Senior Systems Engineer

About the role

Armaments Research Company (ARC) is a technology company dedicated to delivering real‑time situational awareness and battlefield logistics capabilities to the warfighter. ARC’s core offering is the AI‑Enabled Weapons Sensor (AEWS), an IoT device that collects and transmits tactical data to the cloud, enabling battlefield awareness and big‑data insights. Developed in partnership with DARPA and the National Science Foundation, ARC’s full‑stack product includes an embedded IoT sensing device, intelligent mobile applications, and cloud‑based analytics for national defense, law enforcement, and security customers. ARC is seeking a Senior Systems Engineer to own the systems‑engineering discipline—requirements, interfaces, architecture documentation, and development processes—across firmware, hardware, mobile, backend, and data‑science teams.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the systems engineer across the engineering team, bridging hardware, firmware, and cloud, and owning end‑to‑end system architecture and the interfaces where domains meet.
• Capture, decompose, and maintain current and future system requirements spanning the embedded device, mobile applications, and cloud analytics, and trace them from customer need through verification.
• Own the interface control documents (ICDs) and data contracts between firmware, mobile, backend, and data, driving machine‑readable, version‑controlled schemas for BLE, WebSocket, and API contracts.
• Dig into technical detail across firmware behavior, sensor and hardware integration, power and timing constraints, networking protocols, and cloud data flow, providing credible technical judgment to responsible teams.
• Champion strong development processes (requirements management, design reviews, configuration and change control, verification/validation) scaled appropriately for a startup.
• Create clear technical documentation: architecture descriptions, requirements, test plans, and decision records to keep cross‑functional teams aligned.
• Drive system‑level verification and validation, including component simulators, digital twins, and integration testing for functional verification and regression.
• Collaborate closely with mobile developers, firmware engineers, hardware engineers, and data scientists to design forward‑thinking approaches to multi‑domain problems.
• Travel less than 10 % of the time for in‑person events, including system testing.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in systems, electrical, or computer engineering, computer science, or a related field.
• 7+ years of engineering experience with a track record spanning both hardware/firmware and software systems.
• Demonstrated ability to operate as a systems engineer across disciplines, owning requirements, interfaces, and architecture on products that combine embedded hardware with cloud software.
• Hands‑on depth in IoT and embedded systems: sensor integration, firmware/hardware interaction, wireless links such as BLE, constrained‑network operation, and device‑to‑cloud data paths.
• Familiarity with embedded C, an RTOS such as Zephyr, and low‑power wireless SoCs (e.g., Nordic nRF) is a strong plus.
• Strong grasp of networking protocols and interface control documents (ICDs).
• Familiarity with cloud‑agnostic architectures and modern back‑end/orchestration technologies.
• Working knowledge of decentralized identity management, including zero‑trust frameworks.
• Excellent technical writing and documentation skills, with a bias toward lightweight, useful processes.
• Experience in a start‑up environment.
• U.S. citizenship required; must be eligible to obtain access to classified information and facilities under the National Industrial Security Program (NISPOM).

Benefits

• Equity options
• 401(k) plan
• Employer‑paid medical, dental, and vision coverage
• 12 paid holidays plus a flexible PTO policy