Systems Engineer

Job Title: Systems Engineer
Job Description
This Systems Engineer role supports a new, highly technical development program focused on a first-of-its-kind power architecture for a new class of aircraft. You will build structured requirements from the ground up, ensure full traceability, and drive system architecture and certification readiness in a hardware-heavy, front-end engineering environment. The position offers significant influence over requirements definition and system architecture, along with high visibility and direct interaction with customers.
Responsibilities

• Lead the capture, decomposition, and flow-down of system requirements for a new development program.
• Write, organize, and maintain structured requirements documentation, including reverse engineering legacy designs into clear, traceable requirements.
• Ensure end-to-end requirements traceability and alignment with FAA design assurance standards and other applicable certification requirements.
• Support system verification and validation activities, including test planning, execution oversight, and documentation of results.
• Contribute to safety analyses and reliability assessments to ensure system robustness and compliance with relevant standards.
• Create and manage Supplier Data Requirements Lists to clearly define and control supplier deliverables.
• Develop qualification and acceptance test plans, procedures, reports, and compliance matrices to demonstrate system conformity.
• Support key program milestones such as Preliminary Design Review (PDR), Critical Design Review (CDR), Test Readiness Review (TRR), and Production Readiness Review (PRR).
• Coordinate and manage technical changes across cross-functional teams, ensuring consistent implementation and documentation.
• Participate in weekly customer meetings, provide technical updates, and support overall program execution.
• Support design reviews and collaborate closely with mechanical, electrical, and systems engineering teams to resolve technical issues.
• Apply strong systems engineering judgment to understand system-level design tradeoffs and their impacts on performance, reliability, and certification.

Essential Skills

• Bachelor's degree in engineering (mechanical, electrical, aerospace, systems or related discipline).
• Extensive experience (7+ years, mid-career ideal) in systems engineering, with a strong focus on R&D and new product development.
• Proficiency with requirements management tools, with DOORS highly preferred, or similar tools such as CaliberRM, Jama, or comparable platforms.
• Demonstrated ability in requirements capture, decomposition, and flow-down for complex systems.
• Experience supporting design reviews and working within structured design and development processes.
• Background in mechanical or electrical engineering with a strong systems engineering foundation.
• Experience working with rotating machinery or propulsion systems, including an understanding of vibration and rotor dynamics.
• Experience with thermal analysis of electronics and comfort working in hardware-heavy, non-software-centric environments.
• Familiarity with system verification and validation processes, including test plan development and execution.
• Experience with safety analyses and reliability assessments for high-reliability systems.
• Ability to understand and evaluate system-level design tradeoffs and their impacts on performance and certification.
• Experience with or understanding of standards such as ARP4754A (required) and ARP4761A (required).

Additional Skills & Qualifications

• Master's degree in engineering (mechanical, electrical, aerospace, or related discipline) preferred.
• Experience using SCADA or similar tools in support of system monitoring and control is beneficial.
• Familiarity with additional standards such as DO-160 (environmental), DO-254 (hardware QA), and MIL-STD-704E (270V DC systems) is a plus.
• Experience deriving requirements for subassemblies and coordinating with suppliers and internal stakeholders.
• Background in other high-reliability systems such as energy, turbines, or military vehicles.
• Magnetics knowledge, including fields and generators, is desirable.
• Design for Manufacturability (DFM) experience involving electrical and mechanical integration.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams and customers.
• Comfort operating in a high-visibility environment with direct customer interaction and frequent technical reviews.

Our client prefers onsite work in the Portland area, but will consider non-local talent working primarily remote. Individuals must be a very strong fit for the qualifications and have demonstrated success (validated by references) of remote work.
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Job Type & Location
This is a Contract position based out of Portland, OR.
Pay and Benefits
The pay range for this position is $65.00 - $85.00/hr.
Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on your job classification and length of employment. Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to specific elections, plan, or program terms. If eligible, the benefits available for this temporary role may include the following:
• Medical, dental & vision
• Critical Illness, Accident, and Hospital
• 401(k) Retirement Plan - Pre-tax and Roth post-tax contributions available
• Life Insurance (Voluntary Life & AD&D for the employee and dependents)
• Short and long-term disability
• Health Spending Account (HSA)
• Transportation benefits
• Employee Assistance Program
• Time Off/Leave (PTO, Vacation or Sick Leave)
Workplace Type
This is a fully onsite position in Portland,OR.
Application Deadline
This position is anticipated to close on Jun 29, 2026.
About Actalent


Actalent is a global leader in engineering and sciences services and talent solutions. We help visionary companies advance their engineering and science initiatives through access to specialized experts who drive scale, innovation and speed to market. With a network of almost 20,000 consultants and 5,000 clients across the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe, Actalent serves many of the Fortune 500. We are proud to be an Engineering News-Record (ENR) Top 500 Design Firm for our engineering design services and a ClearlyRated Best of Staffing® winner for both client and talent service.


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