Lead Engineer, Software Test and Quality Assurance

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube. 

The Software Test & Quality Assurance team serves both, and ensures release of verified and assured product. As Lead Engineer, Software Test & Quality Assurance, you will lead a team of Software Test & Automation Engineers working across both Hivemind Vision and Hivemind Solutions. You will turn the Australian software test strategy into day-to-day execution, set technical direction for test automation and infrastructure, and own the test evidence and release recommendations behind every software release. The team spans simulation, Software-in-the-Loop (SIL), Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL), Vehicle-in-the-Loop (VIL), perception and imagery validation, and live flight test. This is a hands-on leadership role. You will stay technically involved in framework design, test architecture, and complex integration issues while developing the people and capability of the team. You will report to the Senior Manager, Engineering (Systems Engineering and Test), and work closely with the Systems Engineering and Quality Process Engineering teams, as well as perception, autonomy, integration, flight test, program management, and Shield AI's international engineering teams. 

Responsibilities

• Responsibilities:

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of Software Test & Automation Engineers and Quality Assurance Engineers, including hiring, onboarding, goal setting, performance feedback, and career development.

• Plan and prioritise test work across Hivemind Vision and Hivemind Solutions programs, balancing competing schedules and allocating people where they are most needed.

• Identify risks, delays, and resourcing constraints early and communicate them clearly to the Senior Manager, Engineering and to program stakeholders.

• Build a team culture of technical rigour, ownership, continuous improvement, and psychological safety. Test execution and release assurance ·

• Implement the Australian software test strategy shaped and endorsed by key stakeholders and leadership across unit, integration, simulation, SIL, HIL, VIL, and flight-test environments.

• Tailor test approaches to the needs of each team: perception, computer vision, and imagery validation for Hivemind Vision, and autonomy integration and platform validation for Hivemind Solutions.

• Own the software release process, including release readiness criteria, test evidence, approval matrices, and go / no-go recommendations.

• Work with Systems Engineering to maintain traceability from requirements and interface control documents (ICDs) through test cases to verification results.

• Prepare test readiness and verification evidence for formal technical reviews (e.g., TRR), customer acceptance, and airworthiness submissions.

• Develop and report software quality metrics, dashboards, and readiness assessments that give engineering and program leadership objective evidence of software maturity. Technical direction

• Set the technical direction for automated test frameworks, test harnesses, and validation tooling, with Python-based automation at the core.

• Drive integration of automated regression, integration, functional, and performance testing into CI/CD pipelines to enable continuous validation and rapid developer feedback and coordinate cross functionally with key stakeholders including DevOps.

• Guide the development of repeatable perception test approaches, including curated test datasets, ground-truth comparison, and performance benchmarking for computer vision and imaging-sensor capabilities.

• Guide the build-out and maintenance of test environments, including hardware setup, device flashing, SIL/HIL rigs, and cross-platform (Windows and Linux) environments.

• Lead or support cross-functional root cause investigations into defects and system integration issues, and make sure lessons learned feed back into process and test coverage.

• Coordinate operational and integration testing on flights in and around Melbourne with the flight test team. Process and governance

• Apply and help mature the Australian Engineering Management System (EMS) for software test and release, working with Quality Process Engineering on configuration management, defect management, and nonconformance and corrective action.

• Maintain a common, right-sized test and QA baseline across Hivemind Vision and Hivemind Solutions, while respecting the different needs of each team's products and customers.

• Contribute software test and QA content to proposals, statements of work, and test plans.

• Partner with Shield AI test and quality teams globally to share tooling, methods, and best practice. 

Requirement

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Aerospace, Electrical, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent overseas qualification).

• 8+ years developing software test, verification, automation, validation, or quality assurance solutions for robotics, autonomy, aerospace, embedded, or other complex distributed systems.

• 2 + years leading engineers, either as a people manager or a technical lead with responsibility for planning, prioritization, and mentoring. 

• Demonstrated experience implementing test strategy across multiple products or programs and owning software release or acceptance recommendations.

• Strong proficiency in Python for automation, testing, and data analysis, and experience architecting automated test frameworks or validation infrastructure.

• Experience validating software in simulation, SIL, HIL, and/or representative hardware or flight-test environments.          

• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and continuous validation practices.

• Experience with Linux and Windows environments and with setting up and managing test environments.

• Experience with requirements and test management tools (e.g., Testrail, Cameo, DOORS, Polarion, Jira) and fault tracking systems.

• Strong understanding of software verification, regression testing, traceability, and quality assurance methodologies.         

• Experience working in Agile software development environments.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present test evidence and release recommendations to senior stakeholders and customers.

• Ability to obtain an Australian NV1 security clearance 

• Ability to comply with export-control (e.g., ITAR, EAR, and the Defence Trade Controls Act 2012), security, safety, and customer-site requirements. Preferred qualifications:

• Experience testing computer vision, perception, or imaging-sensor systems, including dataset-driven and metrics-based evaluation.

• Experience with flight control systems such as ArduPilot or PX4.

• Experience with unmanned aerial systems (fixed-wing, quadrotor, or both).

• Experience testing and validating real-time embedded software systems.

• Background in autonomy, robotics, or aerospace systems, including flight controllers, radios, and communications systems.   

• Experience producing evidence for formal technical reviews, customer acceptance, or airworthiness approval.

• Familiarity with software assurance or airworthiness frameworks (e.g., DO-178C, DEF(AUST) 5679, ASDEFCON software requirements) or quality management systems (AS9100 or ISO 9001).

• ISTQB accreditation (Advanced or Test Manager level highly regarded). 

Salary compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check.

Shield AI is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, colour, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.