Systems Development Engineer I (Advanced Robotics & AI Systems)

At Niagara, we're looking for Team Members who want to be part of achieving our mission to provide our customers the highest quality most affordable bottled water.

Consider applying here, if you want to:

• Work in an entrepreneurial and dynamic environment with a chance to make an impact.
• Develop lasting relationships with great people.
• Have the opportunity to build a satisfying career.

We offer competitive compensation and benefits packages for our Team Members.

The Systems Development Engineer I is responsible for engaging with an experienced cross-disciplinary team to conceive, design, and bring to market innovative Predictive Maintenance systems. You will execute the roadmap and drive innovation to help deliver top-notch solutions for our manufacturing teams. You will build robust, secure and scalable infrastructures that will support and protect data, applications and services for Predictive analytics.

• Design, construct, install, test and maintain highly scalable data management systems
• Ensure systems meet business requirements and industry practices
• Integrate new data management technologies and software engineering tools into existing structures
• Create custom software components (e.g. specialized UDFs) and analytics applications
• Employ a variety of languages and tools (e.g. scripting languages) to marry systems together
• Recommend ways to improve data reliability, efficiency and quality
• Collaborate with data architects, modelers and IT team members on project goals
• Evaluate and implement changes and improvements to development tool systems
• Work closely with internal and external interdisciplinary teams to drive key aspects of product scope, execution, test and maintain database structures.
• Data Acquisition:
  • Develop automation frameworks that enable efficient data acquisition, post-processing, and test execution
  • Develop requirements for data acquisition from manufacturing field assets
  • Configure and test data tags into Edge computing platform and ensure stable connections.
  • Support readiness reviews and validation to ensure efficient execution.
  • Research opportunities for data acquisition and new uses for existing data
• Data Wrangling and Modelling:
  • Develop data set processes for data modeling, mining and production
  • Design, develop, and test logics to manipulate data for business requirements.
  • Join the edited data for further use and analysis.
  • Cleanse the data into a usable and functional format and correct/remove any bad data.
  • Design and develop requirements to optimize storage of data using mathematical models.
• Data Science and Business Intelligence:
  • Engage in statistical and exploratory analysis of datasets using ML techniques
  • Use the insights to build robust classification and prediction models.
  • Build high-performance algorithms, prototypes, predictive models and proof of concepts
  • Test and deploy machine-learning algorithms, publish results and enhance models for accuracy.
• Application Development:
  • Understanding requirements and how they translate to new application features
  • Collaborating with development team and other IT staff to set specifications for new applications
  • Design creative prototypes according to specifications.
  • Perform unit and integration testing before launch, Conduct functional and non-functional testing
  • Develop technical documents and handbooks to accurately represent application design and code
• Process Automation development:
  • Collaborate with IT and Manufacturing Information Systems groups as a part of implementation of projects.
  • Selecting features, building and optimizing automation processes using machine learning and data acquisition techniques
  • Data mining using state-of-the-art methods
  • Extending company's data with third party sources of information when needed
  • Enhancing data collection procedures to include information that is relevant for building analytic systems
  • Processing, cleansing, and verifying the integrity of data used for analysis
  • Doing ad-hoc analysis and presenting results in a clear manner
• Systems Development Engineer I is estimated to travel 20-40%
• Please note this job description is not a comprehensive list of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without prior notice.

• Design and develop AI-driven perception, planning, and control systems for robotic platforms (e.g., humanoid and quadruped robots) in industrial environments
• Integrate robotics software stacks (e.g., ROS/ROS2) with edge computing, sensor fusion (LiDAR, vision, IMU), and real-time decision-making systems
• Develop and deploy machine learning models for robotic autonomy, including object detection, localization (SLAM), motion planning, and adaptive control
• Prototype and validate robotic applications for manufacturing use cases such as inspection, material handling, and predictive maintenance support

Work Experience/KSA's

• Required:
  • 0-2 year(s) - Experience in Systems Development, Data Science and Analytics or other related fields

*experience may include a combination of work experience and education

• Preferred:
  • 3-5 years - Experience in Systems Development, Data Science and Analytics or other related fields

*experience may include a combination of work experience and education

Education

• Minimum Required:
  • Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science/Automation or other related fields or equivalent experience

• Preferred:
  • Master's Degree in Computer Science with focus on Data Science and Machine Learning

Preferred Competencies and Skills

• Solid understanding of machine learning techniques and algorithms, such as k-NN, Naive Bayes, SVM, Decision Forests, etc.
• Preferred experience with common data science toolkits, such as R, Weka, Python with focus on NumPy, Matplotlib and Pandas, MatLab, etc.
• Proficiency in using query languages such as SQL Etc.
• Proficiency in, but not limited to:
  • Microsoft Office Applications - Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Project, Visio, etc.
• Good applied statistics skills, such as distributions, statistical testing, regression, etc.
• Basic understanding of data acquisition and processing tools and techniques and developing algorithms on common platforms to generate outputs
• Basic scripting and programming skills
• Basic understanding of PLC/SCADA systems such SIEMENS S7, ALLEN BRADLEY, BnR, Ignition etc.
• Knowledge of MQTT, TCP/IP, MODBUS RTU, OPC-UA or other related publisher-subscriber communication protocols.
• Able to translate data into recommendable actions to senior management
• Strong analytical and problem solving skills
• Self-motivated with a proven record of taking initiative
• Able to work with minimal supervision
• Detail-oriented with excellent oral and written communication skills
• Able to execute tasks in a very dynamic and ever-changing environment
• Exercise sound judgment and ability to work effectively with a diverse workforce

• Experience with robotics frameworks and middleware (ROS/ROS2, Gazebo, Isaac Sim)
• Knowledge of robotic perception (computer vision, sensor fusion) and localization techniques (SLAM, visual odometry)
• Familiarity with motion planning and control algorithms (PID, MPC, reinforcement learning for robotics)
• Experience with simulation-to-real (Sim2Real) workflows and digital twin environments
• Programming experience in Python/C++ for robotics applications
• Exposure to humanoid or quadruped robotic platforms (e.g., Boston Dynamics Spot, Unitree, Tesla Optimus-type systems)
• Understanding of real-time systems and embedded computing for robotics (NVIDIA Jetson, edge AI devices)

Typical Compensation Range

Benefits

Our Total Rewards package is thoughtfully designed to support both you and your family:

Regular full-time team members are offered a comprehensive benefits package, while part-time, intern, and seasonal team members are offered a limited benefits package.

• Paid Time Off for holidays, sick time, and vacation time
• Paid parental and caregiver leaves
• Medical, including virtual care options
• Dental
• Vision
• 401(k) with company match
• Health Savings Account with company match
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Expanded mental wellbeing benefits including free counseling sessions for all team members and household family members
• Family Building Benefits including enhanced fertilitybenefits for IVF and fertility preservation plus adoption, surrogacy, and Doula reimbursements
• Income protection including Life and AD&D, short and long-term disability, critical illness and an accident plan
• Special discount programs including pet plans, pre-paid legal services, identity theft, car rental, airport parking, etc.
• Tuition reimbursement, college savings plan and scholarship opportunities
• And more!

https://careers.niagarawater.com/us/en/benefits

* *Los Angeles County applicants only** Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, the California Fair Chance Act, and any other applicable local and state laws.

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