Hardware Designer
Designs high-speed electronic systems and PCBs for clients in aerospace, telecom, and other advanced industries, using tools like OrCAD and Cadence Allegro.
- Compensation
- Not disclosed
- Location
- United States
- Work setup
- Remote
- Seniority
- Not specified
- Employment
- Not specified
- Experience
- 5+ years
- Category
- Hardware
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- Minimum 5 years of direct electronics design experience
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering, or equivalent.
- Ability to lead a design technically and as a mentor
- Strong fundamental knowledge of high-speed circuit and multi-layer PCB design
- In depth understanding of all aspects of the hardware product development cycle including requirements, architecture, schematic capture, PCB layout, signal integrity, verification, and manufacturing
- Background in FPGA designs, including 32Gbps diff pairs, power/thermal design
- Experience with high-speed devices and protocols including DDR4, PCIe Gen4, MIPI, Gigabit Ethernet, USB-C, HDMI, SerDes and JESD204B.
- Experience with development tools such as Cadence CIS/Orcad/Cadence Allegro
- Experience using optical test sets, signal analyzers, and GHz+ oscilloscopes for analysis of eye diagrams, phase noise, and overall signal quality
- Hands-on debugging experience involving scopes, VNAs, signal generators, electronic loads
- Familiarity with ESD, EMI, and RF design considerations
- Ability to use Verilog, RTL, or HLS an asset
- Embraces AI as part of a modern engineering toolkit
Full description
Fidus is a global high-tech design firm headquartered in Ottawa, with additional design centres in Kitchener-Waterloo and San Jose. We specialize in leading-edge electronic product development, with hardware, embedded software, FPGA/ASIC, and signal integrity teams working together to design and deliver next-generation products for clients in emerging technology markets.
Position Overview/Mandate:
The Hardware Designer plays a key role in architecting and delivering complex, high-performance electronic systems for Fidus clients. You will work closely with customers and cross-functional teams (FPGA, software, SI/PI) to define system and board-level architectures, design high-speed circuits, and support full product development from concept through bring-up and validation.
This role is ideal for someone who enjoys tackling challenging, high-speed designs (DDR, PCIe, SerDes), working across the full hardware lifecycle, and collaborating in multidisciplinary environments. You take pride in delivering robust, production-ready designs and mentoring others while maintaining a high standard of engineering quality and documentation.
Make an Impact with US:
At Fidus, you'll work on high-speed, high-complexity electronic systems, often using emerging technologies before they reach the broader market. You'll collaborate across FPGA/DSP, hardware, embedded software, verification, SI/PI, PCB layout, and mechanical/thermal design as part of cross-functional teams delivering real products for our clients.
In practice, that means contributing to projects across Communications, Aerospace & Defense, Life Sciences & Medical Devices, Space & Satellite, Industrial Automation, Automotive, and Semiconductor engagements. You won't be limited to a single product or industry—your work will follow the technology, not just one roadmap.
What You’ll Be Doing:
- Develop the system and board level architectural design, but working collaboratively with the software and FPGA programmers to analyze requirements
- Provide schematic design and component selection for high-speed circuits, SerDes to 32Gbps, control circuits, power supply sequencing, inter-board connectors, and memory busses
- Conduct design simulations using LTSpice and prove circuits using prototype bench tests
- Work with the Signal Integrity team to ensure a detailed analysis of critical nets
- Participate in design reviews (Signal Integrity, PCB Layout, FPGA coding, Software) to ensure Fidus quality standards are met
- Perform parts library creation and schematic capture, including embedded layout constraints, using OrCAD Capture CIS
- Develop comprehensive test plans and test procedures
- Lab bring-up and in-depth verification of hardware prototypes
- Actively collaborate with the team to address hardware & software integration issues