Systems Engineer - All Levels
Company Overview
ACS (Allen Control Systems) is a defense technology company building precision robotic systems for the United States and its allies. Founded by two former U.S. Navy electrical engineers with deep experience in robotics and software, ACS brings together AI, computer vision, precision motion, and advanced hardware to solve complex defense challenges across land, air, and maritime environments.
Our flagship product, Bullfrog, is an autonomous precision weapon system that transforms existing weapons into highly accurate counter-drone systems - giving warfighters a scalable, cost-effective response to one of the fastest-growing threats on the modern battlefield. Bullfrog is deployed with U.S. forces, and ACS works with organizations throughout the U.S. military and national security community.
Following a $200 million Series B at a $2.2 billion valuation, ACS is rapidly expanding manufacturing, accelerating Bullfrog deployments, and developing the next generation of autonomous battlefield systems. This is an opportunity to join a proven, fast-moving team and help scale technology with direct, real-world impact on national security.
ACS is headquartered in Austin, Texas, with additional operations in Alexandria, Virginia; Mountain View, California; and Huntsville, Alabama. For more information, visit allencontrolsystems.com.
About The Role:
We are looking for a Systems Engineer to join our team and help architect, define, and mature our next-generation autonomous weapon platforms. In this role, you will turn high-level mission and product objectives into clear requirements, interfaces, verification plans, and technical decisions that guide development across hardware and software. You will work cross-functionally with design, controls, software, test, and operations teams to drive alignment, manage system-level tradeoffs, and ensure the overall system performs as intended. The ideal candidate is technically rigorous, highly collaborative, and excited to bring structure and clarity to complex, fast-moving engineering programs.
We’re hiring across multiple experience levels, including:
Associate Engineer
Engineer
Senior Engineer
Staff Engineer
Senior Staff Engineer
Your title and level will be determined based on your experience, skills, and the scope of responsibility appropriate for the role.
What You'll Do:
Own the full requirements management and verification process for complex autonomous systems, from requirement definition through verification closure.
Translate program goals, customer needs, and technical constraints into clear, testable system and subsystem requirements.
Define verification strategies, methods, and pass/fail criteria before testing begins, and ensure each requirement has an explicit path to closure.
Drive requirement decomposition, traceability, and alignment across mechanical, electrical, software, controls, and operations teams.
Work closely with test and design engineers to ensure verification activities produce usable evidence and defensible engineering conclusions.
Identify gaps in requirements, verification coverage, and technical ownership early, and drive cross-functional resolution before they become program risks.
Review test results, engineering analyses, and system behavior to determine whether requirements have been satisfied or need refinement.
Help structure design reviews, verification reviews, and technical decision-making around clear evidence rather than informal status.
Support system integration and issue triage by connecting observed behavior back to system requirements and expected behavior.
Manage technical risks and conduct engineering trade studies.
Develop Operations and Maintenance manuals to enforce continuous improvement and align requirements with design processes.
Raise the bar on technical rigor by ensuring the team knows what must be proven, how it will be proven, and what evidence counts as success
What You'll Need:
Bachelor's or Master's degree in Engineering or a related technical field.
3+ years of experience in systems engineering, requirements management, verification planning, or multidisciplinary product development.
Experience writing clear, testable technical requirements and defining practical verification approaches.
Strong understanding of system integration across hardware and software, including the challenges of cross-functional technical ownership.
Ability to evaluate test results, engineering analyses, and other technical evidence against requirement intent.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to align teams around clear technical expectations.
Comfort operating in a fast-paced environment with incomplete information, changing priorities, and high ownership.
Experience working across mechanical, electrical, software, and test teams to drive technical closure
You'll Stand Out:
Strong systems thinking with the ability to see where interfaces, assumptions, or missing requirements are likely to create downstream problems.
A track record of turning ambiguous technical goals into structured requirements, verification plans, and closure criteria.
Comfort pushing for clarity when ownership, pass/fail criteria, or verification evidence is vague.
Prior experience qualifying defense, aerospace and/ or safety critical applications.
Experience with requirements management in JAMA or DOORS.
A bias toward technical rigor without becoming overly process-heavy.
Good judgment about how much structure is needed to keep fast-moving engineering work aligned and accountable.
What We Offer:
Competitive salary
ACS Equity Package
Health, Dental, Vision Insurance
Paid Time Off
Allen Control Systems is an Equal Opportunity Employer, providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment. Allen Control Systems prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.