Engineer II, Automated Test (R6288)

BlackCube Labs; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

Benefits

Equity

Job summary

Shield AI in San Diego engineers autonomous systems for unmanned aircraft and robotics. The Hivemind Software Engineering Integration and Test team is seeking an Automated Test Engineer to design, develop, and scale automated testing and CI/CD infrastructure for the next-generation autonomy platform.

You will build test frameworks, implement CI/CD pipelines in GitLab, and create tooling in Python to boost test execution speed, coverage, and reliability across software and hardware-in-the-loop

Qualifications

• 2+ years building scalable automation frameworks in Python.
• 2+ years of experience with asynchronous and concurrent programming in Python for scalable automation.
• Experience developing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines using GitLab CI, YAML, and shell scripting.
• Experience with automated testing of distributed systems, backend services, APIs, and web-based UIs.
• Familiarity with modern test frameworks, automated validation strategies, and software quality methodologies.
• Experience working in Linux-based development environments.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain automated test frameworks for Autonomy and UI applications.
• Develop scalable automated test infrastructure for functional, integration, regression, system, and end-to-end testing across distributed software and hardware environments.
• Create and maintain CI/CD pipelines in GitLab using YAML configurations and shell scripting to support automated build, test, and deployment workflows.
• Build workflow automation tools and utilities in Python to improve test execution efficiency, reporting, environment setup, and developer productivity.
• Develop and maintain UI and API test automation using Go and TypeScript for modern web-based operator interfaces and mission control applications.
• Integrate automated testing into continuous integration environments to support rapid software delivery and high reliability standards.
• Collaborate closely with software, autonomy, simulation, and systems engineering teams to define verification strategies and improve software quality throughout the development lifecycle.
• Develop automated validation solutions for safety-critical and mission-critical aerospace software systems.
• Create test harnesses, simulators, stubs, and mocks to support automated verification in both simulated and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) environments.
• Analyze test results, troubleshoot failures, and work with development teams to isolate root causes and improve system reliability.
• Improve test coverage, execution speed, maintainability, and observability of automated test systems.
• Contribute to software quality standards, coding best practices, and automation architecture decisions.
• Maintain clear technical documentation for test frameworks, automation workflows, CI/CD infrastructure, and validation procedures.
• Support release qualification activities and ensure traceability between requirements, tests, and verification results where applicable.
• Represent the Integration and Test Role in designreviews andadvocate for aculture of engineering excellence and continuous improvement.
• Develop AI-assisted engineering workflows and analytics tools using modern coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex, and related LLM-based development platforms to improve test generation, failure triage, debugging, and developer productivity.
• Design intelligent automation pipelines thatleverageAI-assisted code generation, log analysis, test analysis, and workflow orchestration to accelerate software verification and validation processes.
• Evaluate and integrate emerging AI-driven software engineering tools into automated test and CI/CD ecosystems whilemaintainingreliability, traceability, and engineering quality standards.

Skills

Python automation

CI/CD tooling

Distributed systems testing

Go/TypeScript

Linux development

Debugging

Collaboration

Tools

Conan

Pip

Setuptools

Poetry

Nix

GitLab CI

Shell scripting

Job description

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-BATaircraft, 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.

Job Description:

The Hivemind Software Engineering Integration and Test team is seeking an Automated Test Engineer to design, develop, and scale advanced automated testing and CI/CD infrastructure for our next-generation autonomy platform. You will help develop test frameworks that enable this software ecosystem to create, test and deploy resilient autonomy capabilities for unmanned aircraft and robotic platforms operating in complex, contested, and GPS-denied environments. You will work with a robust suite of autonomy and mission software components, including production flight code, simulation and synthetic environment tooling, mission planning and orchestration systems, operator-facing Ground Control Station (GCS) applications, telemetry and data pipelines, and cloud-native developer infrastructure.

In this role, you will help ensure the reliability, scalability, and quality of the Hivemind ecosystem through advanced automation, validation infrastructure, and AI-assisted engineering workflows. You will develop automated test frameworks, CI/CD systems, and verification tooling that support distributed autonomy software spanning onboard edge compute, APIs, web-based operator interfaces, simulation environments, and hardware-in-the-loop systems. Working closely with software, autonomy, simulation, and systems engineering teams, you will contribute to a high-assurance development environment focused on mission-critical reliability, rapid iteration, and engineering excellence. The ideal candidate has strong experience in Python-based automation, distributed systems testing, developer tooling, and modern CI/CD practices, along with an interest in autonomy, aerospace, robotics, or safety-critical software systems. ExperienceleveragingAI-assisted development and intelligent automation tools to accelerate testing, debugging, analytics, and developer productivity is highly valued.

What you'll do:

• Design, develop, andmaintainautomated test frameworks for Autonomy and UI applications.
• Developscalable automated test infrastructurefor functional, integration, regression, system, and end-to-end testing across distributed software and hardware environments.
• Create andmaintainCI/CD pipelines in GitLab using YAML configurations and shell scripting to support automated build, test, and deployment workflows.
• Build workflow automation tools and utilities in Python to improve test execution efficiency, reporting, environment setup, and developer productivity.
• Develop andmaintainUI and API test automation using Go and TypeScript for modern web-based operator interfaces and mission control applications.
• Integrate automated testing into continuous integration environments to support rapid software delivery and high reliability standards.
• Collaborate closely with software, autonomy, simulation, and systems engineering teams to define verification strategies and improve software quality throughout the development lifecycle.
• Develop automated validation solutions for safety-critical and mission-critical aerospace software systems.
• Create test harnesses, simulators, stubs, and mocks to support automated verification in both simulated and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) environments.
• Analyze test results, troubleshoot failures, and work with development teams to isolate root causes and improve system reliability.
• Improve test coverage, execution speed, maintainability, and observability of automated test systems.
• Contribute to software quality standards, coding best practices, and automation architecture decisions.
• Maintain clear technical documentation for test frameworks, automation workflows, CI/CD infrastructure, and validation procedures.
• Support release qualification activities and ensure traceability between requirements, tests, and verification results where applicable.
• Represent the Integration and Test Role in designreviews andadvocate for aculture of engineering excellence and continuous improvement.
• Develop AI-assisted engineering workflows and analytics tools using modern coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex, and related LLM-based development platforms to improve test generation, failure triage, debugging, and developer productivity.
• Design intelligent automation pipelines thatleverageAI-assisted code generation, log analysis, test analysis, and workflow orchestration to accelerate software verification and validation processes.
• Evaluate and integrate emerging AI-driven software engineering tools into automated test and CI/CD ecosystems whilemaintainingreliability, traceability, and engineering quality standards.

Required qualifications:

• 2+ years of experience building scalable, maintainable automation frameworks and/or developer tooling in Python.
• 2+ years of experience working with package management, dependency management, and build systems using tools such as conan, pip, setuptools, poetry, and nix or similar.
• 2+ years of experience building tooling for automated log collection, analytics, reporting, and failure triage.
• Strong understanding of asynchronous and concurrent programming in Python for scalable automation and parallel test execution.
• Experience developing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines using GitLab CI, YAML, and shell scripting.
• Experience with automated testing of distributed systems, backend services, APIs, and web-based UIs.
• Familiarity with modern test frameworks, automated validation strategies, and software quality methodologies.
• Experience working in Linux-based development environments.
• Strong debugging and problem-solving skills in complex software systems.
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills in cross-functional engineering environments.

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience integrating Python with native C/C++ libraries and applications using bindings, wrappers, subprocess interfaces, or interoperability tooling.
• Proficiencywith Go and/or TypeScript for automation tooling or UI test development.
• Experience with C++ development or testing.
• Aerospace, robotics, autonomy, or safety-critical software experience.
• Familiarity with simulation, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL), or embedded system testing.

$110,000 - $160,000 a year

Full-time regular employee offer package:

Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity

Temporary employee offer package:

Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)

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. Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits. Please speak to your talent acquisition representative for more information.

Shield AI is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed toequal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, 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.