Senior Engineer, Systems Engineering

Hyliion is committed to creating innovative solutions that enable clean, flexible and affordable electricity production. The Company’s primary focus is to develop distributed power generators that can operate on various fuel sources to future-proof against an ever-changing energy economy.

Job Purpose

The Senior Systems Engineer is a key technical leader responsible for the high-level architectural design of the full KARNO generator system’s mechanical, electrical, and fluid hardware, ensuring it satisfies customer and product requirements from concept through delivery. This role owns the translation of customer and product manager inputs into detailed technical requirements and leads the engineering and validation testing effort needed to prove the system out.

Working across mechanical, electrical, thermal, and fluid systems disciplines, the Senior Systems Engineer partners closely with project management, production, and manufacturing teams to keep the product on schedule, while also providing technical mentorship to less experienced members of the engineering team, with the ability to step into hands-on design work directly when needed. This role advances KARNO’s development through disciplined systems thinking, clear requirements ownership, and strong cross-functional leadership.

AI at Hyliion

At Hyliion, AI is core to how we work. We equip every team member with leading AI tools and count on you to use them — to move faster, solve harder problems, and help us realize the full potential of KARNO technology for the world.

Duties and Responsibilities

System Architecture & Design

Lead and execute the high-level architectural design of the full KARNO generator system to satisfy customer requirements

Make system-level design trade-offs across mechanical, electrical, thermal, and fluid subsystems

Ensure architectural decisions align with performance, cost, manufacturability, and reliability goals

Perform system-level assembly layout in 3D CAD to support architectural design and packaging decisions

Requirements Definition

Lead efforts to convert customer and product manager requests into detailed technical requirements for design execution

Ensure requirements are clear, testable, and traceable through the design process

Flag conflicts or gaps between customer intent and technical feasibility early

Test Planning & Validation

Plan and lead the engineering and validation test effort for the KARNO generator system

Define test strategies and acceptance criteria that confirm the system meets its requirements

Review test results and drive design changes where performance gaps are identified

Cross-Functional Program Support

Support project management, production, and manufacturing groups to assure on-time delivery of the product

Communicate design status, risks, and technical trade-offs to stakeholders across the organization

Participate in design reviews and program milestones as the systems-level technical lead

Technical Mentorship & Leadership

Provide technical mentorship and leadership to younger members of the engineering design team

Guide junior engineers through design execution, reviewing their work and unblocking technical issues

Step in and perform design work directly when required to keep the program on track

Documentation & Communication

Maintain clear documentation of system architecture, requirements, and test results

Communicate complex system-level trade-offs clearly to cross-functional stakeholders

Ensure traceability between customer requirements, design decisions, and validation outcomes

Additional duties and responsibilities as assigned, needed, or required for the business.

Qualifications

Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Qualifications include:

Education, Experience and Certifications

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related field

5+ years of experience designing mechanical, electrical, or fluid system components for aerospace, automotive, industrial equipment, or similar applications, with demonstrated experience carrying designs beyond laboratory validation into fielded operation; experience with components deployed and operating in field environments is strongly preferred

Demonstrated experience resolving competing physical design trade-offs across mechanical, electrical, or fluid subsystems on a complex hardware product

Experience serving as a component design owner, with responsibility spanning the full component lifecycle including design, manufacturing quality (e.g., non-conformance disposition), and field support

Skills and Abilities

Basic foundation in mechanical, electrical, thermal, and controls engineering — whether from a formal engineering degree or equivalent practical experience — combined with strong systems-level thinking across mechanical, electrical, thermal, and fluid disciplines

Ability to translate customer and product requirements into detailed technical specifications, grounded in direct experience owning and trading physical hardware constraints

Proficiency with MATLAB, Python, Excel, or similar tools for system modeling to support architecture trade studies and to correlate models against test data

Ability to support project management, production, and manufacturing teams to keep programs on schedule

Demonstrated ability to mentor and provide technical leadership to junior engineers, supported by sufficient hands-on design experience to assume execution responsibilities directly when program needs require it

Experience contributing to the planning, design, construction, and execution of engineering tests, with prior exposure to laboratory test equipment; extensive test experience is not required, but some direct exposure is expected

Strong problem-solving and troubleshooting skills across subsystems and disciplines

Clear and concise technical communication, both written and verbal

Experience with a 3D CAD package such as NX, Creo, SolidWorks, or similar; this role requires performing system assembly layout directly in 3D CAD

Role Classification and Working Conditions

This is a salaried, exempt-level position. This position typically works in an office environment; and given the nature of our business is also exposed to operations/warehouses/production environments.

Physical/Other Requirements

Ability to lift and/or move up to 40 pounds.

Crouching: Bending the body downward and forward by bending leg and spine.

Reaching: Extending hand(s) and arm(s) in any direction.

Standing: Remaining upright on the feet, particularly for sustained periods of time.

Walking: Moving about on foot to accomplish tasks, particularly for long distances or moving from one work site to another.

Talking: Expressing or exchanging ideas by means of the spoken word; those activities where detailed or important spoken instructions must be conveyed to other workers accurately, loudly, or quickly.

Hearing: Perceiving the nature of sounds at normal speaking levels with or without correction and having the ability to receive detailed information through oral communication and making fine discriminations in sound.

Repetitive motions: Making substantial movements (motions) of the wrists, hands, and/or fingers.

The worker is required to have close visual acuity to perform an activity such as: preparing and analyzing data and figures; viewing a computer terminal; extensive reading; visual inspection involving small defects, small parts, and/or operation of machines (including inspection); using measurement devices; and/or assembly or fabrication of parts at distances close to the eyes.

The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

Tolerance for flying.

Benefits:

Medical Plans, with PPO or HDHP options

Dental Plans, with buy-up option

Vision