Senior Software QA Engineer, Aviation

Who is Flock?

Every community deserves to be safe, it’s a fundamental right. Our mission is simple - to build technology that reduces crime and protects privacy. Flock partners with cities, businesses, schools, and neighborhoods to help protect where people live, work, and play. Last year, Flock technology supported over 1 million criminal investigations. We've also helped solve approximately 20% of reported crimes in areas where we're deployed, and have played a role in locating more than 10,000 missing people.

We are a high-performance team united by urgency, ownership, and a shared commitment to meaningful impact. The work is fast-paced and the expectations are high. We push beyond perceived limits, support each other, and hold ourselves accountable to delivering results that matter.

With over $1B in funding and an $8.3B valuation, we are scaling with intention and investing in the people who will help us build what others said could not be done. At Flock, you will find the opportunity to grow quickly, take on real responsibility, and contribute to something bigger than yourself.

We are looking for a Senior Software QA Engineer to drive the quality, safety, and scale of our Drone as a First Responder (DFR) systems.

In this role, you won't just be testing software interfaces; you will be responsible for the ultimate reliability of our integrated mechatronic systems. You will sit directly at the intersection of physical hardware and cloud-connected software—ensuring our drones, docks, and cloud systems operate flawlessly when a first responder's split-second decision depends on them. If you are energized by high-stakes environments, love digging into raw Linux logs via CLI, and want to see your code directly translate to safer communities, you belong here.

Must-haves:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field
• 8+ years of QA, test, or systems engineering experience working on complex safety-critical mechatronic systems (e.g., robotics, autonomous vehicles, UAVs, or aerospace).
• Demonstrated experience authoring detailed test cases, structuring test plans, and utilizing test case management platforms (such as Qase) to track execution metrics.
• Technical understanding of serial communications (e.g., CAN, UART), computer vision, edge computing, and live data streaming.
• Strong proficiency in Python, Bash, or similar scripting languages to build custom test scripts and modify test automation frameworks.
• Mastery of Linux systems, log-level debugging, and using CLI tools to diagnose issues spanning across physical sensors, embedded microcontrollers, and cloud backends.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional initiatives, challenge architectural designs constructively with data, and navigate ambiguous, multi-disciplinary engineering problems.

Nice-to-haves:

• Experience in drone or aviation systems and/or FAA Part 107 certification.
• Hands-on experience with AWS and cloud technologies, including visualization and backend database tools (e.g., Grafana, Sigma, Tableau)
• Experience with simulation tools such as Gazebo.
• Familiarity with aviation safety standards, DO-178C, ISO 26262, or ASTM standards related to autonomous drone operations and DFR infrastructure.
• Familiarity with video streaming protocols (RTSP, WebRTC) and cellular data link performance optimization (LTE/5G) under varying environmental conditions.
• Familiarity with cloud-based web applications.

We prescribe 90 day plans and believe that good days lead to good weeks, which lead to good months. This serves as a preview of the 90 day plan you will receive if you were to be hired in this role at Flock.

• You will perform an in-person evaluation of our existing drone and dock systems in Atlanta. You’ll remotely control the aircraft, map out existing manual and automated test suites in Qase, and fully wrap your head around the DFR operational context and failure modes.

• You’ll take ownership of authoring and executing test plans for active software builds. You will dive deep into our diagnostic tools, utilize software control points and logging…