About the job

At Alcon, we are driven by the meaningful work we do to help people see brilliantly. We innovate boldly, champion progress, and act with speed as the global leader in eye care. Here, you'll be recognized for your commitment and contributions and see your career like never before. Together, we go above and beyond to make an impact in the lives of our patients and customers. We foster an inclusive culture and are looking for diverse, talented people to join Alcon.

WaveLight GmbH in Erlangen is a world leader in the development and production of innovative laser systems for use in eye surgery. WaveLight's laser and diagnostic systems enable highly precise and minimally invasive correction of refractive errors. Since 2009, WaveLight has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Alcon, a leading global ophthalmic company.

As a Principal Firmware Engineer (FPGA) (m/f/d) supporting our Surgical R&D Engineering Organization, you will lead the architecture, development, and validation of FPGA-based firmware solutions for advanced ophthalmic surgical systems in Erlangen, Germany. You will play a critical role in delivering innovative, high-quality, and regulatory-compliant medical device products that help improve patients' vision and quality of life.

In this role, a typical day will include:

• Leading FPGA firmware architecture, requirements definition, and technical design for next-generation medical device platforms
• Developing and maintaining FPGA firmware using VHDL and/or SystemVerilog, including timing-critical and deterministic logic such as video processing pipelines and control systems
• Driving hardware-firmware integration activities and collaborating with system, hardware, software, and verification teams to deliver robust end-to-end solutions
• Defining and executing verification and validation strategies, ensuring firmware quality through coding standards, linting rules, testing frameworks, and quality gates
• Supporting modern CI/CD workflows, development automation, AI-enabled engineering practices, and continuous improvement initiatives while ensuring compliance with medical device development processes and regulatory standards