Systems Integration and Test Engineer

Blue Water Autonomy is developing dual use technology urgently needed by U.S. and allied navies. Join our mission to tackle the toughest problems in maritime autonomy and help defend democracy.

We’re seeking a Systems Integration and Test Engineer to support the integration, bring‑up, and validation of the full vessel stack. This hands‑on technical role sits at the intersection of hardware, software, and autonomy systems engineering — from low‑level sensors and controllers up through networking, middleware, compute, and the autonomy software stack.

This position is based at our Lexington office and will contribute to integration and test activities under the direction of the Systems Integration and Testing Manager. You’ll work closely with the hardware, software, and testing operations teams to ensure configurations, performance, and system‑level behavior are validated during integration and sea trials. You’ll support the establishment and execution of practical, startup‑friendly standards and processes that let the company move with speed while maintaining safe, repeatable integration and test practices.

• Execute final integration and bring‑up activities across the full vessel stack: sensors, embedded controllers, networking, compute nodes, middleware (DDS/ROS/etc.), and other systems.
• Support the definition and validation of acceptance criteria and configuration management processes for hardware, software, and system configurations ahead of test campaigns.
• Work with hardware teams on instrumenting systems, hardware‑in‑the‑loop (HIL) setups, validating sensor and actuator performance, and confirming thermal/power/network behavior under load.
• Collaborate with the Testing Operations team to execute test campaigns, implement detailed test procedures, manage instrumentation and data collection for post‑campaign analysis.
• Produce clear test reports and contribute to dashboards for the engineering team: document pass/fail status, performance metrics, anomaly logs, and evidence (plots, log snapshots, synchronized telemetry).
• Participate in post‑test analysis and root cause investigations; contribute findings and recommendations that feed back into product and software teams.
• Support customer, executive, and investor on‑site demos and technical walkthroughs; assist in representing the integrity of the integrated system during high‑visibility events.
• Follow and help refine safety, rollback, and configuration‑recovery procedures for lab and sea trials; coordinate with operations and engineering to ensure safe execution of integration activities.
• Maintain and improve documentation, test procedures, and checklists for repeatable bring‑up and regression test activities.

• You have hands‑on experience with system integration, bring‑up, or testing for robotic/autonomy systems or complex electro‑mechanical products.
• You understand autonomy and robotics development workflows and can speak the same technical language as autonomy/robotics software developers (perception, state estimation, control, middleware, data pipelines).
• You’re experienced with sensor and actuator integration, time‑synchronization and time stamping, data acquisition, and validating system performance end‑to‑end.
• You can read and reason about embedded controllers, CAN/CAN‑FD, Ethernet networks, switch configuration, time‑sensitive networking concerns, and compute platform constraints.
• You have experience with integration test plans, acceptance criteria, and configuration management practices in labs or field test environments.
• You collaborate effectively with software engineers to design HIL tests, simulate failure modes, and create reproducible regression tests.
• You are organized, metrics‑driven, and pragmatic: able to prioritize tasks and adapt to rapid iteration while protecting system safety and test integrity.
• You have at least two (2) to three (3) years of relevant experience across hardware and software systems; prior experience in autonomy, robotics, maritime, defense, or aerospace is highly valued.

• Experience with ROS/ROS2, DDS/RTPS, or other robotic middleware stacks.
• Experience designing HIL/IL tests, automated…