SteerAI is an autonomous mobility technology company powered by VentureOne, the commercialization arm of the Advanced Technology Research Council. SteerAI’s advanced AI-powered autonomy stack, developed by the Technology Innovation Institute, empowers the logistics and defense industries by turning industrial vehicles into autonomous powerhouses that can handle complex off-road missions, transform operations and protect organizations' most important assets: their workforce.
About the role SteerAI builds off-road autonomy for defense: ground vehicles and robots that perceive, plan, and operate in unstructured, GPS-degraded, and contested terrain. We are seeking a Principal Systems Engineer to serve as the senior technical steward for systems engineering across our autonomy programs and to lead the Systems and Design team of systems engineers and systems architects. You will be ultimately responsible for systems engineering across the company, writing and driving the system requirements across the autonomy stack, our unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), and our command and control (C2) systems.
In this role you will drive the systems engineering at SteerAI, including establishing the standards, processes, and rigor that scale across multiple programs. You will work as a hands-on technical leader, setting requirements and architectural direction, mentoring engineers, and partnering with the Growth and Product teams to translate customer and mission requirements into fielded capability.
Key Responsibilities - Systems Engineering Ownership: Take ultimate responsibility for systems engineering at SteerAI, owning and evolving the architecture for our off-road autonomous systems and ensuring designs meet performance, reliability, safety, and survivability goals across a range of mission profiles and platforms.
- Systems Engineering Standards (Org-Wide): Define and govern the systems engineering practice across products and programs, covering requirements management, interface control, verification and validation strategy, MBSE methodology, and architecture review gates, so that rigor and traceability scale as the company grows.
- Team Leadership: Lead the Systems and Design team of systems engineers and systems architects. Set technical direction, allocate work across programs, develop the team's capabilities, and hold accountability for the quality and consistency of systems engineering deliverables.
- System Requirements and Traceability: Author and drive the top-level system requirements across the full autonomy stack, our unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), and our command and control (C2) systems. Establish and maintain the system and subsystem requirements (SRS, ICDs) that flow from top-level system requirements so they are clear, traceable, and verifiable, owning the requirements lifecycle from elicitation through validation against mission needs.
- Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE): Drive adoption of SysML and MBSE to model system behavior, structure, and interfaces, creating an authoritative system model that anchors design decisions and cross-team alignment.
- Risk, Safety, and Assurance: Partner with the safety and cybersecurity tams to drive system-level risk management and safety case development, applying functional safety and autonomy assurance standards such as ISO 26262, ISO 21448 (SOTIF), and UL 4600, along with applicable defense and regulatory requirements for autonomous and unmanned ground systems.
- Prototyping, Verification, and Field Test: Define the verification and validation strategy spanning simulation, hardware-in-the-loop and software-in-the-loop testing, and real-world field testing. Guide prototype development and test campaigns against defined requirements and performance indicators in representative off-road environments.
- Customer and Program Support: Work alongside the Growth and Product teams to support proposals, technical reviews (SRR, PDR, CDR), capability demonstrations, and roadmaps, translating customer and mission requirements into executable engineering plans.
- Technical Mentorship: Mentor other systems engineers and adjacent disciplines, strengthening systems thinking, design rigor, and technical decision-making across the organization through influence rather than direct management of every engineer.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Coordinate across engineering development, verificationa nd validation and product teams to ensure clean integration, well-defined interfaces, and architectural alignment from concept through deployment.
Qualifications - Education: Bachelor's or Master's degree in Systems Engineering, Robotics, Mechatronics, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field. Advanced degree preferred.
- Experience: 8 to 12 or more years in systems engineering or system architecture, including demonstrated principal-level ownership of complex system architectures for autonomous vehicles, UGVs, or field robotics, with a record of taking systems from concept to fielded deployment.
- Leadership: Experience leading and developing systems engineering teams or functions, setting technical standards across multiple programs, and mentoring senior engineers.
- Technical Expertise: Strong command of systems engineering principles, including the ISO 15288 lifecycle and V-model, SysML, MBSE, sensor fusion, and autonomous-vehicle technologies, with the judgment to apply them pragmatically in a fast-moving startup.
- Software and Tools: Proficiency with MATLAB, Simulink, and ROS, and with architecture-modeling tools such as Cameo Systems Modeler or Enterprise Architect, along with familiarity with requirements management tools such as DOORS, Jama, or Polarion.
- Autonomous Systems: Hands-on experience with autonomous vehicles, unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), or field robotics operating in unstructured or off-road environments.
- Safety Standards: Strong familiarity with functional safety and autonomy assurance standards such as ISO 26262, ISO 21448 (SOTIF), and UL 4600, and with the application of safety cases to autonomous systems.
- Emerging Technologies: Working knowledge of AI/ML, edge computing, and cloud computing as applied to autonomous systems, including the architectural trade-offs they introduce.
- Simulation and Testing: Experience defining verification and validation strategy across simulation tools such as MATLAB and Simulink, software-in-the-loop and hardware-in-the-loop testing, and real-world field testing of robotic systems.
- Defense Context: Experience supporting defense programs, government customers, or structured acquisition and milestone review processes is strongly preferred.
- Communication: Strong verbal and written communication, with the ability to present complex technical concepts clearly to engineering teams, executives, and defense customers.
- Problem-Solving: Strong analytical and systems-thinking ability, particularly in integrating complex, multidisciplinary systems and resolving difficult design and safety challenges.
- Agile Development: Comfortable working in Agile development environments and balancing engineering rigor with startup pace
What we offer - We offer a competitive salary, a comprehensive benefits package, and the opportunity to work alongside some of the brightest minds in the Autonomous Robotics industry.
- Our work culture is collaborative and inclusive, with a strong focus on innovation and personal growth.
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