Systems Engineer, Robotics San Francisco Bay Area

TAR; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

TAR is seeking a Systems Engineer for the robotics program in San Francisco. You will own machine-level requirements, interfaces, budgets, verification, and safety, while design engineers own subsystems. The role includes travel to the West Texas site for hands-on supervision.

Derive requirements from deployment targets, develop use cases, define subsystem interfaces, and build budgets. You will lead verification, handle safety architecture, and drive cross-functional collaboration toward a

Qualifications

• 5+ years of systems engineering, systems integration, or multi-disciplinary design engineering on complex robotic or electromechanical systems.
• Cross-discipline fluency spanning mechanical, electrical, and software.
• Experience taking a machine end-to-end from prototype to deployment.
• Requirements definition, flow-down, and traceability on hardware programs.
• Strong cross-discipline debugging with scopes, logic analyzers, telemetry, and logs.
• Cross-functional stakeholder management and driving decisions through influence.
• Python or similar for analysis, budgets, and tooling.

Responsibilities

• Derive machine-level requirements from deployment targets (cycle time, placement accuracy, uptime) with design engineers to align subsystems.
• Develop use cases and concepts of operations covering loading, positioning, operation, recovery, and maintenance, including off-nominal cases.
• Define interfaces between subsystems (mechanical mounting, power, data buses, timing, software contracts) and broker agreements to surface issues on paper.
• Build error and performance budgets to determine if a machine can place a module to spec.
• Act as backstop for system performance, surfacing risks spanning mechanical, electrical, firmware, and software.
• Plan and run machine-level verification and validation, bring FMEA and reliability analysis to design teams.
• Own safety architecture for machines that move heavy loads: E-stops, interlocks, safety zones.
• Support integration and bring-up of complete machines from first article through field-ready, then commission in West Texas.
• Exhibit exceptional written and verbal communication to guide cross-functional programs.

Skills

Systems engineering

Robotics

Electrical

Software

Python

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

Logic analyzers

Scopes

Telemetry

FMEA tools

Job description

TAR’s mission is to power intelligence for the world. We are building the world’s first off-grid power plant for data centers powered by renewable technologies.

We firmly believe AI should be built in the US for the benefit of all people. For that, power must be fast, clean and scalable. We are singularly focused on delivering GW-scale power faster than anyone has ever done, by rethinking every layer of the stack.

We vertically integrate to solve every bottleneck, from racking systems to power electronics to dispatch algorithms to on-site construction.

Leave your mark on the future of civilization-scale energy infrastructure.

Company

TAR is both a hardware and software company, we are building out massive, critical, physical infrastructure. TAR is working directly with one of the largest compute providers to scale and deploy 5GWs by 2028.

• High ownership. High Agency. Own project end-to-end. Great people don’t need to be managed.
• Speed. We achieve great things on incredible timelines. We push ourselves to go faster.
• First principles. No ego. No hierarchy. Challenge every assumption.
• Passion. Solving the energy problem is one of the largest challenges that faces the world now and in the future.

About the role

As a Systems Engineer for the robotics program, you own the machine-level picture: requirements, interfaces, error and performance budgets, verification, and safety, while design engineers own their subsystems. You take robots from concept of operations through integration, bring-up, and field commissioning, and you own the evidence that each one performs to spec. This is a mid to senior level individual contributor role based at our San Francisco robotics facility, with travel to the West Texas site for hands-on supervision.

Responsibilities

• Derive machine-level requirements from real deployment targets, such as cycle time, placement accuracy, and uptime, partnering with design engineers so every subsystem builds toward the same numbers.
• Develop the use cases and concept of operations that ground those requirements, covering how each machine is loaded, positioned, operated, recovered, and maintained on a working site, including the off-nominal cases design teams need to see early.
• Partner with system owners as they design the interfaces between subsystems (mechanical mounting, power, data buses, timing, and software contracts), brokering agreements between them so integration issues surface on paper, not in the field.
• Build the error and performance budgets that determine whether a machine can place a module to spec, and hold designs accountable to them.
• Act as the backstop for system performance, watching for risks and failures that span mechanical, electrical, firmware, and software and surfacing them before they compound.
• Plan and run verification and validation at the machine level, own the evidence that a design meets its requirements, and bring FMEA and reliability analysis to design teams as a working tool rather than a gate.
• Own the safety architecture for machines that move heavy loads around people: E-stops, interlocks, safety zones, and operational limits.
• Support integration and bring-up of complete machines from first article through field-ready, then commission them in West Texas and own the feedback loop from the site back into requirements and use cases.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with demonstrated experience guiding cross-functional programs to a cohesive product.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of systems engineering, systems integration, or multi-disciplinary design engineering on complex robotic or electromechanical systems.
• Cross-discipline fluency spanning mechanical, electrical, and software, with enough depth in each to engage subsystem owners on the details.
• Experience taking a machine or vehicle end to end, from prototype to deployment, at the system level.
• Requirements definition, flow-down, and traceability on hardware programs.
• Strong cross-discipline debugging with scopes, logic analyzers, telemetry, and logs, and a structured approach to isolating a fault and routing it to the right owner.
• Cross-functional stakeholder management and a track record of driving decisions through influence rather than authority.
• Python or similar for analysis, budgets, and tooling.

Nice to have

• Safety analysis and functional safety for mobile machinery or heavy equipment.
• FMEA, FRACAS, or formal reliability program experience.
• Field commissioning of outdoor or industrial systems.
• Experience as the first systems hire on a program.
• Controls background, including system identification, tuning, and performance characterization.