About Forterra

At Forterra, we are unleashing autonomy at scale to transform the battlefield. Our mission is to build the foundational platforms that enable an intelligent ecosystem to coordinate, adapt, and execute with speed and precision even in the uncertainty and disruption of modern conflict. In an era marked by rapid technological change and evolving threats, we design for flexibility, survivability, and operational dominance.

Forterra delivers weapons, sensors, and battlefield effects through integrated autonomous networks reaching operational areas faster, safer, and without placing human lives at risk. Our systems operate with distributed control, dynamic routing, and real-time responsiveness, enabling sustained advantage across complex mission environments.

About the role

Forterra is building a new generation of mission module capabilities for autonomous ground systems— integrating high-impact payloads like Counter-UAS, fire-control, combat engineering, and advanced ISR into a scalable platform architecture. We’re looking for a highly capable Systems Engineer with experience defining, designing, integrating, and validating complex subsystems, systems, system-of-systems, especially within open architecture frameworks such as the U.S. Army Interoperability Profile (IOP).

You’ll play a critical role in ensuring that mission payloads interface reliably and safely with our autonomy stack, payload systems, and tactical networks. This is a hands-on role where you’ll collaborate closely with autonomy, software, electrical, and mechanical teams, government stakeholders, and third-party subsystem providers to drive safety-critical and warfighter-relevant outcomes.

What you'll do

• In your role as a Staff System Engineer, you will contribute to the development and architectural design supporting the delivery of prototypes and safety-critical ground based autonomous solutions.

• Lead the end-to-end systems engineering of autonomous and robotic systems supporting DoD missions, from concept through fielded capability

• Translate warfighter and government stakeholder needs into clear, testable system requirements and architectures

• Own system and subsystem architectures across autonomy, AI/ML, software, electrical, and mechanical domains

• Drive requirements decomposition, traceability, and change management using MBSE and requirements management tools

• Define and enforce interfaces to ensure reliable integration of mission payloads, autonomy stacks, and platform subsystems

• Lead and support system integration, verification, and validation activities across lab, vehicle, and field environments

• Support field testing, demonstrations, and operational evaluations to validate mission performance

• Ensure systems comply with open architecture standards and interoperability requirements (IOP, MOSA, SOSA, FACE)

• Serve as a technical authority and trusted interface with government customers, partners, and vendors

• Participate in Systems Engineering Technical Reviews (SRR, PDR, CDR, etc.)

Qualifications

• BS degree in Electrical, Mechanical, Systems or related Engineering discipline, Computer Science, or a related technical field; MS Preferred.

• 5+ years of work experience as a System engineer or related role focused on autonomous or robotic systems for DoD use

• Strong background in requirements development, requirements decomposition, system architecture, and lifecycle management

• Experience with SysML modeling and Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) tools (Cameo)

• Experience working with open architectures (e.g., IOP, MOSA, SOSA, FACE, or similar)

• Experience with managing requirements (Jama, Doors) and issue tracking (JIRA)

• Hands-on experience supporting integration, test, and validation activities

• Experience supporting field testing, demonstrations, or operational evaluations

• Experience with robotics, AI and/or machine learning

• Strong communication skills and the ability to communicate complex engineering issues to both a diverse technical team and non-technical stakeholders

• Experience working with government customers or defense programs

• Eligibility for a security clearance

Preferred Qualifications

• 10+ years of work experience as a System engineer or related role focused on autonomous or robotic systems for DoD use

• Demonstrated technical leadership over large, complex systems or system-of-systems across multiple programs or platforms

• Background in payload integration (ISR, fires, EW, Counter-UAS, or similar)

• Background in integration of hardware-software systems, including sensors, effectors, and compute platforms

• Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Certified Systems Engineering Professional (CSEP) or Functional Safety Certification

• Experience with MIL-STD 882E or a related or similar functional safety standards (e.g., ARP 4754/4761, ISO 26262, UL 4600, IEC 61508, IEC 62304, DOD-178)

• Familiar with mathematical and engineering principles and methods used to design safety critical systems

• Direct experience in the design and development of autonomous vehicles or advanced ADAS applications

US Salary Range
$145,000—$170,000

The salary range for this role is an estimate and is based on a wide variety of compensation factors. The salary offered to candidates will vary based on a variety of factors including (but not limited to) relevant work experience, education, specialized training, critical expertise, training, and more. Equity in Forterra is included in most of our full-time, high-demand roles and is therefore considered part of Forterra’s overall compensation package. In addition to base salary and equity, Forterra offers competitive benefits for full-time employees including:

• Premium Healthcare Benefits: Three plan options, including an HSA-eligible plan, with Forterra covering 80% of the plan premium for you and your dependents.
• Basic Life/AD&D, short and long-term disability insurance plans 100% covered by Forterra, plus the option to purchase additional life insurance for you and your dependents.
• Extremely generous company holiday calendar including a winter break in December.
• Competitive paid time off (PTO) offering 20 days accrued per year.
• A minimum of 7 weeks fully paid parental leave for birth/adoption.
• A $9k annual tuition reimbursement or professional development stipend.
• Fully stocked beverage refrigerators with all the Celsius your little heart desires.
• 401(k) retirement savings plan, including traditional, Roth 401(k), and after-tax deferral with company match up to 4%.

Your recruiter will be able to share more information about our salary and benefits offering during the hiring process.

Forterra is an equal-opportunity employer, providing and promoting equal employment opportunity in accordance with local, state, and federal laws. Forterrans are unique, talented individuals who are united through a shared passion to deliver autonomous systems that enable national resilience and a robust supply chain. All qualified applications will receive equal consideration for employment.