Subject Matter Expert (SME) - System Requirements Management

Position Summary:

• The Subject Matter Expert (SME) – System Requirements Management is responsible for technical leadership of system requirements activities supporting vehicle feature development across multiple engineering domains.
• Operating upstream of product design and verification activities, the SME evaluates the impact of new features, feature modifications, and carry-over content on existing vehicle system requirements.
• The role serves as the authoritative voice for requirements management, ensuring that technical changes are properly assessed, documented, justified, and released before product design and validation activities begin.
• The SME acts as a key interface between Vehicle Feature Owners, Systems Engineering, Architecture, Design Engineering, and Test & Validation organizations.
• Success in this role requires strong systems engineering knowledge, sound technical judgment, assertiveness, stakeholder management skills, and the ability to defend requirement decisions that may impact program timing, cost, and downstream engineering activities.
• Additionally, the SME serves as a Cluster Lead, providing operational leadership and mentoring to a small team of Requirements Engineers.

System Domains (Priority Order):

• Candidates should possess experience in one or more of the following vehicle system domains, with priority given to:
• Energy & Propulsion
• Thermal Systems
• Cabin & Visibility
• Chassis
• Access / Access Operations
• Cabin Climate & Comfort
• Vehicle Rights Management / Connectivity

Key Responsibilities:

Requirements Impact Assessment & Governance

• Evaluate technical impacts associated with:
• New vehicle features
• Feature enhancements
• Feature modifications
• Carry-over content between vehicle programs
• Determine whether changes require creation, modification, or release of system requirements.
• Provide technical direction to Requirements Engineers regarding required updates and requirement rework activities.
• Ensure requirements remain:
• Complete
• Consistent
• Traceable
• Verifiable
• Aligned to intended feature functionality
• Drive requirement reviews and release decisions.
• Serve as technical authority for system requirement content and quality.

Front-End Systems Engineering:

• Operate upstream of design engineering and validation organizations.
• Translate customer, business, regulatory, and feature needs into robust system-level requirements.
• Analyze feature interactions and cross-functional dependencies.
• Identify technical gaps, assumptions, conflicts, and risks during early development phases.
• Support development of system architecture concepts when necessary to ensure requirement quality.
• Collaborate with Vehicle Feature Owners and Architecture teams to assess technical impacts of proposed changes.

Stakeholder Management & Technical Representation:

• Represent the Requirements Management organization within Client and customer-facing discussions.
• Defend requirement decisions and recommendations when challenged by development teams.
• Facilitate technical alignment among:
• Vehicle Feature Owners
• Systems Engineering
• Architecture teams
• Design Engineering teams
• Test & Validation organizations
• Program leadership
• Present and synthesize complex technical information for audiences ranging from technical specialists to executive stakeholders.
• Drive decisions through influence and technical credibility.

Process Improvement

• Promote INCOSE-aligned systems engineering practices.
• Improve requirements management methodologies, standards, and governance processes.
• Contribute to organizational capability growth in:
• Requirements Engineering
• Systems Engineering
• Change Management
• Technical Risk Assessment

Leadership & Cluster Lead Responsibilities 

• In addition to technical SME responsibilities, the role includes operational leadership of a small team.

Responsibilities include:

Team Leadership

• Lead and mentor a team of Requirements Engineers.
• Provide technical coaching.
• Establish workload priorities and engineering objectives.
• Promote a collaborative, high-performance team culture.

Planning & Execution

• Perform workload planning and task scheduling.
• Monitor deliverables and project milestones.
• Support resource planning and prioritization activities.
• Escalate issues and risks appropriately.

Risk Management

• Conduct technical and program risk assessments.
• Identify requirement-related risks early.
• Develop mitigation strategies.
• Support issue resolution and cross-functional decision-making.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or related technical discipline.
• Significant experience in Systems Engineering, Requirements Engineering, Product Development, or Vehicle Systems Development.
• Experience serving as:
• System Engineer
• System Architect
• Design Lead
• Lead Systems Engineer
• Requirements Lead

Candidates must demonstrate a strong understanding of:

• System requirements development
• Requirement decomposition and allocation
• Requirement change management
• Systems engineering principles
• System architecture fundamentals
• Cross-functional system integration
• Technical impact assessment
• Engineering change management
• Risk assessment methodologies

Experience with requirements management tools such as:

• IBM DOORS / DOORS Next
• Polarion
• Jama
• Codebeamer
• Equivalent platforms

Preferred Qualifications

• Automotive product development experience.
• Vehicle E/E architecture knowledge.
• INCOSE certification (ASEP, CSEP, or ESEP).
• Experience with MBSE methodologies.
• Prior customer-facing technical leadership experience.
• First-level people leadership or team lead experience.

Critical Behavioral Competencies

The ideal candidate will demonstrate / Assertiveness

• Ability to defend technically justified requirement changes.
• Confidence in challenging opposing viewpoints when required.
• Ability to maintain objective engineering decisions despite schedule or organizational pressures.

Communication & Influence

• Strong presentation and facilitation skills.
• Ability to synthesize complex topics into clear executive-level messaging.
• Excellent verbal and written communication.
• Ability to influence without formal authority.

Proactive Leadership

• Identifies risks before they become program issues.
• Takes initiative rather than waiting for direction.
• Drives technical decisions to closure.

Collaboration

• Strong listening skills.
• Open to feedback and alternative viewpoints.
• Effective cross-functional relationship building.
• Team-first mindset.

Learning Agility

• Adapts quickly to new technologies, processes, and organizational needs.
• Continuously seeks opportunities for improvement.
• Behavioral competencies are considered equally important as technical expertise.