Systems & Integration Engineering Expert
Listing checked September 26, 2026 · pay as published by Mercor
Overview
Mercor seeks experienced systems and integration engineers to support an advanced engineering and AI research initiative with a leading technology organization. The work centers on real hardware and electromechanical systems used in production, so the team needs engineers who have integrated, tested, validated, debugged, qualified, or analyzed physical products. Relevant backgrounds include systems engineering, integration and test engineering, reliability and failure analysis engineering, and manufacturing test engineering. Engineers who have owned complex hardware and can apply practical judgment to system integration, verification and validation, reliability, root-cause analysis, manufacturing test, and cross-functional troubleshooting will fit this project well.
What You'll Do8
- 1Apply hands-on systems, integration, reliability, and test engineering skills to hard problems tied to physical products and hardware systems.
- 2Review system requirements, interfaces, integration plans, verification strategies, test procedures, qualification methods, reliability analyses, and manufacturing test workflows.
- 3Analyze system-level interactions across electrical, mechanical, firmware and software, thermal, controls, and manufacturing domains.
- 4Judge technical correctness and practical feasibility of engineering solutions, test strategies, troubleshooting approaches, and system-level decisions.
- 5Diagnose integration failures and pinpoint root causes, interface issues, design deficiencies, reliability risks, manufacturing defects, and test coverage gaps.
- 6Develop or review rigorous engineering problems, reference solutions, test cases, verification criteria, failure analyses, and technical documentation.
- 7Draw on experience with prototype integration, bring-up, verification and validation, qualification, environmental testing, reliability testing, production test, and field failure investigation.
- 8Give clear technical feedback rooted in real-world hardware development, testing, and production experience.
Requirements8
- 1Five or more years in professional systems, integration, reliability, or test engineering, including at least three recent years spent hands-on with hardware integration, test, validation, qualification, failure analysis, manufacturing test, or troubleshooting.
- 2Demonstrated ownership as the responsible engineer for complex physical systems or hardware products, from requirements and interface definition through integration, verification, qualification, production readiness, and field support.
- 3Deep expertise in one core area: systems engineering with requirements and V&V; hardware integration and test; reliability engineering and failure analysis; or manufacturing and production test engineering.
- 4Working command of requirements traceability, interface management, verification and validation, test planning, FMEA, FMECA, fault isolation, root-cause analysis, reliability, qualification, environmental testing, design-for-test, manufacturing yield, and system-level failure modes.
- 5Hands-on work integrating, instrumenting, testing, debugging, and characterizing physical hardware with lab equipment, data-acquisition systems, automated test infrastructure, environmental test equipment, diagnostic tools, and structured failure-analysis methods.
- 6Experience developing and validating hardware in real product or manufacturing settings across sectors such as aerospace, defense, space, automotive, EV, semiconductors, consumer electronics, robotics, eVTOL, industrial, energy, or medical devices.
- 7Ability to explain system decisions, integration trade-offs, test results, root causes, and failure mechanisms from past programs.
- 8Preferred background at an organization that designs, builds, integrates, tests, and manufactures complex physical hardware systems.
Who Should Apply
The right candidate brings at least five years in systems, integration, reliability, or test engineering, with three of those years spent hands-on with hardware integration, validation, qualification, failure analysis, or production test. You have served as the responsible engineer for a complex physical product and can discuss requirements, interfaces, V&V, FMEA, and root-cause work in detail. Direct work in aerospace, defense, space, automotive, semiconductors, robotics, industrial, energy, or medical devices gives your application a clear edge. The role fits less well if your background sits in program management, people management, or theoretical systems work without recent hardware ownership. Candidates often lose fit scores when they list tools and standards without showing a specific failure they diagnosed, a test campaign they led, or a production issue they resolved. Another common miss is claiming broad systems knowledge while offering no proof of hands-on instrumentation, data acquisition, environmental testing, or design-for-test decisions.
Salary Insight
Mercor lists an hourly rate of $100 to $120. That range matches senior contract work for engineers who own complex hardware integration, reliability, or test programs, and it reflects the 5+ years of professional experience and recent hands-on ownership this role requires.
Pay and demand for Software Engineering roles
AggregatedTypical pay
$70/hour
This role
$100–$120/hr
Most Software Engineering roles pay $50–$95 per hour. This role's pay sits above that range.
Based on 421 similar roles that publish pay · 133 publish only a top rate; those count at the rate they gave
Rates shown per hour. Yearly and monthly pay converted; one-time fees and non-USD pay are not included.
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Most requested skills · share of roles
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Compensation
$100–120/hr
Required Skills
Application Tip
Lead your resume and application with one hardware program where you owned integration, V&V, and root-cause analysis from requirements through production, then quantify the outcome with details such as test coverage, yield gain, failure modes eliminated, or schedule impact. Name the exact domains and tools: FMEA, requirements traceability, interface management, environmental testing, data acquisition, automated test, and design-for-test. Tie your experience to a specific industry like aerospace, EV, semiconductors, robotics, or medical devices so reviewers can map your background to the role.
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