Senior System Engineer

BlueHeart Energy; Heemskerk; Hybrid; EUR 61,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work arrangement

Pension scheme with employer contrib.

Commuting allowance

ESOP scheme

OpenUp mental well-being

Job summary

BlueHeart Energy is seeking a Senior System Engineer (Thermoacoustic Heat Pump Systems) to translate customer and product requirements into clear system specifications. You will drive requirements management, verification, validation, and risk assessment across the product lifecycle.

You will collaborate with the Head of Development, Product and Component Owners to ensure a reliable, efficient, and compliant heat pump system.

Qualifications

• BSc/MSc Mechanical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Mechatronics, Aerospace or equivalent.
• 5+ years of experience in complex product development.
• Domain expertise in thermodynamics and heat transfer, energy systems, control systems or dynamic systems.
• Understanding of system architecture definition and functional decomposition.
• Understanding of requirements management, configuration management, verification & validation, and DfX methodologies.

Responsibilities

• Document system- and sub-system architectures with functional decomposition.
• Define interfaces at product- and component-level and maintain system design specification.
• Build system models to analyze functional behavior and predict design changes.
• Define the integration strategy for complete system functionality and performance.
• Lead FMEA and risk assessment with System Architect and Product Owners.
• Manage requirements traceability and configuration baselines.
• Define acceptance criteria and oversee testing and certifications.
• Promote MBSE and architecture management tooling adoption.
• Foster cross-functional collaboration to align subsystem decisions with overall objectives.

Skills

Systems engineering

Thermodynamics

Heat transfer

Control systems

Dynamic systems

Requirements management

Configuration management

Verification & validation

FMEA methods

MBSE familiarity

Education

BSc/MSc Mechanical Engineering or related

Tools

MBSE tools

Job description

BlueHeart Energy was founded in 2016 as a deep-tech company that has developed a new sustainable thermoacoustics technology to radically improve the performance of heat pumps, enabling them to evolve from being the best solution in the market to becoming the perfect solution. Our technology is a disruptive approach to generate heat and cold, with potential to revolutionize the whole industry.

With our so called 'BlueHeart' engine, we turn heat pumps into affordable, silent and flexible devices, capable of working with wide temperature ranges suitable for both new and existing houses. Importantly, BlueHeart doesn’t require any refrigerants and doesn’t generate any CO2 emissions. The BlueHeart engine is also used for other (industrial) application to heat or cool.

About the Role

As Senior System Engineer (Thermoacoustic Heat Pump Systems), you will support the development and integration of BlueHeart Energy's thermoacoustic heat pump technology by translating customer and product requirements into clear system specifications and engineering solutions. You will ensure that system requirements, interfaces, and performance targets are consistently implemented across the product and over the product lifecycle. You will collaborate closely with the Head of Development (who is also our system architect), and the Product and Component Owners to support the development of a reliable, efficient, and compliant heat pump system.

In this role, you will drive the requirements management, verification and validation activities, configuration management and product baselining, support system integration (including interface definition and management), participate in technical trade-off analyses, and assist in identifying and mitigating technical risks, helping to ensure that subsystem developments align with overall system objectives.

You promote systems thinking throughout the organization by challenging Product and Component Owners in system thinking, and you manage the evidence that the designed system satisfies stakeholder requirements throughout the product lifecycle.

This position offers an excellent opportunity to develop a broad system-level perspective while working on innovative sustainable heating technology. You will gain experience across multiple engineering disciplines and play an important role in bridging product requirements and technical implementation.

What You’ll Do

System Definition & Documentation

• Document system- and sub-system architectures, including functional decomposition
• Support the definition and documentation of interfaces at the product- and component-level, including the heat pump, the BH unit, and the controls
• Maintain the overview of the system design specification, including high-level assessment of compliance to the customer and product requirements

System Design & Integration

• (Over time) Build system models to analyze the functional behavior of the system to verify that the specified architecture complies with the customer and product requirements and to predict the effect of design changes on overall system behavior
• Define the integration strategy for complete system functionality and performance
• Lead the FMEA and risk assessment process, facilitating the System Architect and the Product Owners to identify and manage technical risks.
• Perform trade-off analyses

Requirements & Configuration Management

• Lead the requirements management process, including translation of customer and product requirements into system- and component-level requirements, supporting requirements derivation, budget allocation, etc., and managing requirements traceability
• Lead the configuration management process, including requirements baseline, product design baseline, as-built configuration control, etc.

Verification & Validation

Together with the Product and Component owners you:

• Develop and track verification strategies
• Define acceptance criteria and performance targets
• Support and Oversee integration testing
• Support certification and compliance activities

Cross-Functional Collaboration

The Senior System Engineer serves as the connecting link between the different engineering disciplines and facilitates that sub-system and component-level decisions contribute to overall product objectives. You are not a replacement for the Product and Component Owners, but rather a partner who enables them to make informed decisions from a total system perspective. Together, you ensure that the product delivers the best overall performance as an integrated thermoacoustic heat pump system and that development efforts are focused on the highest-value opportunities.

Engineering Processes and Quality

• Define and implement engineering processes to support transparent overviews of product and system specifications, requirements, compliance, and interfaces
• Foster a strong systems-thinking culture throughout the organization
• Support implementation of Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) and architecture management tools
• Support root cause analysis and corrective actions (design- and process-based) to improve product quality and robustness

What We’re Looking For

• BSc/MSc Mechanical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Mechatronics, Aerospace or equivalent
• 5+ years of experience in complex product development
• Domain expertise in at least two of the following: thermodynamics and heat transfer, energy systems and applications, control systems, dynamic systems
• Understanding of:
• System architecture definition and functional decomposition
• Requirements management
• Configuration management
• Verification & validation
• DfX methodologies

Preferred

• INCOSE systems engineering knowledge, or equivalent
• D/FMEA methodologies
• Reliability engineering
• Thermal-fluid systems
• Control systems

Success Profile

A successful Senior System Engineer brings modern systems engineering expertise with a flexible mindset, adapting the system engineering processes to the needs of the development teams and prioritizing the implementation of the highest impact tools.

What We Offer

• Salary range between € 5,500 - € 6,700 monthly gross depending on experience
• Opportunity to participate in the ESOP scheme, directly linked to company value creation and individual performance.
• Hybrid work arrangement supporting autonomy and work-life balance
• Tailored learning and development opportunities to support your continued growth
• Access to OpenUp, because we prioritize mental well-being
• Participation in our pension scheme with employer contribution
• Commuting allowance, in line with our travel policy
• A strategic role in a purpose-driven scale-up, contributing to a greener world and shaping the future of sustainable thermal technology. Learn more about our mission here.