains such as Intel Quartus, and ModelSim/Questa.
• Experience integrating FPGA designs with microcontrollers, DSPs, ADCs, DACs, and mixed-signal embedded systems.
• Experience implementing communication interfaces such as SPI, I2C, UART, CAN, Ethernet, and high-speed serial or parallel interfaces.
• Experience with embedded firmware development and programming in C/C++.
• Experience using hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation for system integration and validation.

Skills:

• Strong knowledge of digital logic design, synchronous design principles, finite-state machines, pipelining, clocking, reset architectures, and FPGA resource optimization.
• Understanding of three-phase electrical power systems and power conversion concepts is preferred.
• Ability to read and understand electrical schematics, component datasheets, interface specifications, and timing diagrams.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in cross-functional and geographically distributed engineering teams.
• Self-motivated, proactive, detail-oriented, and capable of independently driving technical activities to meet project schedules.
• Ability to work in a laboratory environment around high-voltage equipment where strict adherence to safety practices is critical.

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