Principal Electrical Engineer

Mercury Systems is seeking the best and brightest engineering talent to help us deliver cutting‑edge technology for mission‑critical aerospace and defense applications, advancing innovation where it matters most.

In this role, our team is looking for a Principal Electrical Engineer - Hardware Design/Board Designer who will architect ruggedized circuit board solutions and lead end‑to‑end development of advanced embedded computing, high‑speed digital systems, secure processing, and FPGA‑based hardware. You will help drive complex board‑level designs that must operate reliably in extreme environments across air, land, sea, and space, with the opportunity to see your designs directly deployed in real‑world systems. As a technical leader, you will shape engineering standards, guide architectural decisions, and drive innovation through collaborative reviews and proactive verification. Working within Mercury's Integrator Mindset, you will partner across sites and disciplines to deliver board‑level solutions that directly support national security

Job Responsibilities:

• Lead board‑level design and development of complex digital circuits, modules, and embedded systems from concept through production
• Architect advanced electrical circuit board solutions involving secure processing, storage, networking, FPGA technologies, high‑speed interfaces, and electronics designed for extreme operating environments
• Develop and analyze high‑speed digital board designs including 400G+ Ethernet, PCIe Gen5+, DDR5+, and next‑generation interconnect technologies
• Establish engineering best practices, design guidelines, and quality‑focused processes that enable proactive verification and high‑reliability hardware development
• Support proposal development by contributing technical architectures, cost and schedule estimates, and Basis of Estimate (BOE) input
• Drive design‑for‑manufacturability (DFM), design‑for‑assembly (DFA), and design‑for‑test (DFT) efforts and collaborate with manufacturing teams to resolve board build issues
• Partner with cross‑functional engineering teams to ensure integrated, robust hardware solutions across product lifecycles

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or equivalent; Master's degree preferred

• Typically requires a minimum of 6+ years of electrical engineering experience in board-level hardware design from concept through production

• Experience architecting and designing complex embedded digital hardware with high‑speed interfaces such as 400G+ Ethernet, PCIe Gen5+, and DDR5+, memory technologies, and next‑generation interconnects

• Strong understanding of high‑speed digital signal‑integrity principles

• Experience using board‑level schematic capture tools and collaborating with CAD/SI teams during layout, bring‑up, and verification

• Experience mentoring engineers, supporting technical leadership activities, and contributing to cross‑functional collaboration

"This position requires you to access information that is subject to U.S. export regulations. You may only access such information if you are a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. government"

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with Intel or other advanced CPU architectures such as Xeon‑D, Cascade Lake, or Granite Rapids
• Experience with advanced FPGA board technologies including AMD/Xilinx Versal or Intel/Altera Agilex
• Experience developing advanced network interface board designs using components from Nvidia, Broadcom, or Marvell
• Background with VPX/VITA standards (3U/6U), COM Express, or SoM embedded architectures
• Experience with MIL‑STD hardware development for rugged defense environments.
• Experience designing secure computing solutions, anti‑tamper features, DRFM hardware, or other specialized defense systems
• Exposure to space‑application electronics or radiation‑tolerant component integration
• Proficiency with Cadence schematic capture tools (DEHDL/Concept) and Cadence Allegro or equivalent CAD/SI platforms
• Experience performing reliability and stress analysis, including FMECA or derating
• Familiarity with requirements and workflow tools such as DOORS, JAMA, JIRA, or Confluence
• Experience mentoring engineers, leading technical teams, and supporting proposals or BOE development