FPGA Developer

Job Title: Low-Latency FPGA Developer HFT Systems

Location: Chicago, IL

Type: Contract

Required Skills & Experience:

• 10+ years of FPGA firmware development in high-frequency trading, telco, or embedded real-time domains.
• Deep expertise in VHDL and/or Verilog, including pipelined architectures and high-throughput data paths.
• Proven experience with Xilinx Vivado and/or Intel Quartus for full project lifecycle (synthesis, place & route, timing closure).
• Strong hands-on experience with PCIe interface design, including Gen3/Gen4 DMA engines, latency optimization, and MMIO communication.
• Must-have: Advanced C++ development skills for low-latency integration with FPGA (drivers, middleware, and real-time applications).
• Excellent debugging skills using hardware emulators, JTAG, logic analyzers, and signal probes.
• Familiarity with high-speed SERDES, clock domain crossing, and FPGA resource optimization.
• Deep understanding of networking protocols (UDP/TCP, Ethernet MAC/PHY, FIX, PTP).
• Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or similar technical discipline (Master s preferred).
• Prior experience working in co-location data centers or latency-sensitive HFT environments is highly desirable.
• Exposure to CXL (Compute Express Link) and high-bandwidth memory interfaces (HBM2/3).
• Experience building firmware for tick-to-trade, market replay, or hardware order book acceleration.
• Understanding of multicast feed normalization, timestamping, and cross-asset arbitrage architectures.
• Familiarity with Git, Jenkins, Perforce, and agile/hybrid SDLCs in highly regulated environments.