FPGA Firmware Engineer / FPGA Design Engineer
$115,600 - $173,400 USD yearly
Originally posted 11 May 2026 by the employer.
About the role
The Qualcomm Global CAD team is seeking an FPGA Design Engineer to develop FPGA firmware and embedded software for design solutions supporting wireless products. The role focuses on designing and implementing firmware for custom emulation hardware.
What you'll do
- Work with industry-standard tools and technologies to develop solutions for infrastructure needs. - Design and implement critical firmware for custom emulation hardware. - Contribute towards the continuous development of tools, technology, and flows. - Build customer-facing applications and work independently on development efforts.
What you'll need
- Bachelor's degree in Science, Engineering, or a related field with 2+ years of ASIC design, verification, validation, integration, or related work experience (or Master's degree with 1+ year, or PhD). - Work experience in FPGA design, FPGA firmware, or related fields. - Hands-on experience with System Verilog and RTL/HDL. - Experience with FPGA platforms including Xilinx Ultrascale, Ultrascale+, MPSoC, or Intel Stratix. - Hands-on experience with FPGA tools from Xilinx and Intel.
Nice to have
- Master's or PhD in Electronics Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or Applied Mathematics. - Experience with clock domain crossing, high speed designs, and timing closure techniques. - Exposure to VLSI design concepts and logic design. - Direct hands-on experience with C (x86, aarch64) and Python. - Hands-on experience with Linux, Embedded Linux, and Linux Device Drivers, along with ARM based designs. - Experience implementing protocols including AXI, PCIe, I2C, LVDS, and Ethernet. - Familiarity with software design principles, Agile project management practices, Git, and JIRA.
Skills: FPGA design, System Verilog, RTL/HDL, Xilinx, timing closure
This role has been open 200 days — well above the 65-day median for FPGA Design roles.
FPGA Design · RTL Design
|
Open roles in category
105
|
Median days open
65 d
|
Median salary
$162k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Qualcomm | All employers we track in this specialty (105 roles · 25 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 8 | 105 |
| Median days open | 50 d | 65 d (−15 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $162k |
Skills observed across this category: FPGA design, System Verilog, RTL/HDL, Xilinx, timing closure
Who's hiring in this category
- Altera · 33 open roles · median 59 d
- AMD · 11 open roles · median 62 d
- Teradyne · 9 open roles · median 77 d
- Qualcomm (this employer) · 8 open roles · median 49 d
- Microchip Technology · 7 open roles · median 78 d
- Keysight Technologies · 6 open roles · median 7 d
How we counted: 105 open FPGA Design (RTL Design) roles from 25 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 25 Oct 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there. Figures refresh nightly.