Early Career Systems Engineer

About Matter Intelligence

Welcome to Matter, where we are building the future of vision AI: pairing a world-first sensor that sees molecular chemistry, temperature, and 3D shape with a Large World Model that will be the most powerful intelligence engine for the physical world. This system doesn’t just see what something looks like; it understands everything from a single pixel. We call this Superintelligent Vision.

Our team has delivered technologies to Mars for NASA/JPL, designed advanced sensors for U.S. defense, and built core infrastructure at OpenAI. We are now building the next generation of space- and airborne-based sensing systems.

About the role

We are seeking an early career Systems Engineer to support the architecture, design, verification, validation, and I&T of air-borne and space-borne remote-sensing systems. This role is intended for an early-career engineer who wants broad, hands-on exposure to real hardware and software that flies while developing strong systems engineering judgment.

Working closely with systems engineers, subject matter experts, and subsystem leads, you will help translate mission needs into system architecture, technical requirements, allocations, budgets, internal and external interfaces, trades, and technical risks. You will also help define the verification and validation strategy, support requirements closure, perform system analyses, support integration and test, investigate anomalies, and contribute to mission operations.

This is not a requirements-management role. This is true systems engineering, an opportunity to develop an end-to-end technical understanding and learn what it takes to maintain the technical integrity of a complex system. The role emphasizes learning by doing, with increasing responsibility and ownership as you demonstrate sound technical judgment and reliable execution.

Key Responsibilities

Requirements, Architecture, and System Analysis

• Shape mission objectives, science needs, and concepts of operation into coherent system architectures and clear, achievable, and verifiable requirements.

• Connect the dots across requirements, functions, interfaces, operating scenarios, assumptions, rationale, and verification maintaining traceability from mission intent through test.

• Help establish and evolve the system technical baseline as the architecture matures and new information emerges.

• Dig into challenging engineering problems using first-principles analysis, modeling, heritage, test data, and thoughtful treatment of uncertainty while gaining hands-on experience with space and airborne payloads.

• Evaluate design changes across the full system, identifying downstream impacts to requirements, interfaces, operations, performance, and verification.

Interfaces, Integration, and Verification

• Work across optics, electrical, mechanical, thermal, avionics, software, mission operations, and AI&T to define, document, and verify internal and external interfaces.

• Support interface-control working groups and maintain interface requirements, agreements, open items, and verification evidence.

• Help develop the system verification and validation approach, including verification methods, success criteria, events, configurations, and required evidence.

• Support integration planning, test readiness reviews, procedure development, test execution, data review, anomaly resolution, and requirements closure.

• Participate directly in hardware bring-up, functional checkout, environmental and performance testing, airborne campaigns, and flight-like operations.

• Investigate anomalies by organizing evidence, reproducing failures where practical, evaluating root-cause hypotheses, and tracking corrective actions through closure.

• Evaluate test results and operational behavior in the context of the end-to-end system—not solely against individual pass/fail criteria.

Technical Leadership and Growth

• Prepare clear, concise technical products for working meetings, peer reviews, design reviews, test-readiness reviews, and decision forums.

• Communicate technical status, assumptions, margins, uncertainties, risks, liens, and recommended actions clearly.

• Ask effective questions, seek technical review at appropriate decision points, and incorporate feedback into stronger engineering products.

• Work closely with subsystem cognizant engineers while maintaining awareness of cross-subsystem interactions and end-to-end system behavior.

• Take increasing technical ownership of an assigned function, interface, analysis, budget, or verification area as experience and judgment grow.

Qualifications

Required

• B.S. in aerospace, electrical, mechanical, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent practical experience.

• Typically 1–5 years of relevant experience; graduate research, capstone programs, student flight projects, laboratory work, and early professional experience count.

• Strong analytical fundamentals and the ability to break an ambiguous technical problem into assumptions, first principles, and next steps.

• Exposure to requirements, interfaces, trade studies, integration, test, verification, or configuration-controlled technical work.

• Experience with Python, MATLAB, or similar tools for engineering analysis and data visualization.

• Clear written and verbal communication, intellectual honesty about uncertainty, careful documentation, and a strong ownership mindset.

• Willingness to work hands-on with hardware and software, support onsite I&T, operations as needed.

Preferred

• Hands-on experience with testing, prototyping, flight hardware, flight software, student spacecraft/unmanned aerial systems teams, or integrated EO/IR systems.

• Familiarity with requirements, verification validation, and integration and test

• Coursework or experience in systems engineering, orbital mechanics, optics, remote sensing, avionics, thermal systems, mechanical, or software

• Experience in a fast-paced, multidisciplinary, startup, research, aerospace, or mission-operations environment.

What Success Looks Like

• Within 30 days, you can navigate the system architecture, technical baseline, key requirements and interfaces, test environments, and team decision paths.

• Within 60 days, you have delivered a reviewed technical product—such as an analysis, trade study, requirement or interface update, resource budget, or verification product—and supported an integration or test activity from planning through data review.

• Within 90 days, the team trusts you to take technical ownership of a scoped function, interface, resource budget, analysis, or verification area, with appropriate guidance and senior review.

Location & ITAR

This role is based in El Segundo, CA. Onsite work is required, with field deployments and test campaigns as needed.

Due to the nature of the work, candidates must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, protected individual, or otherwise eligible for authorization under U.S. export control laws, including ITAR and EAR requirements.