Subject Matter Expert

ALTEN Technology USA; Auburn Hills (DE); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

ALTEN Technology USA is seeking a Subject Matter Expert for System Requirements Management to lead cross‑functional requirements activities across vehicle features.

You will drive governance, analyze feature impacts, and defend requirements decisions while mentoring a small team of Requirements Engineers in a fast‑paced automotive program, collaborating with Vehicle Feature Owners, Systems Engineering, and Architecture teams to ensure traceable, verifiable requirements throughout development.

Qualifications

• Strong systems engineering knowledge and judgement.
• Experience with requirements management and governance.
• Ability to defend requirement decisions and influence stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Evaluate technical impacts of new vehicle features, enhancements, and carry‑over content.
• Provide technical direction to Requirements Engineers for updates and rework.
• Drive requirement reviews and release decisions; ensure traceability and verifiability.
• Represent RM in client and customer discussions; defend recommendations.
• Promote INCOSE-aligned practices and contribute to capability growth.
• Lead a small team as Cluster Lead and mentor engineers.

Skills

Systems engineering

Requirements management

Stakeholder management

Technical leadership

Change management

Risk assessment

Cross-functional collaboration

Team leadership

Education

INCOSE certification (ASEP, CSEP, or ESEP)

Tools

IBM DOORS / DOORS Next

Polarion

Jama

Codebeamer

Equivalent platforms

Job description

We’re ALTEN Technology USA, an engineering company helping clients bring groundbreaking ideas to life—from advancing space exploration and life‑saving medical devices to building autonomous electric vehicles. With 3,000+ experts across North America, we partner with leading companies in aerospace, medical devices, robotics, automotive, commercial vehicles, EVs, rail, and more.

As part of the global ALTEN Group—57,000+ engineers in 30 countries—we deliver across the entire product development cycle, from consulting to full project outsourcing.

When you join ALTEN Technology USA, you’ll collaborate on some of the world’s toughest engineering challenges, supported by mentorship, career growth opportunities, and comprehensive benefits. We take pride in fostering a culture where employees feel valued, supported, and inspired to grow.

Job Description:

Position Summary:

• The Subject Matter Expert (SME) – System Requirements Management is responsible for technical leadership of system requirements activities supporting vehicle feature development across multiple engineering domains.
• Operating upstream of product design and verification activities, the SME evaluates the impact of new features, feature modifications, and carry‑over content on existing vehicle system requirements.
• The role serves as the authoritative voice for requirements management, ensuring that technical changes are properly assessed, documented, justified, and released before product design and validation activities begin.
• The SME acts as a key interface between Vehicle Feature Owners, Systems Engineering, Architecture, Design Engineering, and Test & Validation organizations.
• Success in this role requires strong systems engineering knowledge, sound technical judgment, assertiveness, stakeholder management skills, and the ability to defend requirement decisions that may impact program timing, cost, and downstream engineering activities.
• Additionally, the SME serves as a Cluster Lead, providing operational leadership and mentoring to a small team of Requirements Engineers.

Key Responsibilities:

Requirements Impact Assessment & Governance

• Evaluate technical impacts associated with:
• New vehicle features
• Feature enhancements
• Feature modifications
• Carry‑over content between vehicle programs
• Determine whether changes require creation, modification, or release of system requirements.
• Provide technical direction to Requirements Engineers regarding required updates and requirement rework activities.
• Ensure requirements remain:
• Complete
• Consistent
• Traceable
• Verifiable
• Aligned to intended feature functionality
• Drive requirement reviews and release decisions.
• Serve as technical authority for system requirement content and quality.

Front-End Systems Engineering:

• Operate upstream of design engineering and validation organizations.
• Translate customer, business, regulatory, and feature needs into robust system‑level requirements.
• Analyze feature interactions and cross‑functional dependencies.
• Identify technical gaps, assumptions, conflicts, and risks during early development phases.
• Support development of system architecture concepts when necessary to ensure requirement quality.
• Collaborate with Vehicle Feature Owners and Architecture teams to assess technical impacts of proposed changes.

Stakeholder Management & Technical Representation:

• Represent the Requirements Management organization within Client and customer‑facing discussions.
• Defend requirement decisions and recommendations when challenged by development teams.
• Facilitate technical alignment among:
• Vehicle Feature Owners
• Systems Engineering
• Architecture teams
• Design Engineering teams
• Test & Validation organizations
• Program leadership
• Present and synthesize complex technical information for audiences ranging from technical specialists to executive stakeholders.
• Drive decisions through influence and technical credibility.

Process Improvement

• Promote INCOSE‑aligned systems engineering practices.
• Improve requirements management methodologies, standards, and governance processes.
• Contribute to organizational capability growth in:
• Requirements Engineering
• Systems Engineering
• Change Management
• Technical Risk Assessment

Leadership & Cluster Lead Responsibilities

• In addition to technical SME responsibilities, the role includes operational leadership of a small team.

Responsibilities include:

Candidates must demonstrate a strong understanding of:

• System requirements development
• Requirement decomposition and allocation
• Requirement change management
• Systems engineering principles
• System architecture fundamentals
• Cross‑functional system integration
• Technical impact assessment
• Engineering change management
• Risk assessment methodologies

Experience with requirements management tools such as:

• IBM DOORS / DOORS Next
• Polarion
• Jama
• Codebeamer
• Equivalent platforms

Preferred Qualifications

• Automotive product development experience.
• Vehicle E/E architecture knowledge.
• INCOSE certification (ASEP, CSEP, or ESEP).
• Experience with MBSE methodologies.
• Prior customer‑facing technical leadership experience.
• First‑level people leadership or team lead experience.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, age, genetic information, or pregnancy.

Compliance Notice:

Alten USA is a federal contractor subject to the requirements of the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) and Executive Order 11246. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.

Drug Screening Requirement:

As a federal contractor, Alten USA maintains a drug‑free workplace. All candidates selected for employment will be required to successfully complete a pre‑employment drug screening as a condition of hire.