Project Design Authority (PDA) / Systems Architect

About Us

A career at Hitachi Rail will help create a legacy. With operations in every corner of the world, our work goes to the cutting-edge of digital transformation and technology. From the multi-cultural strength of our global organisation to the sustainable and innovative ways we work to bring people together, there's something for everyone to get stuck into. And that's where you come in.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada (Hybrid)

We are looking for a Systems Architect/ Project Design Authority (PDA) to join our team in Toronto!

The Project Design Authority is responsible for Solution Compliance for a Bid or Project or for a Product Development phase (as a project). Their primary objective is to define the Solution to achieve full compliance within the budget and schedule constraints of the project proposing the best trade-off to the product line policy.

The PDA may be engaged in either or both Bidding and Delivery phases of the Project. The PDA role can sometimes be endorsed simultaneously with the SEM (Solution Engineering Manager) role according to the size of the project.

The primary activities of the PDA are:

1. The primary technical leader of the bid or project team
2. Acts as lead technical interface with the Customer (or PLM for a Product) as regards Solution architecture, design and performance
3. Anticipates and/or analyses the customer needs/requirements and defines the initial needs baseline
4. Ensures the solution compliance with Product Policy, MTB/production/services strategies, contractual requirements (including offsets) and applicable legislation & regulations (i.e. export restrictions, Environmental/HSE, safety, security)
5. Define the best trade-off between the solution and customer requirements that may vary during the project execution, to stay consistent with budget, risk & opportunities, schedule, and critical performance
6. Checks that the Engineering Environment (process, practices and tools) for the Solution is consistent with Country/Company requirements, and overall Solution cost, technical risks & schedule
7. Reviews together with the SEM the technical risks and opportunities and the related mitigation plans throughout the bid or project
8. Prepares and signs the Design Validation (DVa) document at each relevant validation step of the Bid and/or the Project, and ensures that the DVa is approved and signed by the DA
9. Approves the main bid/project engineering reviews and deliverables (SOR, SRR, SFR, PDR, CDR, TRR, TQR, FQR)
10. Approves the technical specification and source selection of subsystems/products to be outsourced taking into account Make Team Buy policy, export restrictions and offset requirements
11. Approves the Design & Justification File (D&JF) prepared by the Solution Architect (ARC)
12. Reviews and approves the completion of the integration, verification, validation and qualification results
13. Oversees the acceptance of the Solution by the customer
14. Organizes when appropriate technical meetings and peer reviews together with the Architect (ARC) and the SEM and other stakeholders (industry, services, Safety & HSE, specialties), in order to perform the solution technical assessment and validation
15. Checks the production, the deployment and the maintenance/service aspects of the Solution with the Production Process & Technology Manager (PPTM), the Project Deployment Manager (PDM) and the Service Engineering Manager (SvEM) respectively; the resulting conclusions are taken into account by the PDA for the Solution design validation and reflected in the DVa
16. Takes into account the remark(s) from the DA as regards the validity of the Solution and the risk assessment and mitigation
17. Reports regularly to the DA on technical status and on technical risks

Required Skills and Experience:

1. Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering or a closely related field
2. Minimum 5 years relevant experience in development of software-based System applications
3. Minimum 3 years relevant experience leading multidisciplinary engineering teams
4. Involved in the delivery of more than 1 SelTrac project in some capacity including experience in System Design, System Integration, and System Acceptance
5. Proven customer communication / technical Management skills
6. Strong application (Automated Train Control systems) domain knowledge & knowledge of modern software engineering practices, methods and tools
7. Good marketing and presentation skills
8. Ability to sell/defend product to customers with differing levels of knowledge about automated systems
9. System Engineering expertise having covered at least partial SW or HW development life cycle

Preferred Skills and Experience:

1. Professional Engineer's Licence (P.Eng.)

Thank you for your interest in Hitachi Rail. If your application is of interest, we will be in contact.

At Hitachi Rail, there is a place for everyone. We welcome and value differences in background, age, gender, sexuality, family status, disability, race, nationality, ethnicity, religion, and world view. It is our commitment to create an inclusive environment - we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer.