BlogJune 8, 2023

Meet The Hiring Manager: Nathan Kyle

June 8, 2023
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Welcome to our Meet the Hiring Manager series! In this series, you will get to know the dynamic individuals who are leading and growing our teams at Systel. Today we’d like to introduce you to Nathan Kyle, Director of Design Engineering. Learn about Nathan (his fun fact is one we haven’t seen before) and the team he leads, and how to stand out in his interview process. 

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Name: Nathan Kyle

Job title: Director of Design Engineering  

Tenure at Systel: 4 Years  

First job: My first job was in high school where I worked at Christmas tree farm – it helped that I could walk to it and the tips were good. After college, I went to work for the company that gave me an internship in my junior year. I was a Laboratory Design Engineer at Nailor Industries involved with the design and testing of HVAC systems.   

Fun factI was a decent pole vaulter in high school and walked on to the track team at Baylor University. The pure thrill and adrenaline rush you get when you are running at top speed with a 15’ pole and then planting it in the ground so that you can ride it up into the air is something I’ll never forget.    

Tell us a little about yourself! Can you tell us about what brought you to Systel?  

I have always had an interest in technology and its ability to improve lives. My resume shows a diverse and winding career path. From HVAC to military storage solutions to safety products and now to rugged compute solutions. I now feel I am on the cutting edge of technology and get to apply solutions that will impact and improve the lives of not only our customers, but also impact peace and stability in the world.   

Do you have a morning routine or afternoon post-work activity that you like to partake in?   

For my mornings, I like to enjoy a large glass of fruit juice (currently I am digging CranGrape), and then take the kiddos to school or summer camp. For my evenings, during dinner, my family and I like to play games like Dominoes, Pictionary, or Go-fish. Our kids are 9 and 10, so it helps them to eat healthier food when we can mix it with game time.   

 

Your team is currently hiring – can you tell us about your team and the open roles?   

As the Design Engineering team, we are responsible for developing efficient and rugged computers that meet demanding requirements to function in extreme environments. We have a great responsibility and opportunity to use all our engineering skills to meet these requirements; moreover, people’s lives depend on us to get it right. The team is world-class. We have a diverse group of Mechanical and Electrical Engineers who cross-collaborate and work together at all stages of product design.  

We have two positions open in the Design Engineering department currently. We are looking for a Mechanical Design Engineer and Sr. Electrical Design Engineer to work on the design and development of ruggedized computer systems. These positions are key to realizing customer requirements and turning them into products.

The Mechanical Design Engineer is responsible for detailed design and documentation from conception to prototype, to pre-production, as well as changes to design & documentation during production and for the life of the product. Product development includes electro/mechanical equipment such as computers, displays, test equipment, test fixtures, and other computer peripherals.

The Senior Electrical Design Engineer will be responsible for researching, designing, developing, documenting, testing, and supporting production of electrical subsystems for use in computers, test equipment, test fixtures, displays, and computer peripherals.

What does a rockstar candidate look like to you?    

Rockstar candidates can be diverse, but they all possess a few key traits: 

  1. They are insatiably curious and enjoy figuring out how things work.
  2. They are resourceful, adaptable, and team players.
  3. They are logical, creative, and innovative; they love seeing their designs come to fruition

If someone reading this was interviewing for your team tomorrow, what tips would you give them?  

I appreciate it when a candidate does their research. They should study our website, products, and our industries served. They should ask tailored questions about their roles and responsibilities. They should be able to give examples of their work and how they solved problems or designed products that met customer requirements.   

We pride ourselves on leading with fanatical customer service, absolute ownership, passion for improvement, and uncompromising integrity; what about our core values resonates with you most?  

That fact that we constantly strive to exhibit our core values on a daily basis and that members of our team are consistently nominated as showcasing these values during our company meetings. For example, I feel proud when a colleague gets recognized for demonstrating ‘Passion for Improvement’ because they were able to improve a process or design that will be used by all the Engineers going forward. As a bonus, the CEO, Vimal Kothari, will randomly select a few individuals to receive a monetary reward for those who were nominated for a core value during our company meetings and we have a significant annual award for five individuals who are voted by our leadership team to have consistently exhibitied our core values throughout the year.     

What’s something at Systel that has you excited?

I really enjoy our quarterly “Engineering All Hands” meeting when we get all the Engineers together and showcase the products and designs that were released in the previous quarter. It’s a great way to see what everyone was working on. We also like to mix in a team building exercise during these “All Hands.” Last time we broke into teams of 4 or 5 and dropped eggs from the roof with a protection system that was judged on how well it met key metrics like design for cost, design for quality and design for manufacturability.   

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