Senior FPGA Firmware Engineer – Medical Devices

About the role

Alcon is seeking a Senior Firmware Engineer with FPGA expertise to join its Surgical R&D Engineering Organization in Erlangen, Germany. You will develop firmware for cutting‑edge ophthalmic surgical systems, ensuring high quality and regulatory compliance.

Key responsibilities

• Design FPGA firmware architecture, requirements, and technical specifications for vision‑care devices.
• Develop VHDL and/or SystemVerilog code for deterministic, timing‑critical functions such as video pipelines and control logic.
• Support hardware‑firmware integration, collaborating with cross‑functional teams to achieve robust system performance.
• Define and execute verification and validation activities, maintaining coding standards and quality gates.
• Participate in CI/CD workflows, lab validation, and continuous improvement initiatives while adhering to medical‑device development standards.

Required profile

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
• Minimum 6 years of FPGA/firmware development experience.
• Fluent English and intermediate German language skills.
• Residence within commuting distance of Erlangen or willingness to relocate.

Required skills

• FPGA development using VHDL and SystemVerilog.
• Experience with Xilinx FPGA SoCs.
• Programming in C, C++, and Python.
• Hardware‑firmware integration and system‑level debugging.
• Agile/Scrum development methodology.