As a Systems Engineer, you will join a small, focused team responsible for defining and managing system-level requirements across hardware, firmware, and cloud software for FORT's Pro Series platform. The processes are established - your focus will be execution: driving rigorous requirements definition, ensuring traceability, and collaborating cross-functionally to make sure every feature is fully specified from happy path to edge cases before development begins.
This is a hands-on role for someone who thrives in a fast-moving, iterative environment and takes pride in producing requirements that support development & test engineers, and end customers.Responsibilities- Requirements Definition: Work cross-functionally with Development and Test teams to define a complete set of system-level requirements - including happy path, unhappy path, regulatory, safety, and security requirements - for platform and product features.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Engage Hardware, Firmware, Cloud Software, and Product teams to ensure requirements reflect the desired system behavior and attributes, and to identify gaps before they become problems downstream.
- Requirements Management: Author, organize, and maintain requirements in the requirement database (Jama) and steer cross-functional review cycles.
- Requirement-to-Test Traceability: Partner with Test Engineering to ensure every requirement maps to a test case and that coverage is complete before release. Leverage automation where possible to expedite tracing and ensure comprehensive coverage.
- Trade Studies: Conduct trade studies to evaluate technical options and provide clear recommendations to Engineering Leadership with supporting rationale.
- Impact Analysis: Support impact analysis for proposed changes, assessing scope across hardware, firmware, software, and safety domains, to identify any ripple effects of an engineering change.
- Test Plan Review: Review test plans to verify alignment with requirements and flag gaps or ambiguities.
- Regulatory & Safety Requirements: Identify and incorporate applicable regulatory, functional safety, and cybersecurity requirements into the requirements baseline.
- Agile Execution: Operate effectively within iterative release cycles - decomposing requirements into sprint-ready work, participating in planning and review, and adapting to change without sacrificing requirements rigor.
QualificationsExperience- 3-7 years of experience in systems engineering, with a focus on requirement definition for complex hardware-software systems.
- Demonstrated ability to develop comprehensive, testable requirements - including edge cases, error handling, and failure modes - not just nominal behavior.
- Experience working cross-functionally with development and test teams in an agile or iterative development environment.
- Background in one or more of the following domains: embedded systems, wireless/IP communications, cloud software, user interface design, or robotics and autonomous systems.
Technical Skills- Proficiency with requirements management tools such as Jama or equivalent; strong understanding of traceability best practices.
- Working knowledge of communication protocols, including IP networking and radio communications (ISM, BLE, Wi-Fi, or similar).
- Familiarity with embedded systems and hardware-software integration.
- Experience conducting trade studies and documenting technical decisions.
- Preferred: knowledge of functional safety standards (IEC 61508, ISO 13849, or similar) and/or system safety (MIL-STD-882 or similar); experience supporting safety certifications or compliance efforts is a plus.
Competencies- Methodical, detail-oriented approach to requirements - you close loops and don't leave ambiguity on the table.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to translate technical complexity into clear, precise requirement statements.
- Collaborative by nature - you build good working relationships with engineers and know how to facilitate productive cross-functional conversations.
- Comfortable working in a small team where you own your domain end-to-end.
Education- B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Systems Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field preferred.
- Master's degree in Systems Engineering preferred.
Work Style- Hybrid, with a preference for local candidates who can work from our Philadelphia office at least three days per week.
