Principal Systems Engineer

Job Title: Principal Systems Engineer

Job Summary:

• We design and manufacture novel RF systems for a variety of platforms in a rapid development environment.
• The Systems Engineer - Development role is a multidisciplinary role, with significant breadth (interacting with all engineering disciplines) and depth (from customer needs to unit-level specifications).
• The Systems Engineer - Development role will focus on typical Systems Engineering responsibilities, such as requirements definition & management (at system, subsystem, and component levels), system architecture, system analysis, change management, interface definition, etc.
• Additionally, in this role, the Systems Engineer - Development engineer is a key stakeholder in integration, verification, and validation (IV&V) planning and execution to ensure products meet requirements.
• As much as possible, a Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) approach is employed to make Systems Engineering processes more thorough and efficient.
• As a fast-moving technology company, Systems Engineering here focuses on supporting the other engineering teams and facilitating rapid development, rather than focusing on overly bureaucratic processes.

Job Responsibilities:

• Requirements:
  • Own system requirements for a product, including requirement definition and maintenance
  • Ensure Key Performance Parameters, as derived through mission modeling and operational analysis, are properly flowed to system requirements
  • Act as key interface with either existing or prospective customers to prove customer requirements/needs are fully satisfied by system requirements
  • Coordinate key requirements with subsystem design teams; ensuring requirement flow-down to hardware and software subsystems is captured and properly traced
• Architecture:
  • Collaborate with design engineering to establish the system architecture, capturing in MBSE diagrams (to include Structural and Behavioral Diagrams)
  • Maintain architectural definition throughout the development process to ensure team alignment
  • Develop interface control documentation and own interface management between hardware/software/firmware subsystems
• Analysis:
  • Perform trade studies and quick-turn impact analyses to facilitate agile hardware/software/firmware development
  • Perform analysis to prove system requirements are addressed by the system design
  • Ensure best practices for configuration management are adhered to
  • Facilitate multi-discipline coordination across teams
  • Participate in IV&V planning and preparation
  • Contribute technical writing and figures to proposals and other business development efforts

Top MUST-HAVE Skills:

• Experience writing systems requirements from scratch and linking them together (not just developing, but writing them)
  • Can use any requirements management tools/softwares to do this such as DOORS, CAMEO, Enterprise, JAMA, Polarion, Magic Draw, etc.
• Experience looking at trade studies and coming up with requirements decisions
• Experience seeing a system through the full lifecycle / V-cycle (including establishing the technical baseline of a system/product)
• Experience with systems verification and validation (don't need to be doing it now, but needs to have done so somewhat recently and done a substantial amount in career overall)
• To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a US Citizen

Additional Nice-to-Have Skills:

• Experience working with Systems Engineering tools for Requirements Management and Product Lifecycle Management (e.g. JAMA, Polarion, DOORS)
• Experience working with Model-Based Systems Engineer (MBSE) (e.g. SparxEA, Capella)
• Experience with Python development or other similar object-oriented languages
• Experience working with Git/GitHub, or similar version control systems
• Ability to identify gaps, prioritize in the context of the project / program, & lead an effort involving multiple engineers from other teams to resolve issues
• Experience with mission integration and mission analysis
• Systems architecture experience
• Hardware-in-the-loop (HTIL / HWIL / HIL)
• Experience being Payload interfacing
• Mix of DoD prime traditional contractor work & space start up experience
• Experience working with RF systems (e.g. radar, comms, EW, etc.), preferably including phased arrays
• Collaborative; capable of working across all levels of the organization
• Ability to anticipate & communicate blockers, delays, & cost ballooning within the project before they require escalation
• Eager to train team members & help them overcome obstacles, resolve blockers, & complete work tasks
• Organized; comfortable working in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment
• Focused, with perspective on what matters most, rapidly delivering customer value

Work Environment:

This position is on-site in Torrance, CA. We offer a high-growth, highly collaborative environment with cutting-edge technology and minimal competition. Benefits include free lunch catered every day, occasional work-from-home flexibility, unlimited PTO, stock options, a 6% 401k match, and end-of-year cash bonuses and salary increases based on personal and company performance.
Pay and Benefits

The pay range for this position is $160000.00 - $200000.00/yr.
Employee Value Prop (EVP):
Free lunch catered every day
Cutting edge technology with not many competitors
Can occasionally allow someone to work from home if they have something they need to do that day, but most weeks are 5 days onsite
Unlimited PTO
Stock options
6% 401k match
EOY cash bonus and salary increase based on personal performance and company performance
Workplace Type

This is a fully onsite position in Torrance,CA.
Application Deadline

This position is anticipated to close on May 7, 2025.
About Actalent

Actalent is a global leader in engineering and sciences services and talent solutions. We help visionary companies advance their engineering and science initiatives through access to specialized experts who drive scale, innovation and speed to market. With a network of almost 30,000 consultants and more than 4,500 clients across the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe, Actalent serves many of the Fortune 500.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

At Actalent, diversity and inclusion are a bridge towards the equity and success of our people. DE&I are embedded into our culture through:

• Hiring diverse talent
• Maintaining an inclusive environment through persistent self-reflection
• Building a culture of care, engagement, and recognition with clear outcomes
• Ensuring growth opportunities for our people

The company is an equal opportunity employer and will consider all applications without regard to race, sex, age, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information or any characteristic protected by law.

If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation, such as the modification or adjustment of the job application process or interviewing process due to a disability, please email actalentaccommodation@actalentservices.com for other accommodation options.