---
title: 'Systems Engineer - All Levels at Allen Control Systems'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/systems-engineer-all-levels-allen-control-systems-austin-bb2wkgw5yfn4'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-14'
---

# Systems Engineer - All Levels at Allen Control Systems

- **Company:** [Allen Control Systems](https://feeny.ai/companies/allen-control-systems)
- **Location:** Austin, TX
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Posted:** 2026-09-08
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-14
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/allen-control-systems/797bd230-9553-46a7-88fa-034c6af072cd/application

**Skills:** Systems Engineering, Requirements Management, Verification Planning, System Integration, Technical Requirements Writing, Test Result Analysis, Engineering Trade Studies, JAMA, DOORS, Defense Application Qualification, Aerospace Application Qualification, Safety Critical Applications

> The Systems Engineer will architect and mature next-generation autonomous weapon platforms by managing requirements, verification plans, and technical decisions. This role involves cross-functional collaboration to define system interfaces, drive tradeoffs, and ensure hardware and software performance aligns with mi...

## Job description

Company Overview ACS (Allen Control Systems) is a defense technology company building precision robotic systems for the United States and its allies. Founded by two former U.S. Navy electrical engineers with deep experience in robotics and software, ACS brings together AI, computer vision, precision motion, and advanced hardware to solve complex defense challenges across land, air, and maritime environments. Our flagship product, Bullfrog, is an autonomous precision weapon system that transforms existing weapons into highly accurate counter-drone systems — giving warfighters a scalable, cost-effective response to one of the fastest-growing threats on the modern battlefield. Bullfrog is deployed with U.S. forces, and ACS works with organizations throughout the U.S. military and national security community. Following a $200 million Series B at a $2.2 billion valuation, ACS is rapidly expanding manufacturing, accelerating Bullfrog deployments, and developing the next generation of autonomous battlefield systems. This is an opportunity to join a proven, fast-moving team and help scale technology with direct, real-world impact on national security. ACS is headquartered in Austin, Texas, with additional operations in Alexandria, Virginia; Mountain View, California; and Huntsville, Alabama. For more information, visit [allencontrolsystems.com](http://allencontrolsystems.com).

About The Role: You'll join Allen Control Systems' Systems team — one team, three tracks (Systems, Systems Test, and Systems Reliability) reporting to the Director of Systems Engineering. We work cross-functionally across mechanical, electrical, software, controls, test, and operations to build ACS's autonomous weapon platforms, including Bullfrog. We are looking for a Systems Engineer to join our team and help architect, define, and mature our next-generation autonomous weapon platforms. In this role, you will turn high-level mission and product objectives into clear requirements, interfaces, verification plans, and technical decisions that guide development across hardware and software. You will work cross-functionally with design, controls, software, test, and operations teams to drive alignment, manage system-level tradeoffs, and ensure the overall system performs as intended. The ideal candidate is technically rigorous, highly collaborative, and excited to bring structure and clarity to complex, fast-moving engineering programs. This role can be filled with a SW, ME/EE (hardware), or Analysis focus — tell us which lane fits you best; strong generalists are welcome too. We're hiring across multiple experience levels, including:

- Associate Engineer
- Engineer
- Senior Engineer
- Staff Engineer
- Senior Staff Engineer

Your title and level will be determined based on your experience, skills, and the scope of responsibility appropriate for the role. What You'll Do:

- Own the full requirements management and verification process for complex autonomous systems, from requirement definition through verification closure.
- Derive system and subsystem requirements from first principles — reasoning up from mission objectives, physics, and operating constraints rather than inheriting or copying prior requirements — and express them as clear, testable statements.
- Define verification strategies, methods, and pass/fail criteria before testing begins, and ensure each requirement has an explicit path to closure.
- Drive requirement decomposition, traceability, and alignment across mechanical, electrical, software, controls, and operations teams.
- Work closely with test and design engineers to ensure verification activities produce usable evidence and defensible engineering conclusions.
- Identify gaps in requirements, verification coverage, and technical ownership early, and drive cross-functional resolution before they become program risks.
- Review test results, engineering analyses, and system behavior to determine whether requirements have been satisfied or need refinement.
- Help structure design reviews, verification reviews, and technical decision-making around clear evidence rather than informal status.
- Support system integration and issue triage by connecting observed behavior back to system requirements and expected behavior.
- Own the engineering analysis behind requirements and decisions — modeling, simulation, margin and budget analysis, and quantitative data analysis — so requirements, pass/fail thresholds, and trade-offs are grounded in numbers rather than assumption.
- Manage technical risks and conduct engineering trade studies, using analysis to weigh options and justify the chosen direction.
- Develop Operations and Maintenance manuals to enforce continuous improvement and align requirements with design processes.
- Raise the bar on technical rigor by ensuring the team knows what must be proven, how it will be proven, and what evidence counts as success.

What You'll Need:

- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Engineering or a related technical field.
- We hire across levels, and experience expectations scale accordingly — from interns and new grads (relevant coursework, projects, or prior internships) through senior engineers (roughly 3+ years in systems engineering, requirements management, verification planning, or multidisciplinary product development).
- Experience deriving and writing clear, testable requirements from first principles — starting from mission needs, physics, and constraints — and defining practical verification approaches.
- Ability to perform engineering analysis (modeling, simulation, margin/budget analysis, or quantitative data analysis) to define requirements and evaluate whether they are met.
- Strong understanding of system integration across hardware and software, including the challenges of cross-functional technical ownership.
- Ability to evaluate test results, engineering analyses, and other technical evidence against requirement intent.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to align teams around clear technical expectations.
- Comfort operating in a fast-paced environment with incomplete information, changing priorities, and high ownership.
- Experience working across mechanical, electrical, software, and test teams to drive technical closure.

You'll Stand Out:

- Strong systems thinking with the ability to see where interfaces, assumptions, or missing requirements are likely to create downstream problems.
- A track record of turning ambiguous technical goals into structured requirements, verification plans, and closure criteria.
- A strong bias toward automation — building scripts or tooling to automate requirements traceability, verification tracking, data analysis, and evidence generation instead of doing it by hand.
- Comfort pushing for clarity when ownership, pass/fail criteria, or verification evidence is vague.
- Prior experience qualifying defense, aerospace, and/or safety-critical applications.
- Experience with requirements management in JAMA or DOORS.
- A bias toward technical rigor without becoming overly process-heavy.
- Good judgment about how much structure is needed to keep fast-moving engineering work aligned and accountable.

What We Offer:

- Competitive salary
- ACS Equity Package
- Health, Dental, Vision Insurance
- Paid Time Off

Allen Control Systems is an Equal Opportunity Employer, providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment. Allen Control Systems prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

## About Allen Control Systems

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Allen Control Systems (ACS) is a defense technology company building autonomous robotic weapon stations to counter drone swarms with cost-effective, AI-driven precision.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series A; recent $200M round at $2.2B valuation)
- **Headquarters**: Austin, Texas, USA (also office in Alexandria, Virginia)
- **Founded**: 2023 (seed round closed April 2024)
- **Founders**: Luke Allen (CTO), Mike Wior (CEO), and Steve Simoni (President) – all U.S. Navy veterans and nuclear engineers

## Core Business
- **Primary industries**: Defense and space manufacturing, counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS), robotics, AI/computer vision
- **Target customers**: U.S. Department of Defense, allied militaries, national security agencies (B2G)
- **Mission/purpose**: To completely change battlefield economics by lowering the cost per kill of a drone to a few dollars, using existing weapon systems enhanced by proprietary hardware and software.

## Products & Services
- **Bullfrog™ Weapon Stations**: A family of autonomous, remotely operated weapon mounts (variants: M240C, M230, M2, M134, M240) that can be integrated with existing military platforms. Key features:
  - Passive sensing (no radar required) for stealth operations
  - Open architecture for integration with any C2 system
  - AI/ML-based fire control for precise targeting of Group 1–3+ UAS, including swarms and non-jammable drones
  - Effective range up to 1,500m depending on variant
- **Autonomous Fire Control Software**: Machine vision and synthetic data generation engine that continuously updates threat libraries and enables accurate engagement without human intervention.
- **Synthetic Data Training Pipeline**: Generates simulated threat scenarios to keep the system current with evolving drone threats.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: $2.2 billion (per 2026 $200M funding round; reported by company and media)
- **Total Funding**: ~$242M (Seed $12M led by Craft Ventures in 2024; Series A $30M led by Craft Ventures in 2025; undisclosed $200M round in 2026)
- **Notable Investors**: Craft Ventures (lead in multiple rounds)
- **Growth Signals**:
  - Headcount grew 262% year-over-year to 131 employees (LinkedIn, 2026)
  - Active job postings increased 392% year-over-year (64 open roles)
  - Recently won a contract for an "Autonomous Identification and Decision" drone solution (FAF contract)
  - Opened Innovation Lab and expanded to a second office (Alexandria, VA)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Passive sensing**: Operates without emitting radar, preserving battlefield stealth.
- **Cost per kill**: Drives engagement costs down to a few dollars per drone.
- **Open architecture**: Integrates with any existing command-and-control system and legacy weapon platforms.
- **Synthetic data generation**: Continuously trains AI models on emerging threats without needing real-world data.
- **Founders’ deep domain expertise**: Navy nuclear engineers with prior startup experience (Luke Allen co-founded Bbot, acquired by DoorDash).

## Strategic Focus
- Scaling production of Bullfrog systems for land and naval platforms.
- Advancing AI/computer vision to defeat larger (Group 3+) UAS and drone swarms.
- Expanding international customer base and partnering with allied defense forces.
- Building a robust supply chain and manufacturing capability in Austin.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission**: Directly contribute to protecting soldiers and changing the economics of drone warfare.
- **Culture**: Described as a remote-friendly organization with a strong engineering focus; HQ in Austin with a satellite office in Alexandria.
- **Work Model**: Remote core, but many roles require on-site presence in Austin for manufacturing and testing.
- **Growth**: Hyper-growth stage – employees have significant ownership and impact.
- **Tech Stack**: State-of-the-art tools: PyTorch, CUDA, Unreal Engine, ROS, Linux, Docker, Git, MLflow, and more.
- **Team**: High density of talent from SpaceX, Firefly, DoorDash, Lockheed Martin, and Carnegie Mellon.
- **Perks**: Not publicly detailed; typical for defense startups include competitive compensation, equity, and a chance to work on cutting-edge hardware-software integration.

## Sources
1. [Allen Control Systems – Company Page](https://www.allencontrolsystems.com/)
2. [Allen Control Systems – About/Team](https://www.allencontrolsystems.com/company)
3. [Allen Control Systems – Careers Page (Greenhouse)](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/allencontrolsystems)
4. [Allen Control Systems – LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/allen-control-systems)
5. [Allen Control Systems – Built In](https://builtin.com/company/allen-control-systems)

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