Senior Engineer Team Lead

Primary Purpose

The Autonomous Vehicle (AV) Test Engineering team is responsible for validating the safety, functionality, and performance of self-driving technology through rigorous, system-level testing. As a Senior AV Test Engineer leading Commercialization Release, you will take primary technical ownership of end-to-end release readiness, release risk assessments, and deployment verification for commercial AV software builds and feature releases across virtual, closed-course, and public road environments.

In this role, you will act as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) to influence product architecture early (Shift-Left), establish hard release quality gates in CI/CD pipelines, lead systemic Root Cause Analysis (RCA) for complex failures, and drive cross-functional sign-off governance across Software, Safety, Systems, and Fleet Operations. You will also mentor junior engineers and design formal test frameworks and SOPs that scale test operations for commercial deployment.

• Commercialization & Release Governance: Own the commercialization release candidate validation lifecycle; define, enforce, and maintain release readiness criteria, entry/exit gates, and safety verification protocols for commercial fleet deployments.
• System Integration & Commercial Bundle Validation: Own integration and validation of the commercial software release bundle—passenger displays, Uber API, command center (fleet monitoring), and associated software components—ensuring interface compatibility, end-to-end workflows, and release-candidate readiness for commercial fleet deployment.
• Quality Gate Implementation: Design, deploy, and enforce automated quality gates within CI/CD and testing pipelines to measurably prevent critical software and hardware bugs from reaching pre-production or deployment builds.
• Technical Leadership & Validation: Lead the strategy, planning, and execution of validation testing across simulation, SIL, HIL, and on-vehicle environments, with a focus on end-to-end performance across perception, planning, and control subsystems.
• Systemic RCA & Defect Prevention: Lead Root Cause Analysis (RCA) for complex or systemic platform failures; drive permanent architectural, code, or operational changes across cross-functional teams to prevent issue recurrence.
• Architectural Influence (Shift-Left): Serve as the Testing SME in cross-functional design reviews with Development, Systems, and Product teams, embedding testability and safety verification requirements into early feature architecture.
• Test Infrastructure & Automation: Design, build, and maintain scalable test frameworks and automation tools using Python, Shell, and scenario-based simulation platforms (e.g., Applied Intuition) to increase test coverage and reduce validation cycle times.
• Process Efficiency: Continuously identify and resolve bottlenecks in test execution, data parsing, and fault triage workflows to accelerate release velocity without compromising safety or reliability standards.
• Inter-Team Coordination & Alignment: Act as the primary technical point of contact for software release synchronization, aligning testing schedules, dependency tracking, and risk trade-offs with Safety, Systems, Software, and Fleet Operations.
• Formal Mentorship & Training: Mentor junior and mid-level test engineers; create and deliver formal training programs, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and documentation to standardize technical testing practices.
• Compliance & Traceability: Ensure testing procedures and verification evidence comply with industry safety standards (ISO 26262, ISO 21448 / SOTIF, UL 4600, ISO 9001) using Jira, Git Lab, and Confluence for full traceability.
• Field Support: Support after-hours testing, urgent release deployment verification, or incident triage as required by commercial fleet operations. Travel domestically on occasion to support on-site testing and track deployments.

• Education: Bachelor’s degree or higher in Engineering, Robotics, Electrical/Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field (Master's preferred).
• Experience: 5+ years of experience in software QA, systems testing, or release…