FPGA Intern
DRW · Chicago, IL
$225,000from the description
Jul 14, 2026
Chicago, IL
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A summer internship focused on designing, developing, and deploying FPGA-based solutions for a proprietary trading environment. Work centers on building hardware modules such as exchange data decoders and event-triggering logic, with the goal of shipping a complete project within ten weeks under the guidance of senior hardware engineers. Suited to students in engineering or related fields with hands-on HDL experience.
Junior level · Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI · Internship
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Roughly 350 people in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 260–460
Applicant volume Moderate — A normal amount of company. The rare requirements below are what will separate a shortlisted application from the rest.
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
What the occupation pays Median $137,335 (middle half $106,829–$171,337). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (7)
The posting lists SystemVerilog, Verilog, and VHDL as interchangeable HDL options under the requirements section ('Exhibit excellent development skills in System Verilog, Verilog or VHDL'), so they are captured as a single required skill with alternatives.
C++ and Python are described as a 'working knowledge' complement to the primary HDL requirement, framed as secondary context rather than a hard gate, so they are treated as preferred.
The compensation figure of $225,000 is stated as an annual base salary range for the position. This is unusually high for an internship and likely represents an annualized equivalent of the intern hourly/weekly rate, not a full-year salary — the posting's exact wording is preserved as-is.
The role is an FPGA-focused internship; 15-1252 (Software Developers) is the closest fit given the design, development, and deployment of FPGA solutions, though 15-1299 (Computer Occupations, All Other) is a reasonable alternative given the hardware-centric nature of FPGA work.
No overall years-of-experience requirement is stated; the role targets students pursuing a degree with an expected graduation between December 2027 and June 2028.
Ignored 1 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): FPGA development.
Posting is for a internship engagement — the market benchmarks below price full-time roles, so read the comp comparison with that in mind.
Read the full posting
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