Staff Hardware Systems Engineer

Gather AI•Pittsburgh, PA

5d•Onsite

About The Position

Gather AI is hiring a hands-on individual contributor to own requirements, integration, and verification and validation (V&V) for warehouse robotics hardware, including autonomous inventory drones, forklift-mounted vision systems, and charging and battery systems. The engineer will establish and apply a framework that ensures products are built from testable requirements, technologies are de-risked, hardware integrates with firmware, software, and autonomy, and releases are supported by objective evidence from real-world testing. This role is part of a small, senior hardware team in Pittsburgh. The engineer will scout and test technologies, write requirements, build test rigs, run tests, and analyze results. Responsibilities span requirements traceability, technology characterization, system integration, test planning and execution, environmental and compliance qualification, technical budgets, hazard analysis, design reviews, release decisions, field-failure feedback, and production test strategy. The role is on-site four to five days per week and involves approximately 10% travel to test labs, the contract manufacturer, and customer warehouses.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in an engineering field with 10+ years of relevant experience, or a master's degree with 8+ years of relevant experience; the master's degree is preferred.
Experience owning requirements through V&V for an electromechanical product taken from concept to production, including subsystem-level decomposition, traceability, and V&V plans with objective, measurable acceptance criteria.
Experience integrating hardware with firmware and software in a robotic, embedded, autonomous, or complex electromechanical system, including bring-up and root-causing interface failures.
Ability to use statistics for engineering decisions, including design of experiments, data analysis, and statistically based sampling plans such as confidence/reliability or AQL.
Ability to build and execute tests, including developing test methods, rigs, fixtures, and data acquisition, and conducting measurement system analysis such as Gauge R&R.

Nice To Haves

Experience with environmental and compliance qualification through external labs, including shock and vibration, thermal cycling and condensation, IP ingress, and EMC/FCC.
Experience with vision and power technologies, including camera characterization, illumination, lithium batteries, charging systems, and trade studies.
Experience in regulated product development such as medical, aerospace, or automotive, with the judgment to scale that rigor to a startup.
Experience with drones/UAVs, material handling equipment, or robotics.

Responsibilities

Own requirements and the V&V framework for hardware products, from system requirements through subsystem, technology-block, and interface requirements, with traceability to verification evidence.
Scout, characterize, and compare candidate technologies, including cameras, illumination, propulsion, wireless charging, and batteries; recommend technologies for future products.
Own integration of electrical, firmware, software, and autonomy into hardware product designs, including bring-up, integration testing, and root-cause analysis of interface failures.
Write and execute V&V plans, including test methods, rigs, fixtures, instrumentation, statistically based sampling plans, and design of experiments; analyze results and state conclusions with uncertainty.
Own environmental and compliance testing, including shock and vibration, thermal and condensation, ingress, and EMC/FCC testing, working with external test labs.
Own technical budgets for power, thermal, mass, and EMC/RF; lead system-level hazard analysis and contribute to DFMEA.
Deliver decision-ready evidence for design reviews, design freeze, and release, and assess the verification impact of engineering changes.
Use field failures to improve requirements and tests, and shape production test strategy with the contract manufacturer.
Build test methods, rigs, fixtures, and data acquisition systems; conduct measurement system analysis such as Gauge R&R.
Within 30 days, own verification for the next-generation forklift vision system and decompose its system requirements to hardware level.
Within 60 days, define requirements and a V&V plan for a new charging system and put the requirements cascade and verification matrix into use on a live product line.
Within 90 days, put the requirements cascade and verification matrix into use across active product lines, create test plans for current technology blocks, and establish a reusable library of environmental test profiles.
Within one year, embed V&V evidence in every hardware stage gate, release next-generation products against that standard, and deliver a production test coverage proposal to manufacturing.