Engineering Technical Leader - Systems (Rail Automation)

About the role

Wabtec Freight Services is looking for a Senior Systems Engineer to lead the architecture, integration, validation and productization of a new industrial automation and robotics product platform for rail yard operations. The role acts as overall engineering program manager, technical owner and lead systems integrator, covering system architecture, safety, cybersecurity, validation and technical readiness as the solution moves from early-stage R&D to production and commercial deployment.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the system from early-stage R&D through prototype, pilot, production release and commercialization, defining the product maturity plan and technical readiness criteria.
• Own the end-to-end system architecture, requirements, interfaces and roadmap, and run engineering trade studies.
• Integrate robotics, electromechanical systems, embedded software, controls, AI perception, edge platforms, cloud applications and customer systems, coordinating internal teams, suppliers and vendors.
• Run design reviews, safety analyses (DFMEA, SFMEA, fault trees) and cybersecurity reviews, and support regulatory and customer technical assurance.
• Define the verification and validation strategy across simulation, hardware-in-the-loop, lab, test track and field, and support commissioning, pilots and production deployment.

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in Systems, Electrical, Mechanical, Robotics, Computer Engineering, Computer Science or a related field.
• Minimum 10 years of experience developing complex integrated technical systems.
• Proven experience as systems engineer, technical lead or system integration owner, moving industrial automation, robotics or autonomous systems from development to production.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams beyond direct reporting authority.

Required skills

• Systems architecture, requirements engineering, interface management, design reviews, risk management and V&V.
• Electromechanical systems and integration with embedded software, controls, sensors, edge computing and cloud applications.
• Foundational knowledge of AI and computer vision architectures (perception pipelines, sensor fusion, edge inference).
• Desired: cloud-native apps, AWS/Azure, Docker, Kubernetes, ROS/ROS 2, MQTT, DOORS/Jama/Polarion/Cameo, functional safety and rail assurance standards.

The stated pay range is $104,800-$149,300, depending on experience, education and location; benefits include health, welfare and retirement options.