Senior Staff Vehicle Hardware Verification and Validation Engineer Lead

Aurora Innovation Aurora Innovation · Robotics · Mountain View, CA · Hardware

Lead vehicle hardware verification and validation for autonomous vehicle programs, defining and executing test strategies, providing technical leadership, and collaborating with cross-functional teams.

What you'd actually do

  1. Define, develop, and implement comprehensive test strategies and methodologies for autonomous hardware integrations and associated vehicle platform hardware, including design verification, system integration testing, and environmental verification. Work with internal resources and outside test facilities to execute vehicle level tests.
  2. Act as the technical leader and subject matter expert for all vehicle level hardware V&V activities. You will be coordinating execution of vehicle level testing across all test owners of autonomous sub-systems and platform integrations including thermal management, drive-by-wire, power subsystems, and cleaning. You will align technical experts across these systems to execute on EMC, structural, and thermal testing. You will drive and set priority for critical root-cause analysis of complex system failures, ensuring robust corrective actions with cross-functional buy-in.
  3. Establish and maintain high-impact working relationships with design, manufacturing, software, operations and safety teams to align on test requirements, schedules, and deliverables.
  4. Oversee the standardization of data collection, analysis, and documentation of extensive vehicle level hardware tests. Create comprehensive technical reports and present clear, concise status updates and results to senior leadership.
  5. Drive the process of defining and improving internal software test tools for test case execution, data collection, and analysis. Support the development and/or selection of additional data collection hardware and software for test execution.

Skills

Required

  • Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
  • 7+ years of progressive experience in hardware testing, verification, and validation
  • 2 years in a technical leadership or lead role
  • Deep understanding of V&V processes, testing methodologies (e.g., statistical analysis, fault injection, hardware in the loop, RCCA process, hands on problem solving)
  • Experience with utilizing test automation tools
  • Experience with sensing and data collection. E.g. accelerometers, strain gauges, force transducers, fleet ops, data logging equipment and signal conditioning
  • Working knowledge of systems engineering practices and methodologies
  • Use of engineering programs for requirement management and work tracking (JAMA, JIRA)
  • Working experience with the latest automotive communication protocols
  • Proven ability to thrive in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment.
  • Exceptional written and verbal communication skills

Nice to have

  • Experience in the Autonomous vehicle space
  • Experience with vehicle durability testing
  • Experience with hardware module testing
  • Experience with hardware reliability
  • Proficiency in programming for test automation (e.g., Python, C++)

What the JD emphasized

  • safety-critical hardware systems
  • technical leadership
  • vehicle level hardware testing
  • autonomous hardware integrations
  • hardware testing, verification, and validation