Staff FPGA Engineer

Freeform builds AI-native manufacturing systems that unify software, hardware, and physics to produce industrial-scale parts at the speed of human ideation. By treating manufacturing as a single integrated system, we unlock a new era of innovation where complex hardware is designed, built, and scaled without limits.

As a Staff FPGA Engineer at Freeform, you will be responsible for architecting and implementing a custom compute platform that enables the world’s first AI-driven, intelligent metal 3D printing technology. You will use the latest and greatest in FPGA’s including the Xilinx Zynq Ultrascale+ MPSoC to scale a high-throughput, low latency image processing pipeline. You will also have an opportunity to integrate your FPGA solutions with state-of-the-art GPUs to create an advanced machine learning acceleration platform. You will drive interdisciplinary engineering efforts between software, electrical, and process engineering teams to rapidly innovate custom FPGA solutions. High-performance computing to central to what makes Freeform’s technology unique and powerful, so this is a high-impact role in which you’ll develop core IP for a world-changing technology. 

3D printing experience is not required to be successful here - rather we look for smart, motivated, collaborative engineers who love solving hard problems and creating amazing technology!

• →Architect and implement FPGA solutions to scale a high-throughput, ultra-low latency image processing pipeline  
• →Lead interdisciplinary efforts between software, electrical, and process engineering to drive innovation on FPGA capabilities 
• →Architect and implement custom FPGA capabilities to enable real-time machine learning 
• →Architect and implement new logic components for use on FPGAs 
• →Implement custom algorithms on FPGAs for signal processing 
• →Implement custom controllers on FPGAs 

• Bachelor’s degree in computer engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, or related field 
• 10+ years of FPGA development experience in SystemVerilog or VHDL 
• Familiarity with Xilinx Vivado/Vitis toolchain development environment 
• Experience with high-speed IO, board bring up, and similar hardware-centric FPGA development domains

• Master’s degree in computer engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, or related field 
• Experience with image processing or DSP
• Experience with Xilinx Zynq Ultrascale+ MPSoC 
• Experience with embedded software development including embedded Linux and System on Chip (SoC)-based architectures 
• Experience implementing math/advanced computations on FPGAs 
• Experience with heterogeneous computing platforms and high-speed data acquisition systems 
• Familiarity with C/C++ or other high-level programming languages 
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills 
• Creative thinker able to apply first-principles reasoning to solve complex problems 

• Based in Hawthorne, our vertically integrated facility brings technology development, R&D, and production together under one roof. We operate at the center of LA’s deep tech ecosystem, surrounded by some of the most ambitious hardware innovation happening anywhere in the country.

• Our fast-paced, cross-functional environment is built on close collaboration, and as such, this role requires full-time onsite presence (five days a week), with very limited exceptions.