Principal System Engineer

It's Time to Join Stryker!

As a Principal Systems Engineer within Stryker’s Mako / Ortho-tech division, you will support the development of Stryker’s next-generation robotic platform. This is a hardware-focused systems engineering role supporting complex robotic systems, with emphasis on the robot and robotic arm, system requirements, requirements decomposition, integration, verification, validation, risk management, and technical documentation.

In this role, you will own a portion of the robotic system from a systems engineering perspective and help drive that area through the product development lifecycle. Depending on project timing, you may be working through requirements, risk, integration, verification, validation, engineering studies, or documentation updates. You will partner closely with cross-functional teams to ensure the robotic system performs safely, accurately, and reliably within the broader clinical application.

What You Will Do

• You will own a portion of the robotic system from a systems engineering perspective, driving requirements, risk, integration, verification, validation, and documentation activities through the design cycle.
• You will translate system-level needs into clear, testable requirements for robotic hardware and related system components.
• Decompose system requirements into lower-level requirements across cross-functional engineering teams.
• Manage requirements traceability and ensure requirements are verifiable, validated, and aligned to system performance and safety needs.
• Partner with test and verification teams to define test approaches, acceptance criteria, and verification strategies for system requirements.
• Support engineering studies and system-level testing to establish or validate requirement values, performance expectations, accuracy, and system behavior.
• Contribute to system integration activities involving robotic hardware, the robotic arm, related system components, and the clinical application.
• Identify, investigate, and help resolve complex system integration, performance, and design issues.
• Support product risk management activities, including identification of risks, mitigations, safety requirements, documentation, and design considerations.
• Create, review, and maintain technical documentation supporting requirements, verification, validation, risk management, and design history file content.
• Apply advanced systems engineering judgment to guide technical decisions, trade-offs, and cross-functional alignment.
• Mentor and guide other engineers in systems engineering best practices, requirements development, verification thinking, risk management, and technical problem solving.

Cross-Functional Responsibilities

• You will collaborate closely with R&D, software, electrical, mechanical, robotics, test, quality, regulatory, clinical, and other cross-functional partners.
• You will work with teams responsible for related areas such as clinical application, robotic controls, kinematics, dynamics, navigation, and other system-level functions.
• Communicate technical information, risks, trade-offs, and recommendations clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Support lab-based and hands-on activities involving robotic systems when needed.
• Participate in product demonstrations, labs, cadaver labs, surgeon-facing activities, or voice-of-customer activities as needed.
• Contribute to process improvements, documentation quality, and systems engineering best practices.

What You Need

• Bachelor’s degree in Systems Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Software Engineering, Robotics, or related engineering discipline is required.
• 8+ years of engineering experience is required.
• Experience with system integration, verification, validation, risk management, or requirements management for complex systems is required.

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​Preferred Qualifications (You do NOT need ALL of these)

• Experience developing, integrating, testing, or supporting complex systems.
• Experience writing, decomposing, managing, or tracing system requirements.
• Experience with system integration.
• Experience with verification and validation activities.
• Experience with risk management, risk documentation, hazard analysis, or safety-related engineering activities.
• Experience working cross-functionally with engineering, test, quality, regulatory, clinical, and/or product teams.
• Strong technical communication skills with the ability to explain complex engineering concepts, requirements, risks, and trade-offs.
• Ability to work onsite as needed to support hands-on robotic system, lab, integration, and testing activities.
• Experience with robotic systems, robotic hardware, robotic arms, automation, mechatronics, complex electromechanical systems, or safety-critical hardware systems.
• Experience in medical device, surgical robotics, orthopedic technology, aerospace, defense, automotive, industrial automation, or another regulated/safety-critical product development environment.
• Experience supporting hardware-focused systems engineering for complex products.
• Experience working with robotic systems that include hardware, software, controls, sensors, electrical, and mechanical components.
• Familiarity with robotic concepts such as kinematics, dynamics, accuracy, system performance, or robotic controls.
• Experience with medical device design controls, Design History File documentation, ISO 13485, or ISO 14971.
• Experience using requirements management tools such as Jama, DOORS, Polarion, Helix, Codebeamer, or similar.
• Experience supporting test strategy, engineering studies, acceptance criteria, and requirement verification.
• Experience participating in clinical labs, cadaver labs, product demos, surgeon-facing activities, or voice-of-customer activities.
• INCOSE CSEP certification or equivalent systems engineering certification.

• $135,600 - $225,900 USD Annual