Autonomy Test​/Integration Engineer

Who We Are: AM Pierce & Associates and Applied Technologies Group (ATG), a wholly owned subsidiary of AM Pierce and Associates, is a woman-owned small business providing Engineering & Research, Cyber, C5

ISR, Program & Acquisition Management services and solutions to a diverse government and industry client base. We are a stable and growing company who offers our employees a rich benefits package, supportive and flexible work environment, and the opportunity to work with experts in their field.

The Position: We are looking for a candidate who will be performing the role of an Autonomy Test & Integration Engineer – Journeyman. The Autonomy Test & Integration Engineer develops independent test infrastructure used to integrate, exercise, and evaluate third-party autonomy software. The position is not initially focused on developing autonomy products; however, hands‑on autonomy implementation experience is a key qualification.

Credible autonomy testing requires understanding how autonomy systems represent operational state, plan, make decisions, execute behaviors, interact with controlled systems, process feedback, and adapt to changing mission conditions.

The engineer will apply this knowledge to develop test strategies, simulation and integration capabilities, test harnesses, instrumentation, automation, analysis tools, and vendor adapters capable of supporting different autonomy architectures without designing the test environment around a single vendor's implementation.

Salary: The estimated salary range for this position is $100,000 – $115,000 annually, based upon an individual's level of experience, skillset, and education. The range that is given is an estimate and may vary based on contractual constraints. At AM Pierce & Associates, it is our goal to provide equitable compensation for all employees.

The

Location:

Patuxent River, MD

The Work Environment: Remote

• Design, develop, integrate, and maintain third-party autonomy test frameworks and supporting software.
• Analyze vendor autonomy architectures, software, interfaces, data models, decision/execution mechanisms, and feedback paths to determine appropriate integration and test approaches.
• Develop adapters, test harnesses, simulation interfaces, instrumentation, test automation, data collection, analysis, visualization, and supporting tools.
• Adapt the test framework to accommodate different autonomy architectures, interfaces, execution models, and system configurations.
• Develop test strategies that evaluate autonomous behavior and mission performance, not simply interface or message compliance.
• Create repeatable scenarios and test stimuli involving changing mission conditions, constraints, threats, failures, degraded capabilities, resource limitations, and other operational events.
• Instrument and analyze autonomy decisions, plans, behaviors, commands, state transitions, feedback, and mission outcomes.
• Determine whether observed anomalies originate in the autonomy implementation, integration, simulation, configuration, or test infrastructure.
• Integrate autonomy software with vehicle models, mission systems, simulations, communications infrastructure, and external services.
• Support software-in-the-loop, hardware-in-the-loop, distributed simulation, demonstrations, experimentation, and formal test events.
• Document test architecture, procedures, assumptions, results, limitations, and technical findings.

Education &

Required Experience:

• Active DoD Secret Clearance, required.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Robotics, Systems Engineering, or related technical discipline.
• 3-8 years of relevant engineering experience, or equivalent demonstrated capability.
• Candidates should have practical experience developing, integrating, extending, debugging, or rigorously testing autonomous system software and understand the fundamental autonomy processing chain:

Mission / Task Inputs → Operational State → Planning / Decision → Execution → System Command → System Response → Observation / Feedback → Updated State

• Relevant experience may include mission autonomy, planning and replanning,…