Systems Integration Engineer

Distributed Spectrum•New York, NY

2d•$120,000 - $250,000•Onsite

About The Position

DS creates systems that power the next generation of radio spectrum intelligence. We collect radio data from all over the world, train neural networks to decipher it, and run them on the smallest chips we can. We’re solving a new, technically hard problem where nothing from other fields works out of the box, and along the way, we’ve built our own stack from scratch, including entirely new embedding model architectures, custom GPU kernels, and much more. Joining DS means owning major parts of a fast-growing AI research organization, joining a collaborative, talent-dense team with decades of experience in probabilistic ML, accelerated computing, embedded systems, and signal theory, and growing your career in the areas that interest you. You’ll fit in if you want to come to work for the problem itself and don’t want to choose between technical rigor, business value, and real-world impact. We work with high ownership and trust, and we do it together in the office 5 days/week. Distributed Spectrum is building a passive RF sensing system for maritime domain awareness and related mission areas. The system is not a single piece of software or hardware. It is a stack: sensors with embedded compute and RF hardware, a datapath and processing pipeline, a sensor management and command-and-control layer, and a user-facing interface. Making all of that work together, reliably, in a lab and in the field, is the job of the Systems Integration Engineer. This role is genuinely split between lab and field. Some of the time you are in our facility in New York, building test infrastructure, running integration tests, and chasing down bugs. Some of the time you are in the field, deploying sensors, running experiments, and operating the system in the kinds of conditions our customers will encounter.

Requirements

Experience integrating hardware and software systems, ideally in embedded or sensor-heavy contexts.
Comfort with Linux system administration and networking.
Ability to write test automation and basic tooling using Python.
Physical and logistical competence in the field.
Willingness to travel.
Clear written communication.
BS or equivalent technical experience, Electrical/Computer engineering or similar.

Nice To Haves

Background in RF test and measurement, signal processing/analysis, or electronic systems that include an RF front end.
Software engineering experience (embedded or Linux system programming)
Familiarity with containerized software deployment or sensor network management.
Prior experience in a defense or government context, particularly one involving field operations with partner forces or in austere environments.

Responsibilities

Build and maintain the hardware-in-the-loop test infrastructure for validating end-to-end system behavior.
Define and execute integration test plans for new hardware variants, carrier board ports, and sensor software releases.
Own the post-manufacturing QA process for sensors built at volume.
Root cause failures at the intersection of firmware, hardware, RF, and network infrastructure.
Develop data generation pipelines and frameworks to support both hardware-in-the-loop and simulated test environments.
Integrate physics-based modeling (off the shelf and custom) into custom data generation and analysis.
Collaborate deeply across disciplines—including Machine Learning, Embedded Software, and RF Systems—to build the tools and collect the data needed to develop and test our systems.
Deploy sensors in the field for experiments and customer demonstrations.
Operate the system during data collection runs and live demonstrations.
Collect, log, and preserve data from field experiments in a form that lets the engineering team analyze it back in the lab.
Bring field observations back to the engineering team in a structured way: what worked, what did not, what conditions we have not yet tested.