Application Users - Vivado on Windows - STEM

What you'll do

Mercor is recruiting working FPGA engineers who use Vivado, AMD's (formerly Xilinx's) design suite for synthesis, implementation and timing closure on its FPGAs and adaptive SoCs. The listing is part of a large family of "Application Users" ads, one per program, and like the rest it says almost nothing about the actual tasks.

What it does make clear is the setup: your own Windows PC, your own Vivado installation, and a display that produces high-resolution screenshots. That pattern suggests capturing or demonstrating real work inside the application, which is typically used to train and evaluate AI agents that operate desktop software. The ad does not say so directly, so ask during screening what a task looks like and how long one takes.

The realistic candidate here is someone who lives in Vivado: block designs, constraint files, running implementation, reading timing reports, working through IP integrator. A student who has flashed a dev board once will struggle to show "real-world experience".

Who fits

• Vivado installed on your own Windows machine and ready to open today (no licences, VMs or hardware from Mercor)
• Practical, day-to-day experience, the kind held by FPGA and RTL design and verification engineers
• A display setup that captures above 2.5 megapixels: one high-resolution monitor (1440p or better at 16:9, 2560×1600 at 16:10, an ultrawide of 3440×1440, or a MacBook Pro 14"/16" panel) or two 1080p-or-better monitors captured as one spanning image

The ad sets no degree, years-of-experience or country requirement.

What it pays

$45–55 per hour. Mercor's sister listing for Quartus II, the Intel/Altera FPGA tool, sits in the "Code" tier at $55–65/hour, a full $10 higher for closely comparable engineering skill. If you are fluent in both vendors' toolchains, apply to both and compare offers.

Payments are weekly via Stripe or Wise, based on services rendered.

Worth knowing

Good:

• Vivado fluency is scarce, and here it is the whole qualification
• Remote, self-scheduled, no location restriction published
• Weekly payment terms stated upfront
• Mercor showed 8 hires on this listing this month when we checked

Less good:

• The Quartus II listing pays more for the equivalent skill set on the other vendor
• Paid Vivado editions are expensive and Mercor does not provide a licence; the ad does not say whether the free Standard edition is enough
• No description of tasks, weekly hours or project duration
• Projects can be extended, shortened or ended early on need and performance
• H-1B and STEM OPT candidates are excluded; independent contractor terms

About this listing

A Mercor remote hourly contract, read on 24 September 2026. Pay, equipment and payment terms and the visa limitation come from the ad. Mercor says the work involves no confidential or proprietary information from any employer or client, so do not open employer designs during tasks. See Mercor.