Systems Engineer (Hardware)
Systems Engineers in this slug lead system-level integration of hardware, software, and mechanical subsystems for physical products and infrastructure—across two broad clusters. The first is AI-powered physical products: autonomous vehicles, robotics, satellites, and defense systems, where the role spans architecture, requirements, and verification across cross-functional engineering teams. The second is large-scale physical computing infrastructure: AI data centers and modular compute systems, where the role centers on integrating mechanical, electrical, and thermal subsystems and leading commissioning and validation activities through deployment. Both clusters share the underlying craft of system-level integration, requirements management, and cross-domain coordination. These engineers typically sit within hardware, systems, or infrastructure engineering organizations, working alongside domain specialists in mechanical, electrical, software, and operations functions.
Measured across 221 of 238 open postings.
This role is advertised at 5 levels, so a single figure for the role would describe none of them. Experience and pay are the midpoints for each level on its own.
| Level | Share | Median years | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry | 5%(11) | — | — |
| Mid | 19%(43) | 5 | $218k |
| Senior | 42%(93) | 8 | $213k |
| Staff / Principal | 21%(46) | 10 | $210k |
| Manager | 5%(12) | — | — |
A dash means too few postings stated it to report a midpoint. Most companies do not publish a salary band, so pay is indicative rather than a market rate. 3 levels with fewer than 10 open postings are not shown.
“Proficient in developing test plans, requirements tracing, test scripts (Python, MATLAB, or similar), and test automation tools.”
“Establish long term project roadmaps to ensure that the latest automation and AI tooling is being incorporated into the testing pipeline”
“Install AI software onto edge computing devices using Helsing's in-house deployment tools”
“deploy advanced aircraft models in C++ across multiple engineering domains—ranging from mathematical physics to the latest in surrogate machine learning methods”
Requirements are a share of every open posting, so a role missing from this list is one where almost nobody asks. Work mode is different: many postings never say, so that figure counts only the ones that do. A posting stops being advertised when it is filled, cancelled or reorganised, so read the last figure as how long these stay on the market, not as time to hire.
Skills
What companies are looking for in this role.
Hardware and embedded systems
Hardware test and validation
Technical program management
Functional safety engineering
Technical issue diagnosis
Systems integration and APIs
Reliability and failure analysis
Design for manufacturability
Simulation and physical modeling
Critical facility operations
Construction delivery and commissioning
Hardware bring-up and debug
Program and project management
Quality management systems
Incident response and reliability
AI autonomy safety assurance
Cross-functional collaboration
Technical team leadership and mentoring
Technical documentation
Technology
The tools and technologies that define this role.
Open Jobs
238 open Systems Engineer (Hardware) jobs across 19 companies.
Other Physical Systems roles
Engineers designing and building electronic hardware, electrical systems, power electronics and signal chains. Covers circuit design, PCB layout, power delivery, RF/antenna design and signal integrity.
Engineers working on integrated circuit and system-on-chip design, including RTL design, physical design, silicon verification, ASIC/FPGA development, SoC architecture, and advanced packaging.
Engineers writing software that runs directly on hardware — firmware, embedded systems, RTOS, device drivers, microcontroller programming, and board support packages.
Engineers building physical robotic systems — manipulation, locomotion, motion planning, controls, perception for physical interaction, and autonomous navigation. Covers the full robotics stack from hardware integration through control software. Distinguished from Simulation Engineer (research_science) which builds virtual environments for training AI.
Engineers ensuring the safety of physical systems through functional safety analysis, hazard assessment, system safety engineering, and verification & validation of safety-critical systems.