Digital Systems Engineer II

Job Description

Job Description

The Digital Systems Engineer II at Kform will design, develop, configure, and integrate connected hardware and software architectures across Kform products and engineering systems.

This role combines ownership of physical information technology, networking, Internet of Things (IoT), and edge-computing architectures with full-stack software and artificial intelligence development. The engineer will independently design and configure network switches, edge computing systems, gateways, sensors, servers, and related infrastructure while developing production software using Python, Rust, and modern web technologies.

The Digital Systems Engineer II is expected to understand and take ownership of complete digital systems from the physical device and network layer through compute infrastructure, applications, data, and AI services. The engineer will make technical decisions that result in reliable, secure, maintainable, and deployable systems.

Key Responsibilities

• Design physical and logical architectures for connected products, edge-computing systems, IoT deployments, prototype systems, manufacturing systems, and test environments.
• Configure and manage network switches, routers, wireless systems, edge devices, servers, gateways, and related infrastructure.
• Design network configurations including VLANs, routing, addressing, DHCP, DNS, Power over Ethernet (PoE), firewall rules, segmentation, and device connectivity.
• Define how sensors, controllers, embedded systems, gateways, edge computers, servers, and applications communicate within an overall system architecture.
• Develop and maintain provisioning and configuration standards for networked devices and deployed systems.
• Design and develop full-stack software using Python, Rust, JavaScript/TypeScript, and other appropriate technologies.
• Develop production backend services, APIs, data-processing systems, automation services, device interfaces, and distributed applications.
• Develop and maintain frontend applications and interfaces for system configuration, monitoring, operation, and data visualization.
• Design software interfaces between hardware, networks, edge-computing platforms, databases, on-premises or cloud infrastructure, and user-facing applications.
• Develop high-performance, reliability-critical, or systems-level services in Rust where appropriate.
• Use Python for application development, automation, AI development, data processing, system integration, and engineering tools.
• Architect and implement AI-enabled applications including model integration, AI agents, retrieval systems, structured data extraction, reasoning workflows, and automated engineering processes.
• Develop data pipelines connecting devices and systems to databases, applications, analytics platforms, and AI services.
• Design software and system architectures capable of operating across cloud, on-premises, edge, and disconnected environments as required.
• Design and maintain containerized software deployments and associated development environments.
• Develop automated provisioning, deployment, configuration management, monitoring, and testing capabilities.
• Lead troubleshooting of complex issues spanning networking, hardware, operating systems, containers, APIs, databases, applications, and AI services.
• Conduct integration and validation testing to verify that hardware and software systems perform as designed.
• Establish logging, monitoring, diagnostics, and system telemetry necessary to understand system health and troubleshoot failures.
• Review technical designs and configurations developed by other engineers and provide guidance on implementation.
• Create and maintain network diagrams, system architecture diagrams, interface definitions, configuration standards, deployment documentation, and software documentation.
• Collaborate with mechanical, electrical, manufacturing, product, cybersecurity, software, and test teams to define and implement complete digital system architectures.
• Mentor junior engineers and assist in establishing engineering practices for software development, networking, IoT, AI, and systems integration.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, Electrical Engineering, Software Engineering, or a related technical field; or equivalent demonstrated technical experience.
• Demonstrated professional experience designing, configuring, and troubleshooting networked systems.
• Experience configuring managed Ethernet switches and network infrastructure.
• Strong understanding of TCP/IP networking, VLANs, routing, switching, DHCP, DNS, firewall concepts, and network segmentation.
• Strong professional software-development experience using Python.
• Experience developing backend applications, APIs, services, and data-driven applications.
• Experience working in Linux environments.
• Experience with Git and modern software-development practices.
• Experience integrating physical devices with software applications and digital infrastructure.
• Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot complex systems involving both physical hardware and software.
• Ability to independently take a system from architecture through implementation, integration, testing, deployment, and documentation.

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong proficiency in Rust.
• Experience developing production full-stack applications.
• Experience with JavaScript/TypeScript and modern frontend frameworks.
• Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, or other container and orchestration technologies.
• Experience with edge-computing architectures and disconnected or intermittently connected systems.
• Experience with IoT protocols and interfaces including MQTT, serial communications, WebSockets, REST APIs, USB, Ethernet, or related technologies.
• Experience with databases, data pipelines, graph databases, vector databases, or distributed data systems.
• Experience integrating large language models and other AI/ML systems into production applications.
• Experience with retrieval-augmented generation, embeddings, AI agents, model routing, inference infrastructure, or AI workflow orchestration.
• Experience with infrastructure automation, configuration management, and automated provisioning.
• Experience designing secure systems for defense, manufacturing, industrial, robotics, or other hardware-intensive environments.
• Familiarity with cybersecurity principles for networked, edge, IoT, and deployed systems.

Skills and Abilities

• Strong understanding of complete digital architectures spanning physical devices, networking, compute, software, data, and artificial intelligence.
• Ability to translate operational and product requirements into physical and logical system architectures.
• Ability to configure and troubleshoot network infrastructure without relying exclusively on dedicated IT support.
• Strong software architecture and development capabilities across frontend, backend, systems, and integration software.
• Ability to determine when Python, Rust, or other technologies are appropriate for a particular engineering problem.
• Ability to develop reliable interfaces between physical hardware and software systems.
• Strong troubleshooting skills across multiple layers of a technical system.
• Ability to independently research unfamiliar hardware, protocols, software frameworks, and technologies and implement workable solutions.
• Ability to create clear, reproducible technical documentation and configuration standards.
• Ability to mentor less-experienced engineers and provide technical direction on multidisciplinary engineering efforts.

Working Conditions

Work in a dynamic engineering and product-development environment involving software development, network infrastructure, physical devices, prototyping, integration, and testing.

Work may include development at a computer workstation as well as hands-on installation, configuration, troubleshooting, and validation of systems in laboratories, manufacturing environments, customer environments, and field locations.

Standing, walking, connecting equipment, installing hardware, and using tools may be required.

Use of personal protective equipment (PPE) may be required during manufacturing, installation, and testing activities.

Other Requirements

• Commitment to Kform's core values, including innovation, continuous improvement, and teamwork.
• Ability and willingness to operate across traditional IT, software engineering, AI, networking, and hardware-engineering boundaries.
• Willingness to continually evaluate and adopt emerging networking, IoT, software, AI, and edge-computing technologies when they provide meaningful technical advantages.
• Ability to take technical ownership of systems and drive issues to resolution across multiple engineering disciplines.
• Willingness to work flexible hours as needed to meet project deadlines and support integration, deployment, and testing activities.

By fulfilling these responsibilities, the Digital Systems Engineer II at Kform will provide end-to-end technical ownership across physical infrastructure, networking, connected devices, software, data, and artificial intelligence, enabling Kform to develop increasingly sophisticated connected products and digital systems.