Hardware Engineer

Hardware Engineer

Luton (onsite)

12 month initial contract

All candidates must be eligible for UK SC clearance

Our client, a specialist in the Defence & Security sector, is currently seeking experienced Contract Hardware Engineers to support the development of next-generation Electronic Warfare and Defensive Aids Systems deployed on fast jets, helicopters, UAVs, naval and land-based platforms.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design and develop complex digital and mixed-signal hardware solutions for defence and aerospace applications.
• Define hardware architectures for FPGA, SoC and processor-based systems.
• Capture schematics and support PCB layout activities for high-speed, high-performance digital designs.
• Design and verify high-speed interfaces including DDR memory, PCIe, Ethernet and similar protocols.
• Integrate FPGA, processor, software and firmware components into complete system solutions.
• Perform design analysis, simulation, validation and verification activities.
• Support hardware bring-up, debugging and root-cause investigation at board and system level.
• Work closely with Systems, Firmware, Software, RF, Mechanical and Production Engineering teams.
• Support environmental, EMC/EMI and qualification testing in accordance with defence and aerospace standards.
• Produce technical documentation, design evidence and progress reporting in accordance with structured engineering lifecycles.
• Support customer demonstrations, integration activities, acceptance testing and trials.

Job Requirements:

Essential Experience

• Proven experience designing high-speed digital electronics within aerospace, defence or other safety/mission-critical industries.
• Strong background in FPGA and SoC-based hardware architectures (Xilinx, AMD, Intel/Altera or equivalent).
• Experience designing complex multilayer PCBs incorporating:
  • High-speed serial interfaces
  • High-performance processors
  • DDR memory subsystems
  • FPGA-based signal processing solutions
• Hands-on experience with schematic capture and PCB design tools such as:
  • Altium Designer
  • Xpedition/Expedition
  • OrCAD
• Practical board-level debugging using oscilloscopes, logic analysers, spectrum analysers and protocol analysers.
• Experience integrating hardware, firmware and software on complex embedded systems.
• Strong understanding of signal integrity, power integrity, and timing considerations in high-speed digital designs.
• Experience developing products to demanding EMC, EMI and environmental requirements.
• Ability to interpret, decompose, and implement system requirements into robust hardware solutions.
• Experience supporting verification, validation and qualification activities.

Desirable Experience

• Electronic Warfare, Radar, RF, Communications, or Sensor systems.
• Safety-critical or mission-critical product development.
• FPGA signal processing architectures.
• DO-254, DEF STAN, MIL-STD or equivalent aerospace and defence standards.
• Hardware design reviews and technical leadership activities.
• Design for Manufacture (DfM), Design for Test (DfT) and Design for Reliability (DfR).

If you are a Hardware Engineer with a passion for defence and security technologies, we would love to hear from you. Apply now to join our client's team of experts in pushing the boundaries of hardware engineering.