Test Engineer - System Electronics

Joby Aviation Joby Aviation · Robotics · San Carlos, CA · Testing

Joby Aviation is seeking a Test Engineer to develop and execute tests for airborne system electronics in their VTOL electric aircraft. Responsibilities include creating test plans, analyzing data, diagnosing failures, and collaborating with engineering and certification teams to meet FAA requirements. The role requires experience with hardware modification, environmental tests (mechanical/EME), and instrumentation.

What you'd actually do

  1. Develop formal test plans, test procedures, instrumentation plans, test stand/fixture designs, data acquisition architectures, and any other necessary tools to allow for thorough and repeatable testing of airborne system electronics.
  2. Review and analyze data collected during the aforementioned tests to generate reports that will provide quantifiable feedback to the engineering teams that will allow them to optimize their designs.
  3. Perform post-test failure inspection if applicable to diagnose any experienced failures by identifying the root cause of the issue, documenting findings, and providing feedback to appropriate stakeholders for design improvement.
  4. Work closely with Design Engineers, System Engineers, Designated Engineering Representatives (DERs), and Certification Engineers to verify that assigned Airborne Electronic Hardware meets or exceeds design requirements and provides necessary testing related information and documentation to meet FAA certification requirements.
  5. Contribute to the technical writing of Qualification Test Plans and Procedures (QTP) during submission of QTPs for FAA approval.

Skills

Required

  • B.S. in Mechanical/Electrical Engineering or relevant discipline with 2+ years of work experience in the relevant industry performing Test Engineering activities (or) M.S. with several relevant projects.
  • Experience in modifying hardware of test stands and associated test software to exercise primary and secondary functions of airborne system electronics under test.
  • Experience with mechanical or electromagnetic effects (EME) environmental tests.
  • Experience with instrumentation and test equipment that is often used with the above-mentioned tests (thermal chambers, reverb chambers, data acquisition units, multimeters, accelerometers, thermistors, current probes, oscilloscopes, etc.)
  • Excellent problem-solving and communication skills.
  • Strong analytical background.
  • Hands-on attitude with experience in mechanical assembly, electrical wiring, and electrical setup troubleshooting.
  • High attention to detail.

Nice to have

  • Experience testing airborne electronic hardware to DO-160, MIL-810 type(or similar standards) environmental tests. Prior DO-160 training is a plus.
  • Experience with root cause analysis (nondestructive) of electronics failure.
  • Experience with MATLAB/Python for post-processing of data from equipment under test and external instrumentation.
  • Experience with LabView for Data Acquisition and test automation (invoking desired equipment functions in different conditions).
  • Experience with Grafana for data visualization.
  • Experience with ethernet networking for test equipment and managed ethernet switches.

What the JD emphasized

  • FAA certification requirements