Specter

Test Engineering Lead

San Francisco

Sponsorship not specifiedDetected 15 hours ago

PythonC++GitAWSGCPAzureCloud PlatformsCI/CDData AnalysisAgentic AILoad TestingTest AutomationTCP/IP

About the role

As the company scales, you'll define the org structure, make the first hires, and grow a team around the foundation you built.
You will be the technical owner coordinating across electrical, mechanical, firmware, manufacturing, and operations, and the person who decides when a product is ready to ship.

Personally design and execute thermal, mechanical, environmental, ingress, and reliability tests across our sensor and compute hardware portfolio.
Build degradation models and define accelerated life test plans targeting a 10-year outdoor service life for ruggedized, field-deployed products.
Perform hardware bring-up, characterization, and stress testing to identify system limits.
Drive failure analysis and root cause investigations across hardware, firmware, and system-level failures.
Analyze test results and translate findings into actionable design feedback for EE, ME, and firmware teams.
Own the hardware requirements → test → design change feedback loop across all Specter products.
Support EVT/DVT/PVT builds and NPI validation bring-up across multiple concurrent programs.
Design and stand up an in-house lab capable of environmental, ingress, mechanical, power, and reliability testing.

7+ years of hardware validation, reliability, or systems test engineering experience on embedded or ruggedized hardware products
Deep hands-on expertise in thermal, mechanical, and environmental testing
Experience with degradation modeling and accelerated life testing (thermal cycling, vibration, humidity, burn-in, HALT/HASS)
Experience defining validation plans and acceptance criteria cross-functionally with EE, ME, firmware, and manufacturing teams
Proven ability to own a test program end-to-end - plan, setup, execution, analysis, and design feedback - without requiring a team beneath you
Deep hands-on expertise in thermal, mechanical, and environmental testing; you can design a test fixture, run the chamber, and interpret the data yourself
Strong background in structured failure analysis and root cause investigation across hardware, firmware, and system-level failures
Comfortable specifying and procuring lab equipment and standing up lab infrastructure from scratch

Familiarity with relevant standards: IEC 60529 (IP ratings), UN38.3, ASTM D5470, IEC 60068, or equivalent
Background in outdoor/ruggedized hardware, IoT, autonomous systems, or defense-adjacent products
Experience with solar, battery, or alternative energy system validation
Proficiency in Python for test automation and data analysis
familiarity with C, C++, or Rust for embedded/firmware-level debugging
Networking fundamentals - TCP/IP, protocols, and experience working with networked embedded devices

This listing is sourced directly from Specter's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.