Principal Systems Engineer

About Supply Chain Resources Group (SCRG)

Supply Chain Resources Group (SCRG) is the execution partner for the world's most innovative hardware companies. We help everyone from the biggest tech companies to the most promising start-ups design, implement, and manage their product manufacturing supply chain. SCRG provides manufacturing and supply chain advisory services, vendor management services, and highly skilled technical resources in the world's major manufacturing centers. From prototypes and early-stage New Product Introduction (NPI) to full high volume mass production, our teams bring speed, clarity, and control to complex global supply chains.

Role Overview

As a Principal Systems Engineer, you will be part of SCRG's engineering team supporting one of our clients, an agricultural technology company developing complex electromechanical machinery. This is a senior, highly hands-on individual contributor role based 100% onsite at the client's office in Dublin, California. You will work closely with the client's mechanical, electrical, software, controls, and field engineering teams to troubleshoot complex equipment issues, improve system reliability, support product development, and help move engineering solutions from the shop into real-world agricultural environments.

This is not a desk-only engineering position. You will regularly work directly with physical equipment and travel frequently to the client's Central Coast engineering facility and to agricultural field locations for testing, troubleshooting, validation, and deployment support.

We are looking for someone with strong systems-level judgment who can look at a complex machine, understand how its subsystems interact, identify likely root causes, and work with the right engineering specialists to drive problems to resolution. You do not need to be the deepest expert in every discipline, but you do need to be comfortable working across mechanical, electrical, controls, software, sensors, and other electromechanical systems. SCRG provides technical oversight and support throughout the engagement.

Key Responsibilities

• Senior Technical Leadership: Serve as a senior individual contributor on the client's U.S. engineering team, and provide technical mentorship and guidance to other engineers when appropriate.
• Multidisciplinary Troubleshooting: Troubleshoot complex and recurring equipment failures across mechanical, electrical, controls, sensor, and software disciplines, working closely with the client's specialist engineers.
• Root Cause Analysis: Lead and participate in root cause analysis for system-level issues, and translate field observations and failures into clear engineering problems and technical requirements.
• Systems Integration: Identify interactions and dependencies between mechanical, electrical, controls, sensor, software, and other subsystems, and provide systems-level technical input in design reviews.
• Prototype Development & Validation: Support prototype development, integration, testing, and validation, working directly on machines alongside engineers and technicians.
• Engineering Changes & Long-Term Fixes: Support engineering changes, validate solutions under real operating conditions, and ensure temporary field fixes are translated into appropriate long-term engineering solutions.
• Reliability & Serviceability: Support reliability, serviceability, and overall machine performance improvements.
• Field-to-Engineering Feedback: Partner closely with Field Operations to bring real-world learnings back into engineering, traveling frequently to the client's engineering facility and agricultural regions for field testing, troubleshooting, and machine validation.
• Documentation: Document technical findings, test results, root causes, and engineering recommendations.

Required Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor's degree or higher in Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Robotics, Controls, or a related field.
• Experience: 8+ years of engineering experience working with complex electromechanical products, machinery, or equipment.
• Systems Expertise: Strong systems-level understanding of multidisciplinary physical products, backed by strong mechanical engineering fundamentals.
• Electromechanical Knowledge: Working knowledge of electrical systems, sensors, motors, actuators, controls, embedded systems, and software-controlled equipment.
• Cross-Discipline Troubleshooting: Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot problems across mechanical, electrical, controls, and software boundaries, with strong root cause analysis and technical problem-solving skills.
• Hardware Development: Experience developing, integrating, testing, or supporting physical hardware products, and comfort working directly with prototypes and production equipment.
• Professional Skills: Ability to operate effectively in fast-moving engineering environments where problems may need to be diagnosed in real time, with strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Travel: Ability and willingness to travel frequently.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience with several of the following is highly desirable:

• Agricultural machinery, industrial automation, automotive, robotics, or heavy equipment
• CAN bus / CANopen
• PLC or embedded control systems
• Hydraulic and pneumatic systems
• Motors, servos, actuators, encoders, and sensors
• Machine vision hardware
• Electrical troubleshooting and wiring
• Mechanical design, fabrication, and CAD (SolidWorks)
• Prototype development and rapid product iteration
• Field service, equipment commissioning, or customer deployments
• Reliability engineering and failure analysis
• DFM / DFA and product serviceability

Hands-On & Field Requirements

This position requires significant hands-on and field involvement. Candidates must be comfortable:

• Working directly on machines alongside engineers and technicians
• Troubleshooting equipment in real time
• Working around tractors and large mechanical equipment
• Working in agricultural environments that may include dust, dirt, mud, heat, cold, and changing weather conditions
• Participating in early-morning or nighttime testing when required
• Traveling frequently between the Dublin office, the client's engineering facility, and agricultural field locations

What Success Looks Like

Success in this role means becoming a trusted senior technical resource who connects what happens in the field with what needs to change in engineering. When a machine experiences a complex problem, you will help the team move systematically from:

Field Issue Root Cause Engineering Solution Testing Validation Closure

You will not be expected to personally solve every problem or replace the technical ownership of specialized engineers. Instead, you will bring a strong systems-level perspective, hands-on troubleshooting ability, and engineering judgment that helps different disciplines work together effectively. We are looking for someone who is equally comfortable participating in a technical design review in the office and standing next to a machine in the field, troubleshooting a problem with the team.