Senior or Staff Systems Engineer - Autonomous Vehicles

Role Overview: As a Staff Systems Engineer – GATN (Glydways Automated Transit Network), you will be the technical owner for how new features and system changes show up on the guideway. You will: Design, create requirements, and demonstrate novel features required of our public transit system. Judge the health of safety functions and guardrails using logs, metrics, and on-track behavior. Define and execute integration test plans for new GATN capabilities using data-driven methods. Drive issues to closure so that the system can operate safely and hit its availability targets. You'll work hands-on at the track (e.g., GDF2 and project sites), in logs and dashboards, and in tools to turn "we need this to work on the track" into concrete scenarios, parameters, and decisions. We prefer to have this position on-site 3 or 4 days a week at Richmond, CA, but will consider remote for the right candidate. This role is ideal for someone who has shipped complex hardware/software systems, enjoys integration and test work, and is comfortable taming chaos in a multi-team environment.

Responsibilities: Own feature landing for GATN: Design, plan and execute integration of new system capabilities on the track (product features including reduced headways, fail-operational behaviors, meeting availability targets, ticket kiosk flows, dispatch behaviors, new ATP functions).Define and run integration scenarios: Design Tier 2+ integration scenarios that exercise safety functions, throughput behaviors, and operational workflows across vehicles, wayside, and dispatch / OCC.Improve regression and mileage test suites: Improve the regression test suite and mileage-accumulation campaigns that gate releases, including test selection, ordering, and coverage criteria for GATN features. Guardrail and safety-function health: Review logs, metrics, and track behavior to judge the health of safety functions (e.g., separation assurance, route obstruction, emergency stop behaviors), and recommend parameter or design changes where needed. Drive release readiness: Partner with Systems Engineering, Autonomy, Vehicle SI, and Operations to define entry/exit criteria for on-track testing, release candidates, and feature "go live" decisions. Coordinate multi-vehicle and multi-site integration: Support integration efforts across project sites (e.g., GDF2 and customer locations), including parity targets, mobile test sites, and project-specific constraints. Translate requirements into track reality: Write system-level requirements, CONOPs, and analysis outputs from the Systems Engineering & Architecture team and ensure they are implemented, testable, and validated on the GATN.Triage and root cause issues: Lead technical triage when integration or regression tests fail—coordinate logs, reproduce issues, work with domain owners, and drive to clear, documented resolutions. Improve integration process and tooling: Identify gaps in test infrastructure, logging, metrics, and configuration management that slow down feature landing; propose and help implement improvements. Communicate clearly and often: Provide crisp status on feature readiness, risks, and blockers; document decisions and operational guardrails so that product, operations, and leadership have a clear picture of system state.

Ideal Characteristics: Can turn ambiguity into clarity: drive vague, high-level questions into concrete, testable requirements. Knows which questions matter most: generates many, but focuses on the critical few. Has shipped products. Brings cross-functional depth: ideally with a background in mechanical, electrical, embedded, or software design engineering. Raises the bar for rigor: requirements traceability, verification planning, safety analysis, and disciplined systems thinking.