Staff Systems Engineer

Location:

This position can be based either within commuting distance of our Salem, OR headquarters or remotely in the San Francisco Bay Area.   For remote candidates, regular travel to Salem, typically 1, but sometimes 2 weeks per month will be required. 

About the Role
As a Staff Systems Engineer at Agility Robotics, you’ll be at the heart of defining and delivering the system-level architecture for our humanoid robot platform.  Working within a high-impact Systems Engineering team, you’ll take deep ownership of requirements, interfaces, and cross-functional integration—bringing clarity and structure to incredibly complex systems.

This role is ideal for a hands-on technical leader who thrives in ambiguity, takes initiative without waiting for permission, and has a passion for building real systems fast.  You’ll help shape how Systems Engineering is applied in a fast-moving startup, balancing the structure of the V-model with the agility and pragmatism needed to ship product.

Key Responsibilities

System Architecture & Design

• Define and evolve system and subsystem architectures that span mechanical, electrical, firmware, and software domains.
• Drive system-level trade studies and architecture decisions with a mindset toward simplicity, performance, cost, and speed of execution.
• Apply V-Model and/or model-based systems engineering (MBSE) methods to ensure traceability, validation, and consistent system-level thinking.
  

Requirements Engineering

• Own system-level and derived requirements: writing, decomposing, validating, and relentlessly driving them through execution.
• Collaborate closely with Test Engineering to ensure requirements map cleanly to verification strategies and real-world testing.
• Maintain a rigorous but adaptable requirements process that enables speed without sacrificing clarity or quality.
  

Interface Definition & Management

• Lead the development and maintenance of Interface Control Documents (ICDs), ensuring tight integration across disciplines.
• Anticipate, identify, and resolve interface mismatches or misalignments early in development.
• Own cross-functional conversations—drive alignment rather than waiting for it.

Execution & Technical Leadership

• Actively participate in design reviews, integration efforts, and root cause investigations.
• Identify technical risks, lead trade studies, and influence decisions from a systems-level viewpoint.
• Be hands-on when needed—dig into design files, test data, or tooling to make progress.

Process Development & Tools

• Contribute to the evolution of Agility’s Systems Engineering practices, tools, and workflows.
• Support and improve MBSE toolchains (e.g., Cameo, MagicDraw, Jama, DOORS) and champion scalable documentation practices.
• Help build a systems culture where the right level of process supports, rather than slows, execution.

Qualifications

Experience

• 8+ years of Systems Engineering experience in robotics, aerospace, automotive, or similar multidisciplinary hardware/software systems.
• Demonstrated experience leading system-level integration, architecture, and requirement management efforts.
• Previous experience in high-growth, fast-paced environments where self-direction and bias for action are essential.
  
  

Technical Skills

• Strong familiarity with the V-model approach to systems engineering, including how to adapt it for rapid development environments.
• Proficiency in model-based systems engineering (MBSE) methodologies and tools such as Cameo, SysML, MagicDraw, or similar.
• Expert-level skills in authoring requirements, managing traceability, and defining cross-functional interfaces.
• Experience working closely with Test Engineering to drive system-level validation and verification strategies.

Mindset & Traits

• Ownership mentality—takes initiative, follows through, and sweats the details.
• Scrappy and resourceful—gets things done with limited resources or structure.
• Systems thinker who’s equally comfortable zooming out to define architecture and zooming in to fix a broken test.
• Strong communicator and collaborator, able to align and influence without authority.
• Thrives in ambiguity and brings clarity through structure and action.