Senior Systems Engineer - Robotics

About the Company

About the Role

What You'll Do

• Own system-level architecture across mechanical, electrical, and software domains - define how subsystems interface and where functional responsibility sits.
• Establish the systems engineering practice and set up the process for converting customer requirements to functional requirements.
• Write and maintain requirements and Interface Control Documents (ICDs) detailed enough to prevent integration surprises, lightweight enough not to slow the team down
• Lead trade studies (cost, performance, complexity, time-to-ship) and make the call when a multidisciplinary tradeoff needs a decision, not an endless debate
• Drive hazard analysis and risk assessment for a robot working around people on active job sites, safety isn't a checkbox here, it's the product
• Translate field data and deployment feedback into concrete design changes, you're often the first to spot that a "software bug" is actually a sensor mounting issue, or a "hardware problem" is actually a calibration assumption that broke in the field
• Lead design reviews and root-cause investigations, bringing a systems lens that catches what siloed reviews miss
• Be the connective tissue between engineering execution and business priorities, translate technical risk and tradeoffs for leadership in terms that inform roadmap and customer commitments
• Mentor other engineers on systems thinking as the team grows, even before you're formally managing anyone

Qualifications

• 5+ years of Systems Engineering experience in robotics, aerospace, automotive, heavy machinery, or similar multidisciplinary hardware/software systems
• Proven track record owning system-level integration and architecture, not contributing to one, but having driven one end-to-end
• Demonstrated experience being on the hook when subsystems didn't integrate cleanly, and changing how requirements or interfaces were written as a result
• Comfortable with setting up a systems engineering workflow and pragmatic enough to adapt them for a fast-moving startup.
• Expert-level requirements authoring, traceability management, and interface definition
• Working knowledge of relevant safety standards (ISO 13849, IEC 61508, ANSI/RIA R15.06, or similar) and what they actually require versus what's overkill at this stage
• Experience translating field/customer feedback into system design changes
• Clear communicator across audiences - engineers, leadership, and eventually customers or regulators
• A bias for action: you'd rather ship a v1 requirements doc and iterate than wait for perfect
• Comfortable building process from scratch in an environment where none exists yet

Preferred

• Experience with a physical robot deployed in a real-world environment (not just lab/sim)
• Familiarity with ROS/ROS2 system architectures
• Background bridging engineering and commercial/business functions, e.g., translating customer or investor conversations into technical priorities
• Experience from setting-up systems engineering practice at an early-stage company specifically (built the process, not just followed one)

Why Join Us