Lead Consultant | Internet of Things; IOT | Automotive

Position: Lead Consultant | Internet of Things (IOT) | Automotive
Pay Rate range: $/HR on W2

Job Title:
UAT Test Engineer Connected Car (Kia U.S.)

Location Irvine, CA (Hybrid: 2 3 days onsite) (Travel: ~10 20% for field/drive tests, dealer/pilot visits, and vendor lab sessions.

Contract 6/12 months with potential extension

Role Summary:
As a UAT Test Engineer, you will lead end to end User Acceptance Testing for connected car features spanning vehicle, TCU/infotainment, mobile apps, cloud services, data pipelines, and dealer/field workflows. You'll translate business scenarios into testable acceptance criteria, orchestrate UAT cycles with stakeholders, execute and document tests, triage defects, validate fixes, and sign off readiness for pilot, phased rollout, and general availability.
You are hands-on with mobile app and API validation, comfortable in vehicle/bench environments, and adept at coordinating business users to ensure features meet real-world expectations not just pass lab tests.

Key Responsibilities:
"UAT Planning & Readiness
Convert business requirements, epics, and UX flows into UAT scope, entry/exit criteria, and traceability (Req Test Defect).
Define UAT test plans, data needs, environment needs, and UAT runbooks across mobile, cloud, and in vehicle systems.
Align with Product, Engineering, SRE/Operations, Legal/Compliance, and Dealer/Field Ops on acceptance criteria.
"Test Design & Execution
Author end to end UAT scenarios (happy paths, edge cases, degraded modes, error handling) using BDD/Gherkin where helpful.
Execute tests across iOS/Android apps, web portals, APIs (Postman), vehicle bench/TCU simulators, and on road drive tests.
Validate remote services (lock/unlock, start/stop, climate), live telemetry (location, status), OTA campaigns, and infotainment integrations.
Perform API/UI/Push notification validation, latency and reliability checks, and data consistency checks (device cloud vehicle).
"Defect Triage & Sign off
Log, reproduce, and triage defects; prioritize with severity/business impact; drive fix/verify cycles to closure.
Manage UAT status dashboards, daily standups, and go/no-go recommendations.
Provide UAT sign off for pilots and staged rollouts; support hypercare post-release.
"Field, Dealer & Pilot Support
Coordinate beta/pilot users, dealer staff, and internal business testers; provide training and UAT guidance.
Conduct field validations for network variability (urban/suburban/rural), CAN data presence, GPS performance, and carrier differences.
Support telemetry/data validation via logs and dashboards (e.g., Splunk/Kibana/Grafana).
"Quality & Compliance
Ensure adherence to privacy and data standards (e.g., CCPA), cybersecurity posture (UNECE R155), and OTA update processes (UNECE R156).
Align with A SPICE and ISO 26262 interfaces where applicable (for safety relevant features).
"Continuous Improvement
Drive test data management (seeding/masking), environment stabilization, and shift left practices.
Capture lessons learned, UAT playbooks, and reusable test libraries for future releases.

Required Qualifications:
"5 6+ years in QA/UAT with at least 3+ years in connected vehicle, telematics, mobile apps, or IoT platforms.
"Strong end to end testing experience covering mobile apps (iOS/Android), REST APIs, and cloud backed services.
"Hands on with Postman/Swagger, , device logs (adb, Xcode/Console), and push notification validation.
"Experience with vehicle or bench testing: basic familiarity with CAN, OBD II, telematics control units, GPS/gnss behavior, or use of simulators for TCU/app flows.
"Proficiency with Jira + test management (e.g., Test Rail) strong requirements traceability and documentation.
"Solid defect triage, reproduction, and cross team communication skills; comfort presenting go/no go recommendations to leadership.
"Ability to operate in ambiguous, fast moving programs with multiple vendors and release trains.

Preferred Qualifications:
"Automotive domain knowledge: remote commands, vehicle status, OTA campaign validation, infotainment integrations, charging/EV features.
"Tools exposure:
Vector CANoe/CANalyzer, ETAS INCA, GPS spoofing tools, ELK, LMS, Grafana, App Center/Test Flight/Play Console.
"Handsons on SQL
"Experience coordinating dealer pilots and customer beta programs; NPS/CSAT feedback loops.
"Familiarity with CI/CD concepts, feature flags, blue green/canary rollouts.
"Ability to support Vehicle audits

Success Metrics (KPIs):
"UAT Pass Rate and Defect Leakage to production.
"Requirements Coverage (% of business scenarios validated).
"Cycle Time (UAT execution to sign off) and Time to Fix for high severity defects.
"Pilot/Dealer Feedback (NPS/CSAT), stability during hypercare.
"Data Integrity across app cloud vehicle (e.g., event correctness, latency thresholds).

Day to Day Tools:
"Issue/Test:
Jira, Test Rail/Zephyr/qTest, Confluence
"APIs/Debug:
Postman,
"Data/Logs:
Grafana, LMS, ELK SQL basics
"Vehicle/Bench:
Vector CANoe/CANalyzer (nice to have), OBD II readers, GPS tools
"Mobile: iOS/Android test devices, App Center/Test Flight/Play Console.