Lead Test Platform Engineer

Loft Orbital; United Arab Emirates; On-site; AED 360,000 - 600,000; Full time

Job summary

Loft Orbital is seeking a Lead Test Platform Engineer to own the end-to-end Test Platform environment used for spacecraft integration, verification, validation, and manufacturing. The role spans hardware, software, Linux, networking, instrumentation, and GSE, with a focus on scalable, reusable platforms for increasing production.

The ideal candidate will drive architecture, build, deployment, and operational support across multidisciplinary teams, delivering reliable, maintainable systems and

Qualifications

• Significant engineering experience owning complex test stations, SIL/HIL platforms, integration environments, or similar multidisciplinary test systems.
• Demonstrated experience taking Test Platforms from requirements and architecture through build, integration, commissioning, deployment, and operational support.
• Strong hands-on hardware/software/system integration experience.
• Strong practical experience with Linux environments, networking, compute infrastructure, and system troubleshooting.
• Strong Python and scripting capability.
• Practical experience with Git/GitLab, CI/CD, containers, configuration management, and automated deployment.
• Experience integrating hardware, software, instrumentation, embedded devices, and communication interfaces within test environments.
• Ability to troubleshoot complex failures spanning hardware, software, networking, instrumentation, and system interfaces.
• Experience leading architecture/design reviews and root-cause investigations.
• Demonstrated technical leadership across multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Strong systems-level thinking with the ability to remain technically hands-on.
• Strong cross-functional communication and engineering judgement.
• Ability to establish technical ownership, engineering standards, and scalable approaches rather than relying on one-off solutions.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end architecture, development, deployment, operation, and continuous improvement of spacecraft Test Platforms.
• Lead Test Stations, Test Benches, SIL/HIL environments, and associated EGSE/SCOE.
• Collaborate with Systems Engineering, AIT, Software, Avionics, Electrical, RF/Payload, Design Engineering, and Operations.
• Guide architecture/design reviews and root-cause investigations to improve reliability and scalability.

Skills

Test platforms ownership

Hardware/software integration

Linux systems

Networking

Python scripting

Git/GitLab

CI/CD

Containerization

Automation

Test station/bench design

Root-cause analysis

Multidisciplinary collaboration

Tools

Git/GitLab

CI/CD tooling

Containers

Job description

Role Overview

The Lead Test Platform Engineer will be the technical owner of the end-to-end Test Platform environment used for spacecraft integration, verification, validation, and manufacturing.

This is a senior, hands-on technical leadership role responsible for the architecture, development, integration, deployment, operation, and continuous improvement of spacecraft Test Stations, Test Benches, SIL/HIL environments, and associated EGSE/SCOE.

The role requires someone who can operate across hardware, software, Linux infrastructure, networking, instrumentation, spacecraft interfaces, Electrical/RF GSE, and test automation, while providing technical direction to multidisciplinary engineering teams.

A key focus will be moving from program-specific test setups toward reusable, configurable, reliable, maintainable, and scalable Test Platforms that can support increasing spacecraft production.

The Lead Test Platform Engineer will work closely with Systems Engineering, AIT, Software, Avionics, Electrical, RF/Payload, Design Engineering, D2M, Industrial Operations, Infrastructure, and Program teams.

Must Haves

• Significant engineering experience owning complex Test Stations, SIL/HIL platforms, integration environments, or similar multidisciplinary test systems
• Demonstrated experience taking Test Platforms from requirements and architecture through build, integration, commissioning, deployment, and operational support
• Strong hands-on hardware/software/system integration experience
• Strong practical experience with Linux environments, networking, compute infrastructure, and system troubleshooting
• Strong Python and scripting capability
• Practical experience with Git/GitLab, CI/CD, containers, configuration management, and automated deployment
• Experience integrating hardware, software, instrumentation, embedded devices, and communication interfaces within test environments
• Ability to troubleshoot complex failures spanning hardware, software, networking, instrumentation, and system interfaces
• Experience leading architecture/design reviews and root-cause investigations
• Demonstrated technical leadership across multidisciplinary engineering teams
• Strong systems-level thinking with the ability to remain technically hands-on
• Strong cross-functional communication and engineering judgement
• Ability to establish technical ownership, engineering standards, and scalable approaches rather than relying on one-off solutions

Nice to Haves

• Experience within spacecraft, satellite, aerospace, or similarly complex hardware development environments
• Experience supporting AIT, spacecraft integration, verification, or manufacturing campaigns
• Hands‑on exposure to Electrical EGSE/SCOE and/or RF EGSE/SCOE
• Experience designing or operating spacecraft electrical, RF, communication, power, or signal interfaces
• Experience with instrumentation and data‑acquisition systems
• Experience working with embedded hardware or embedded devices within test environments
• Experience developing or improving automated test execution, monitoring, diagnostics, and validation systems
• Experience standardizing Test Platforms across multiple programs or products
• Experience improving platform reliability, observability, backup/recovery, maintenance, calibration, or lifecycle management
• Experience developing reusable platform architectures while balancing program-specific requirements with longer‑term scalability
• Previous experience mentoring engineers and building technical capability within a growing engineering team

Ideal Profile

The ideal candidate is a systems-level engineer and technical leader who is still comfortable getting hands‑on. They can move between spacecraft interfaces, hardware, software, infrastructure, networking, and operations, bring structure to ambiguous technical problems, and create Test Platforms that become increasingly predictable, reproducible, maintainable, and scalable as the organization grows.

Orbitworks' mission is to make space simple for organizations that want to deploy physical and virtual missions to space. Building on Loft Orbital's heritage, Orbitworks will be the first commercial firm in the United Arab Emirates to mass‑manufacture satellites. Orbitworks aims to manufacture tens of satellites annually and operates out of a 50,000-square-foot facility in Abu Dhabi.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.