Systems Engineer, Hardware in San Francisco, California at Gradient

Join us at Gradient, where our purpose is to revolutionize home comfort while championing environmental sustainability. Our mission is to combat the escalating challenge of climate change by redefining how homes are heated and cooled. Today, the environmental impact of heating and cooling systems surpasses that of the entire transportation sector, and without intervention, this trend is set to escalate drastically.

At Gradient, we believe that ensuring comfortable living spaces shouldn’t come at the cost of our planet. We envision a future where every individual can enjoy the luxury of a comfortable home without contributing to carbon emissions. Our high-efficiency, low-carbon heat pump is just the beginning of our journey toward fully decarbonizing buildings.

By joining Gradient, you’ll be at the forefront of a movement to make sustainable living accessible to all, ensuring healthier communities and a brighter, greener future.

As a Systems Engineer at Gradient, you will find out whether a change to our product does what it is supposed to do. You will plan and run tests on design changes to our heat pumps, including firmware features, alternate supplier parts, and hardware fixes, and report clearly whether each change meets its design requirements. Some of that testing you will run yourself in our San Francisco lab. Some of it you will scope and coordinate with outside test labs, suppliers, and engineering partners.

Compensation: The anticipated base salary range for this role is $85,000-$105,000, plus equity and benefits. Actual compensation may vary based on experience, qualifications, and location.

Location: This is a primarily in-person role based at Gradient’s San Francisco headquarters. Because the role involves hands-on product testing and collaboration, candidates should expect to work onsite most days, with flexibility for work that can effectively be completed remotely. Occasional travel to test labs, suppliers, or engineering partners may be required.

• Read system and engineering requirements and support translating them into test plans with clear, measurable pass/fail criteria.
• Set up and run tests in our lab, including instrumenting units with thermocouples, pressure transducers, power meters, and other sensors; configuring data acquisition; and operating environmental test equipment.
• Analyze test data and write concise reports explaining whether requirements were met, supporting conclusions with evidence, and recommending next steps.
• Validate firmware features, hardware changes, supplier component changes, and fixes for issues identified in testing or in the field.
• Review supplier change requests and alternate components by comparing specifications and identifying potential impacts to performance, reliability, and safety/certification.
• Coordinate third-party testing from scope through completion, including communicating requirements, requesting quotes, shipping samples, coordinating schedules, and reviewing results.
• Maintain traceability among requirements, test plans, results, part numbers, and engineering changes.
• Document work in Gradient's shared engineering systems, including Confluence, Jira, and Arena.
• Help build and maintain test fixtures and laboratory equipment.
• Learn across engineering disciplines and take on increasingly broad technical ownership as your knowledge of Gradient's products and systems grows.

• Shared commitment to building businesses and products focused on climate-change mitigation and human well-being.
• BS in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics, Systems Engineering, Physics, or another related technical field.
• 0–2 years of experience in hardware testing, validation, product development, or related technical work. Internships, co-ops, research labs, capstone projects, robotics/student engineering teams, and other substantial hands-on project experience count.
• Experience with LabVIEW for test execution or data acquisition.
• Hands-on experience building, testing, instrumenting, debugging, or analyzing physical systems.
• Experience collecting and analyzing data using instrumentation, sensors, data-acquisition tools, multimeters, or similar equipment.
• Ability to approach a technical problem systematically, moving from requirements and hypotheses to testing, evidence, and conclusions.
• Ability to analyze test data and communicate findings clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate with people from different technical backgrounds.
• Curiosity and willingness to learn unfamiliar technical areas.
• Initiative and demonstrated ownership through academic, extracurricular, internship, research, or professional experiences.
• Organized and detail-oriented, with the ability to keep multiple focused projects moving.
• Ability to work primarily onsite in San Francisco, travel occasionally to test labs and suppliers, and lift up to 50 lbs.

• Experience with MATLAB or Python for data analysis.
• Experience with HVAC, refrigeration, heat pumps, appliances, or other electromechanical products.
• Coursework or project experience in thermodynamics and heat transfer.
• Experience with environmental chamber testing.
• Familiarity with verification and validation, requirements traceability, DFMEA, design of experiments, or basic statistics/sample sizing.
• Exposure to product safety standards such as UL/CSA 60335 or the certification process.
• Experience with PLM or engineering tools such as Arena, Jira, or Confluence.
• CAD experience; SolidWorks preferred.
• EPA Section 608 certification.

• Equity
• Medical/vision/dental/life/disability insurance
• 401k
• Paid parental leave
• Professional Development Stipend
• Commuter benefits
• Flexible PTO

We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive company. We seek to create a culture where everyone can belong because we believe that people do their best work when they can show up every day as their authentic selves. We welcome people of different backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and perspectives.

Gradient is an equal opportunity employer. We do not make hiring or employment decisions on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or genetic information, in compliance with applicable federal, state and local law.