Hi all. Here's an official link to a job opportunity at NRAO in Socorro, NM. It's for an experienced person.
https://cw.na1.hgncloud.com/nrao/loadJobPostingDetails.do?jobPostingID=102420&source=jobList A rude summary follows for the curious. Sorry about the formatting... John Position Summary The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is seeking to hire a digital electronics engineer with a signal processing background who is familiar with FPGAs, embedded processors and who is experienced in programming these devices to operate in real-time systems. Experience in working with the Xilinx and Altera FPGA development platforms is highly desirable. The NRAO has a long history of developing new technology to enable forefront research in radio astronomy. This development occurs in a collaborative environment with technicians, hardware and software engineers, and scientists. By joining NRAO, an employee has a direct contribution to expanding the observatory's state-of-the-art facilities and equipment used by scientists around the world. NRAO currently has development programs under way in highly integrated receiver architectures that employ early signal digitization, DSP filtering, data encoding, wideband digital signal processors, and photonic signal generation and data transmission. The position is based on the campus of New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (www.nmt.edu<http://www.nmt.edu/>) at the Domenici Science Operations Center in Socorro, NM. Socorro is a small, historical town in the Rio Grande Valley, 75 miles south of Albuquerque. Classification and pay will be commensurate with the selected candidate's qualifications and relevant experience. In addition to competitive pay, the NRAO provides excellent paid time off benefits (vacation and sick leave). Medical, dental and vision plans are effective first day of employment. Our retirement benefit contributes an amount equal to 10 percent of the participant's base pay. No contribution is required of the employee; we also offer an optional supplemental, tax-deferred plan for employee retirement contributions. Job Duties Summary The successful candidate will work both independently and within a dynamic team environment to support ongoing developments for both future projects and for existing telescope electronics hardware. This development involves Radio Frequency (RF), digital, and mixed-signal integrated circuits and systems applied to radio astronomy instrumentation. Responsibilities will include reviewing, designing, programming, testing, and troubleshooting firmware systems used to control circuit boards, interface electronics, and to provide signal processing systems that prepare receiver radio frequency signals for data correlation. Functional responsibilities for this position include: * Programming embedded processors and/or FPGA's for monitor, control, and signal processing functions; * Conducting tests and data recording; * Data analysis for verification of specifications; * Electronic trouble-shooting; * Circuit board design and layout; * Perform other duties as assigned. Competency Summary The successful candidate will have skills and demonstrated competencies in the following areas: * Strong analytical skills and both verbal and written communication skills * Ability and willingness to be a self-starter in a technical environment; * High-speed digital design; * An understanding of mixed-signal integrated circuits, logic families, A-to-D and D-to-A converters; * RF concepts in mixed signal design (impedance, reflections, isolation, crosstalk, shielding, ground plane design); * Field Programmable Gate Arrays and Digital Signal Processors; * Embedded processors/microcontrollers; * Good documentation and communication skills * MATLAB, Simulink, LabVIEW, open-source hardware/firmware tools, VHDL/Verilog; * Circuit Board design and troubleshooting; * Design for manufacturing;
