FPGA & DSP Team Lead (AU)

Work with cutting edge technology, making the world a safer and more secure place. DroneShield (ASX:DRO) offers an opportunity to solve some of world’s most challenging technical problems in the Electronic Warfare, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, RF sensing, Sensor Fusion and distributed systems. Working with high profile customers across militaries, government agencies, airports, critical infrastructure, law enforcement and many others.

With an approximately $1bn market capitalisation and having raised approximately $250m in 2024 alone, DroneShield is undergoing hypergrowth stage, fuelled by rapidly increasing use of drones for nefarious applications, from battlefield, to terrorism, to contraband delivery and commercial espionage.

This role is in the DroneShield Sydney headquarters in Pyrmont, Sydney. There are approximately 200 staff based in the 4,000sqm facility today, scheduled to grow to approximately 300 staff by end of 2026. Overseas on the ground presence includes Virginia (USA), Denmark, Germany and Dubai, as well as distributors in over 70 countries globally.

About the role

DroneShield is seeking a FPGA DSP Engineer with relevant experience, to lead the FPGA & DSP Engineering team in Sydney, Australia. The position will report to Hardware Manager, Sensors and Effectors where the role will comprise a split between technical management and individual contribution. The core challenge of the role is the development and expansion of RF Detection and Defeat products using software-defined radios (SDRs) and FPGAs.

Responsibilities, Duties and Expectations   

Technical Management

• Lead a team of FPGA & DSP Engineers developing electronic warfare products implementing Agile and other project management techniques.
• Task allocation to team members, considering trade-off’s, priority in-line with business objectives.
• Updating of project plans, forecasts and people planning including conducting and running quarterly planning sessions within the team.
• Regular updates to management of team progress, including project dependencies, roadblocks and delays.
• Ability to work with other team leaders on developing consistent systems and methods of working in line with industry best practices.
• Conduct regular 1-1’s with team members, Annual reviews, including identification of training and relevant events.

Individual Contribution

• Design and Implementation of radio frequency (RF) concepts, FPGA and ARM processor development, digital signal processing and Machine Learning (ML) algorithm implementation.
• Research, Design and Implementation of complex multi-FPGA Architectures targeting high bandwidth, low-latency and low-footprint embedded system applications.
• Research, scoping, design, development, and implementation of embedded MPSoC systems to support real-time wide bandwidth (> 1Ghz) RF digital data signal processing.
• Optimise the core of DroneShield’s technology for recognition, accuracy, performance, stability, and maintenance.
• Developing and expanding automated verification and validation (V&V) frameworks for CI/CD and agile development.
• Developing and expanding automated reliable build systems.

Qualifications, Experience and Skills   

• BS degree in Electronic Engineering, similar technical field of study or equivalent practical experience.
• 3+ years of qualified experience working within an established team.
• Strong experience with programming, debugging, and verifying Verilog, VHDL or SystemVerilog.
• Strong FPGA development experience using FPGA software tools such as Vivado (preferable), Quartus, Vitis, etc.
• Experience with designing and implementing high-throughput, low-latency and fully pipelined FPGA architectures.
• Experience using and designing automated Verification and Validation frameworks.
• Experience writing C/C++ firmware for FPGA modules along with familiarity with scripting languages (Python Preferable).
• Experience working in a Linux environment.
• Experience working with PCB schematics, board bring-ups and debugging hardware.
• A general RF background and knowledge of RF transmission protocols and general principals.
• Strong background or experience in Digital Signal Processing.
• Understanding or working knowledge of Machine Learning (ML) concepts within the scope of FPGA implementation.

Note for recruitment agencies: we do not accept floated candidates from external recruiters unless they were instructed to do so.