Senior Systems Engineer

Symbotic; Wilmington (MA); Hybrid; USD 116,000 - 171,000; Full time

Job summary

Symbotic, a leader in AI-powered robotics and software for warehouse automation, seeks a Senior Software Systems Engineer to anchor core software delivery within a new Systems Engineering function. You will set requirements, guide practices, and influence leadership with data-based trade-offs across teams.

You will work autonomously with significant scope, translating vision into actionable specs while ensuring safety, reliability, and scalable performance across the Bot, Workstation, Console,

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical/Mechanical/Industrial Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or Systems Engineering; MBA preferred.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in Systems Engineering, Software Architecture, or Senior/Lead software engineering.
• Proven ability to translate abstract ideas into structured, verifiable requirements and manage risk.

Responsibilities

• Deconstruct requests and author the Concept of Operations: user, environment, inputs/outputs, system states, and scope.
• Capture and translate customer/business needs into verifiable Functional Requirements at scale.
• Decompose Functional Requirements into software components and applications.
• Create and maintain traceability from system to software requirements.
• Own the software risk register and mitigate risks like performance, latency, memory limits, and failure states.
• Conduct impact assessments for changes, evaluating cross-team dependencies and interfaces.
• Run technical trade-off analyses and present recommendations to leadership.
• Guide core software delivery in phased releases prioritizing high-impact items.
• Establish and improve Systems Engineering practices across teams and product families.
• Set verification/validation strategy and support integration tests showing performance against requirements.
• Act as the connective layer between leadership and development teams.

Skills

System requirements

Concepts of Operations

Trade-off analyses

Systems engineering

Cross-functional leadership

Risk identification

Requirements tracing

Distributed systems

Education

Bachelor's degree in EE/CS

MBA or Master's preferred

Tools

DFMEA

Pugh matrices

8D

Job description

Who we are

With its A.I.-powered robotic technology platform, Symbotic is changing the way consumer goods move through the supply chain. Intelligent software orchestrates advanced robots in a high-density, end-to-end system – reinventing warehouse automation for increased efficiency, speed and flexibility.

Senior Software Systems Engineer (Robotics & Execution Systems)

Description

We are looking for a Senior Software Systems Engineer to join our Systems Engineering organization. Your job will be to consolidate new ideas that enter engineering and turn them into the Concept of Operations, Functional Requirements, risk register, and trade-off analyses our core software team builds against. You will be the bridge between leadership vision and technical execution, with visibility across the stack from device and hardware interactions up to high-level system software.

What we need

New ideas reach our engineering teams from many directions: customers, sales, deployed sites, and senior leadership, including our CEO and Chief Innovation Officer. Some of them sound borderline out of scope on paper. We need a Senior Software Systems Engineer to follow our engineering stage gate process and make sure we create work scope that is structured and testable for the core software team to build.

As a Senior-level individual contributor, you will be the technical anchor for core software delivery in a Systems Engineering function we recently built from the ground up. You will set requirements across teams, establish the Systems Engineering practices that guide the organization long term, and lead through influence rather than direct reports. You will work with significant autonomy, running the day to day and escalating only on complex, systemic roadblocks. We need a builder who holds firm on critical engineering standards while adapting execution to reach the long-term vision, and who can present hard trade-offs to leadership, back them with data, and handle pushback objectively.

What we do

The Systems Engineering organization defines the system solution behavior behind Symbotic's warehouse automation. We translate business and customer needs into requirements, interfaces, and metrics; run safety, failure mode, and risk assessments; own backlog definition and priority; and set verification and validation strategy. Our work spans the Bot, Workstation, Console and Emulation, Control Software, and Storage Structure product families. Our approach is simple: deliver faster, safely and reliably, by adopting industry standards rather than inventing our own.

What you'll do

• Deconstruct large, ambiguous requests and author the Concept of Operations: the user, environment, inputs and outputs, system states, and what the system will and will not do
• Capture and translate customer and business needs into Functional Requirements that are complete, verifiable, and aligned with customer and business priorities
• Decompose Functional Requirements further into specific software component and application requirements
• Create and maintain traceability from system-level Functional Requirements down to software component requirements
• Own the software risk register: identify, document, and mitigate risks such as performance bottlenecks, latency, memory limits, and failure states before they reach production
• Conduct impact assessments for proposed changes, evaluating cross-team dependencies, interfaces, and trade-offs
• Run technical trade-off analyses (for example speed vs. memory, scalability vs. time to market) and present recommendations and their consequences to leadership
• Guide the core software team on delivering business value in phases, prioritizing the most impactful items first
• Establish and continuously improve Symbotic's Systems Engineering practices, scaling the discipline across teams, product families, and initiatives
• Set verification and validation strategy and support functional integration test plans that demonstrate performance against requirements
• Act as the connective layer between leadership and development teams, working across silos and preparing and presenting system-level updates and recommendations

What you'll need

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or Systems Engineering. Master's or MBA preferred
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in Systems Engineering, Software Architecture, or Senior or Lead level Software Engineering

Required technical skills

• Proven experience authoring System Requirements, Concepts of Operations, and Technical Trade-off Analyses
• Deep familiarity with risk identification and mitigation, and maintaining a technical risk register for complex systems
• Strong ability to translate abstract ideas and business goals into structured, verifiable engineering requirements
• Familiarity with Systems Engineering processes, product lifecycle management, stage gate development, and verification and validation frameworks
• Strong background in systems-level programming languages, with a deep understanding of distributed systems, concurrency, and hardware and software integration
• Experience with common engineering tools such as DFMEA, Pugh matrices, and 8D

Preferred technical skills

• Experience in the Robotics, Automation, or Medical Device industries, with a rigorous approach to Systems Engineering, safety, and risk management
• Deep experience working within complex execution spaces
• Experience designing or scaling an engineering intake, stage gate, or requirements process across an organization

Core competencies

• Proven technical leadership at the Senior level or equivalent: leads through influence across teams without direct authority
• Rigid flexibility: firm on critical standards, adaptable in execution
• Objective and resilient; handles pushback with data and without taking it personally
• Bridges technical and non-technical teams; synthesizes complex information for diverse audiences, from engineers to executives
• Self-motivated, organized, and able to work with minimal supervision toward aggressive goals in a fast-paced environment

Our environment

• Up to 10% travel may be required. Employees must have a valid driver's license and the ability to drive and/or fly to client and other customer locations.
• The employee is responsible for owning a credit card and managing expenses personally to be reimbursed on a bi-weekly basis.

#LI-PA2 #LI-Hybrid

About Symbotic

Symbotic is an automation technology leader reimagining the supply chain with its end-to-end, AI-powered robotic and software platform. Symbotic reinvents the warehouse as a strategic asset for the world's largest retail, wholesale, and food & beverage companies. Applying next-gen technology, high-density storage and machine learning to solve today's complex distribution challenges, Symbotic enables companies to move goods with unmatched speed, agility, accuracy and efficiency. As the backbone of commerce the Symbotic platform transforms the flow of goods and the economics of supply chain for its customers. For more information, visit www.symbotic.com.

We are a community of innovators, collaborators and pioneers who embrace our differences, because we know unique perspectives make us stronger and smarter. Every perspective matters. We depend on the collective voices of our employees, customers and community to help guide us as we build a better place to work – for you and the world. That's why we're proud to be an equal opportunity employer.

We do not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship status, marital status, disability, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, or genetic information.

About Symbotic

Symbotic is an automation technology leader reimagining the supply chain with its end-to-end, AI-powered robotic and software platform. Symbotic reinvents the warehouse as a strategic asset for the world’s largest retail, wholesale, and food & beverage companies. Applying next-gen technology, high-density storage and machine learning to solve today's complex distribution challenges, Symbotic enables companies to move goods with unmatched speed, agility, accuracy and efficiency. As the backbone of commerce the Symbotic platform transforms the flow of goods and the economics of supply chain for its customers. For more information, visitwww.symbotic.com.

We are a community of innovators, collaborators and pioneers who embrace our differences, because we know unique perspectives make us stronger and smarter. Every perspective matters. We depend on the collective voices of our employees, customers and community to help guide us as we build a better place to work – for you and the world. That’s why we’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer.

We do not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship status, marital status, disability, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, or genetic information.

The base range for this position in the posted location is $116,250.00 - $170,500.00 however, base pay offered may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. The compensation package includes medical, dental, vision, disability, 401K, PTO and/or other benefits.