Systems Support Engineer (Huntsville)

Systems Support Engineer

• Located in Hunstville, AL or willing to relocate
• Max pay $88/hr on W-2 (no C2C or sponsorship available)
• Must be US Citizen

About the Role

This is a resident engineer position supporting delivered test equipment (fixtures and integrated test assemblies) at a customer manufacturing site in Huntsville. You'll be the on-site frontline resource for questions about the test equipment itself — troubleshooting, triage, and interpreting documentation — working alongside a second resident engineer and backed by the home engineering team.

This is not a fast-paced, high-throughput environment. Expect a handful of issues per day or week, not constant fire drills. The customer produces the same product line over a long horizon, so depth of institutional knowledge matters more than speed.

Scope note: you're responsible for the test equipment — not the test program itself or the customer's end product. Part of the job is knowing where that line is and redirecting questions that fall outside it to the correct internal or customer stakeholder, professionally and without absorbing scope that isn't yours.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the on-site frontline contact for test equipment questions, troubleshooting, and basic debugging
• Read and interpret schematics and system documentation to make independent judgment calls (is this an equipment issue, a process issue, or something else?)
• Triage issues: resolve what's within scope, escalate what isn't to the home engineering team
• Support site acceptance testing, commissioning, training, and startup activities
• Maintain accurate documentation and provide status reporting
• Participate in engineering project meetings, providing design-for-serviceability feedback
• Manage scope professionally — redirect out-of-scope requests to the appropriate stakeholder rather than absorbing them

Minimum Qualifications

• 5–7 years of hands-on experience in a systems engineering, test engineering, or equivalent manufacturing-support role
• Demonstrated ability to read and interpret schematics and technical documentation independently
• Working familiarity with general test & measurement instrumentation: DMMs, power supplies, analog/digital I/O
• Background spanning both hardware and software exposure — not a pure hardware or pure software specialist. Note: a pure mechanical engineering background is not a fit; the work leans electrical/software.
• Comfortable operating independently in a live manufacturing environment, making real-time calls under ambiguity
• Ability to lift/pull up to 40 lbs. of test equipment
• Strong communication skills — able to work across technicians, engineers, and program managers

Preferred Qualifications (nice-to-have, not disqualifying)

• Experience with LabVIEW, TestStand, PXI chassis (helpful, but the team has stated this is trainable, not a gate)
• RF instrumentation / RF analyzer experience
• DoD Secret clearance, active or in-process
• Defense industry / DoD prime contractor experience (Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing, etc. on the résumé is a positive signal)
• Familiarity with defense/aerospace system acceptance and test requirement documentation
• Cross-platform (Windows/Linux) experience

What Will Get a Candidate Rejected Fast

• Fewer than 5 years of hands-on experience (new grads will not pass screening — this has been tested and confirmed twice)
• A pure mechanical engineering background with no electrical/software exposure
• Deep specialization in one narrow technical area (e.g., FPGA/high-end digital design) without broader systems breadth — this role needs generalist breadth over specialist depth
• No prior exposure to reading schematics or troubleshooting in a live production environment

Travel Requirements

Training Period (First 2–3 Months)

• 70% on-site in Austin, TX (onboarding, test system design/build)
• 30% remote (tool training, customer introductions)

On-Site Support Period (12–18 Months, possible extension)

• 80% on-site in Huntsville, AL
• 20% remote and/or travel to Austin, TX as needed

Benefits (employee contribution)

Health, dental, vision, and life insurance; health savings account; flexible spending accounts; retirement plan.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran. Rate of pay within the stated range will depend on the qualifications of the applicant.