Vacant Position – Senior DSP Engineer NRF/SARAO

3 weeks ago

Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa SKA South Africa Full time

Contract type: Permanent
Job Level: Management

Work Location: Cape Town, Western Cape

The National Research Foundation (NRF) supports and promotes research and human capital development through funding, the provision of National Research Facilities and science outreach platforms and programmes to the broader community in all fields of science and technology, including natural sciences, engineering, social sciences and humanities.

The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) spearheads South Africa's activities in the Square Kilometre Array Radio Telescope, commonly known as the SKA, in engineering, science and construction. SARAO is a National Facility managed by the National Research Foundation and incorporates radio astronomy instruments and programmes such as the MeerKAT telescope in the Karoo, the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) in Gauteng, the African Very Long Baseline Interferometry (AVN) programme in nine African countries as well as the associated human capital development and commercialisation endeavours.

  • Purpose:
    The Senior DSP Engineer drives or supports the overall design and development of Radio Astronomy focused digital signal processing systems, products and applications owned by the Data Processing & Pipelines Department within the Engineering & Technology Development Division.
  • Depending on operation requirements, this role may either be more architecturally focused or more implementation focused, but will typically be responsible for elements of both.
  • The Senior DSP Engineer works closely with peers across functional engineering groups and key stakeholders to ensure satisfactory delivery of the Data Processing & Pipelines Department's systems and products.
Key Responsibilities:
  • Architectural design and/or implementation of digital signal processing (DSP) products and applications for Radio Astronomy digital signal processing systems that satisfy higher-level system functional and performance requirements.
  • Design of these products may contain elements of hardware (FPGA, GPGPU, HPC) and software considerations.
  • Support analysis, definition, integration, verification and validation activities of DSP products at various system levels.
  • Development of software to control, monitor, debug and support operation of the developed DSP products.
  • Drive, follow and support the relevant systems engineering processes for product development throughout the entire product or application lifecycle from conceptualisation through to decommissioning.
  • Support deployment, maintenance, upgrades, operation and decommissioning of developed products.
  • Manage, support and coordinate resources to ensure delivery of products within project constraints.
  • Participate in the generation of technical system and product-related documentation applicable to developed DSP products to support the delivery and handover of the Data Processing & Pipelines Group's products.
  • Drive and participate in Research & Development initiatives within the domain of expertise to develop novel ideas for future products and contribute to the overall continuous development of the group.
Key Requirements: Qualification:
  • B.Tech (Eng) (NQF 7) in Electrical, Electronics or Mechatronics Engineering with 13+ years relevant experience; OR
  • B.Eng/B.Sc (Eng) (NQF 8) in Electrical, Electronics or Mechatronics Engineering with 9+ years relevant experience; OR
  • MSc / M.Eng (NQF 9) in Electrical, Electronics or Mechatronics Engineering with 7+ years relevant experience; OR
  • PhD (NQF 10) in Electrical, Electronics or Mechatronics Engineering with 5+ years relevant experience.
Experience:
  • Experience as an Engineer with a track-record of designing and implementing complete digital signal processing systems on either FPGA-based hardware OR GPGPU/HPC systems.
  • Experience building signal processing applications for Radio Astronomy instrumentation in particular is advantageous but not required.
  • Experience in both designing digital signal processing systems at a higher, product level as well as low-level implementation of components and features.
  • Implementing parallel processing on FPGA or GPU-based systems.
  • Implementation of accelerated and optimised DSP algorithms.
  • Experience analysing system requirements and defining a suitable system design.
  • Writing technical documentation describing the implementation and design of products at various technical levels.
  • Software Development or Scripting or Scientific Computing proficiency in either Python, C++, or Matlab.
  • Working with workflow and issue management tools (e.g., JIRA).
  • Working with source code and version control tools (e.g., Git).

Knowledge:

  • Typical radio astronomy instrumentation: e.g., spectrometers, correlators, beamformers (advantageous).
  • Multi-rate and parallel implementations of Digital Signal Processing Operations such as FFTs, Filters, DDS, DDC.
  • High-speed data transport such as ethernet and/or knowledge of large-scale networks (advantageous).
  • Extensive and deep knowledge of FPGA firmware design OR GPGPU and HPC programming.
  • Controlling and monitoring of DSP applications and components.
  • Systems Engineering Processes or Software Design Life Cycle.
  • Linux operating systems and development tools.
  • Working with workflow and issue management tools (e.g., JIRA).
  • Working with source code and version control tools (e.g., Git).

Additional Notes:

  • Desire to continuously learn, problem solve and acquire new skills with cutting edge technology.
  • A clear and methodical approach to problem solving.
  • A high attention to detail, excellent organisation skills.
  • Good communication skills, written and verbal.
  • Able to effectively manage and lead a team on a technical project.
  • Ability to effectively transfer knowledge and skills to other team members.
  • Eagerness to develop a technical specialisation and expertise.
  • Willingness to travel both locally and internationally depending on operational needs.

Information:
The website provides more details on the NRF initiatives and activities.

Applications:
Applicants should submit a comprehensive CV by logging to and apply online. Applications should be accompanied by a letter of motivation indicating the applicant's suitability for the position. The names and contact details of at least three referees should be provided.

Closing Date: 03 April 2025

The NRF offers a challenging career and competitive remuneration package which is commensurate with qualifications and experience. The NRF is committed to employment equity and redress and the appointment to the position will be made in line with the NRF Employment Equity Plan.

The NRF reserves the right not to make an appointment.

Correspondence will be sent to short-listed candidates only.

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