Robotics Test Engineer

We are seeking a hands-on Senior Robotics Test Engineer to lead physical vehicle bring-up, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing, and hardware-software integration validation. In this role, you will bridge the gap between autonomous control stacks and real-world mechanical and electrical systems, ensuring that new hardware components, sensors, and actuators interface seamlessly with our autonomous stack.

This position demands deep expertise in C++, Python, Linux environments, and physical vehicle diagnostic protocols, along with a track record of testing real autonomous hardware on physical platforms.

• Hardware Bring-up & Validation: Design, implement, and streamline automated bring-up, device-flashing, and initial health-check procedures for new compute, sensor, and actuation hardware platforms across diverse vehicle types.
• HIL & Bench Infrastructure: Architect and build Hardware-In-The-Loop (HIL) test rigs, continuous burn-in environments, and bench testing suites to validate safety-critical components before vehicle integration.
• Systems Integration & Debugging: Work directly on physical vehicles alongside technicians, electrical engineers, and software teams to diagnose complex low-level hardware-to-software integration faults and communication bottlenecks.
• Technician & Field Tooling: Develop internal software tooling, diagnostic scripts, dynamic visualization interfaces, and automated test runners to simplify deployment and validation for field operations personnel.
• Autonomy Stack Onboarding: Build robust, repeatable testing pipelines to onboard novel sensors (LiDAR, Radar, Vision, IMUs), network nodes, and drive-by-wire actuators into our core autonomy architecture.

• Physical Systems
  
  Experience:
  
  Proven track record testing real physical autonomous systems, mobile robotics, or AV platforms. Experience must involve hands-on hardware/software debugging directly on physical assets (pure software QA background will not qualify).
• On-Site Presence: Must be located in or willing to commute to San Francisco for 5 days/week on-site physical hardware integration.

• 5-7 years of dedicated experience in robotics test engineering, hardware integration, or autonomous systems validation within high-tempo engineering environments.
• Core Technical Stack: Advanced proficiency in C++,
  Python
  , and system-level Linux
  .
• Domain Background: Prior experience working with autonomous vehicles, mobile robotics, or intelligent transportation systems (e.g., AV OEMs, robotics startups, or tier-1 autonomy suppliers).
• Mechatronics & Networking: Deep hands-on experience with autonomy hardware components (LiDAR, Radar, Camera, Actuation), automotive/industrial communication protocols (CAN, EtherCAT, Ethernet), and vehicle electrical systems.
• Technical Communication: Ability to clearly synthesize complex hardware-software issues into actionable instructions for technicians and cross-functional engineering leads.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field.
• Prior experience establishing automated device flashing and end-to-end hardware provisioning processes for new vehicle platforms.
• Experience designing and scaling custom HIL test environments from the ground up for automotive or heavy equipment applications.