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Quantum-Systems is seeking a Senior Payload Integration Engineer to own payload integration across their UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle) platforms. In this senior individual contributor role, you will drive the electrical, electronic, and mechanical integration of mission payloads into the Mandrill UGV and partner vehicle platforms, with the goal of creating a payload-agnostic platform with scalable, reusable interfaces.
Key responsibilities include:
**Payload Integration Architecture**: Define and own the integration concept for various payloads across UGV platforms, ensuring scalable interfaces rather than one-off solutions. Design and specify payload interfaces including power supply, signal routing, communication interfaces, connectors, mounting concepts, cooling, grounding, shielding, and serviceability. Enable a payload-flexible vehicle platform supporting diverse customer-specific payloads without major redesigns.
**Electrical, Electronic & Mechanical Integration**: Integrate payloads into vehicle power, network, compute, and control architectures. Work with vehicle communication buses (CAN, automotive Ethernet) to integrate payload data and control interfaces. Own the health of the complete E/E system through systematic cross-domain troubleshooting. Drive payload mounting with internal teams and external suppliers, considering brackets, packaging, accessibility, vibration robustness, environmental protection, and manufacturability.
**Bring-up, Commissioning & Validation**: Plan and execute payload bring-up and commissioning on vehicle prototypes and demonstrators. Define acceptance criteria, build system-level test setups, automate recurring integration and regression tests, and support field testing. Translate integration findings into design improvements and feed validated workflows into CI and test infrastructure.
**Cross-Functional Collaboration**: Create interface control documents, integration guides, test reports, and reusable standards. Support build-ups, rework, and vehicle-level commissioning in the workshop during prototype and customer-specific phases. Work directly with payload suppliers on requirements, documentation, and issue resolution.
Required qualifications: Engineering degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics, Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, or comparable field. 5+ years of hands-on experience in field robotics, vehicle, or mechatronic system integration. Strong E/E integration expertise including power distribution, signal interfaces, connectors, wiring harnesses, grounding, shielding, and diagnostics. Hands-on experience with vehicle communication buses (CAN, CAN-FD, automotive Ethernet). Solid mechanical integration understanding of mounting, packaging, tolerances, vibration, and environmental robustness. Practical software skills: Linux, scripting (Python/Bash), software provisioning, and embedded device configuration. Experience defining and running validation setups from bench to vehicle-level testing. Strong integration mindset with systematic debugging and structured documentation. Hands-on mentality comfortable working directly on vehicles and prototypes. Strong communication across engineering teams, suppliers, and stakeholders. Fluent in German and English.
