Validation & Tools Engineer - Embedded Firmware

We’re ALSO, an electric mobility company originally conceived as a part of Rivian. We’re a passionate team of builders, dreamers, doers and innovators, focused on creating entirely new (innovative and delightful) vertically integrated, small EVs designed to meet the global mobility challenges of today and tomorrow. Our mission is to inspire everyone to ride ALSO—replacing many local car, truck and SUV miles with ones on vehicles that are more affordable, more enjoyable and 10-50x more efficient.

As a Staff Validation & Tools Engineer focused on Embedded Firmware and Software Validation, you will own the validation strategy, tooling architecture, and system‑level quality approach for our flagship and next‑generation products.

You will build and scale validation frameworks across firmware, software, connectivity, mobile, cloud‑adjacent systems, and HIL environments. You will partner closely with Hardware, Firmware, Systems, Product, Mobile, Cloud, and Test Engineering teams to improve testability, traceability, release readiness, and early issue detection.

This role is ideal for someone who can set technical direction, build practical validation infrastructure, mentor engineers, and help create a quality‑first culture in a fast‑moving product environment.

• Define the technical vision, architecture, and roadmap for embedded firmware and software validation across product programs.
• Design, scale, and maintain SIL and HIL validation infrastructure to support automated system‑level testing, regression coverage, release readiness, and issue reproduction.
• Build and evolve validation frameworks that improve test coverage, execution speed, reliability, traceability, and quality reporting across firmware and software releases.
• Establish clear validation metrics, including test coverage, pass/fail trends, defect escape rate, regression health, automation coverage, and release readiness indicators.
• Lead end‑to‑end validation planning for new features, firmware releases, connectivity workflows, and system‑level product behavior.
• Partner with Hardware, Firmware, Systems, Mobile, Cloud, and Product teams to ensure requirements are testable, risks are understood, and validation plans are aligned before implementation.
• Lead technical root‑cause analysis for complex system issues across hardware, firmware, embedded software, connectivity, and test infrastructure.
• Develop and improve automated test tooling using Python‑based frameworks such as Robot Framework, Pytest, or similar tools.
• Integrate validation workflows into CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins, Git Lab CI, or similar systems to enable repeatable, scalable release validation.
• Use SIL/HIL environments, embedded debug tools, logs, sniffers, and hardware interfaces to reproduce, isolate, and resolve defects.
• Mentor junior and mid‑level engineers on validation strategy, debugging methods, test design, automation best practices, and quality ownership.
• Communicate validation status, technical risks, quality trends, and release readiness clearly to engineering and product leadership.

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Software Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 8+ years of experience in embedded software validation, firmware testing, software quality engineering, or validation tools development.
• A track record of leading validation strategy or test architecture for complex embedded, connected, automotive, mobility, IoT, or software‑defined vehicle platforms.
• Demonstrated experience building or scaling automated validation frameworks for firmware, embedded software, system‑level testing, or hardware‑in‑the‑loop environments.
• Hands‑on experience testing RTOS‑based or Linux‑based embedded systems.
• Strong understanding of embedded architectures, microcontrollers, bootloaders, firmware update flows, hardware/software interfaces, and board‑level debug workflows.
• Practical experience with embedded debug tools and interfaces such as JTAG, serial consoles, SWD, logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, or equivalent tools.
• Experience validating connectivity, location services,…