About the role

DroneShield is seeking an experienced FPGA & DSP Team Lead to lead the FPGA & DSP Engineering team in Sydney, Australia. Reporting to the Hardware Manager, Embedded Systems, this role combines technical leadership with hands-on engineering responsibilities.

The primary focus of the position is the development and advancement of RF Detection and Defeat products using Software-Defined Radios (SDRs), FPGAs, and advanced signal processing technologies.

Responsibilities, Duties and Expectations

Technical Leadership

- Lead and support a team of FPGA and DSP engineers developing electronic warfare products using Agile development methodologies and best-practice project management techniques
- Assign and prioritise work across the team, balancing technical trade-offs and business objectives
- Maintain project plans, resource forecasts, and workforce planning activities, including quarterly planning sessions
- Provide regular updates to management on team progress, risks, dependencies, and project status
- Collaborate with other engineering leaders to establish consistent processes, tools, and ways of working aligned with industry best practice
- Conduct regular one-on-one meetings, performance and development discussions, and support skilled growth through training and development opportunities

Technical Contribution

- Design and implement RF solutions, FPGA applications, ARM-based embedded systems, digital signal processing algorithms, and machine learning implementations
- Research, design, and develop complex multi-FPGA architectures for high-bandwidth, low-latency embedded systems
- Design and implement embedded MPSoC platforms supporting real-time wide-bandwidth (>1 GHz)



RF digital signal processing applications
- Enhance the performance, accuracy, reliability, maintainability, and scalability of DroneShield's core technologies
- Develop and improve automated verification and validation (V&V;) frameworks that support Agile and CI/CD development practices
- Develop and maintain reliable automated build and deployment systems

Qualifications, Experience and Skills

- Bachelor's degree in Electronic Engineering or a related technical discipline, or equivalent practical experience
- Demonstrated experience working effectively within engineering teams and providing technical leadership
- Strong experience developing, debugging, and verifying FPGA designs using Verilog, VHDL, or SystemVerilog
- Experience with FPGA development environments such as Vivado (preferred), Quartus, Vitis, or equivalent tools.
- Experience designing high-throughput, low-latency, fully pipelined FPGA architectures
- Experience developing and implementing automated verification and validation frameworks
- Experience writing C/C++ firmware for FPGA-based systems, with proficiency in Python or other scripting languages preferred
- Experience working in Linux-based development environments
- Experience interpreting PCB schematics, performing board bring-up activities, and debugging hardware issues.
- Understanding of RF systems, RF transmission protocols, and related engineering principles
- Strong knowledge of digital signal processing concepts and implementation techniques
- Exposure to, or practical experience with, machine learning concepts and FPGA-based implementation

Note for recruitment agencies: We do not accept unsolicited candidates from external recruiters unless specifically instructed.

📌 FPGA and DSP Team Lead (AU) (Sydney)
🏢 Droneshield
📍 Sydney