Hardware Test Engineer, Droid - Ground Systems

Socket.dev; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

The role is for a Ground Test Engineer responsible for designing and verifying the droid ground testing infrastructure, including life-test rigs, sensors, and automation software. You will own test campaigns from prototype validation through production readiness, triaging failures across mechanical, electrical, and firmware domains, and collaborating with cross-functional teams.

Candidates should have a strong background in mechanical engineering or robotics, hands-on testing, Python scripting,

Qualifications

• BS or MS in Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, or Robotics with 3+ years delivering electromechanical hardware or test software.
• CAD experience in a CAD environment (Siemens NX).
• Real Python experience with test automation, data processing, or bench-top control software.

Responsibilities

• Own the ground test strategy for the droid and its interaction with zipping point infrastructure.
• Design, build, and deploy mechanical test fixtures and life-test rigs from concept through fabrication and long-duration operation.
• Develop electrical/test instrumentation: load cells, thermocouples, encoders, current sensing, motor drivers, DAQ, safety interlocks.
• Write automation software (Python) for tests, data logging, live health monitoring, pass/fail evaluation.
• Drive test campaigns from prototype validation through qualification, life testing, and production end-of-line testing.
• Triage and root-cause failures across mechanical, electrical, firmware domains with data-driven campaigns.
• Collaborate with mechanical, electrical, firmware, and manufacturing engineers to improve reliability.

Skills

Python scripting

CAD design

Test automation

Education

BS or MS in Mechanical Engineering or Mechatronics or Robotics

Tools

Siemens NX

Job description

About the Role

The droid is the delivery container at the heart of our delivery system. It detaches from the aircraft on a tether, descends 300 feet, and places your order on a driveway, or picks up an order at a merchant's zipping point and returns to the aircraft. The interaction between the droid and the zipping point infrastructure is the most cycled, most reliability-critical mechanical interface in our system. We are designing EV3, the next generation of the droid and the next versions of our ground pickup stations. As we scale toward thousands of units in production and tens of thousands of flight cycles per unit, we need someone to own the ground testing that makes that scale credible—every fixture, life-test rig, environmental chamber, and automated bring-up station that proves the droid and zipping point work reliably together while exceeding our reliability targets.

Responsibilities

Own the ground test strategy for the droid and its interaction with zipping point infrastructure – from pickup and drop-off mechanics to tether engagement to environmental exposure of the mated system.

• Design, build, and deploy custom mechanical test fixtures and life-test rigs, from concept through fabrication, bring-up, and long-duration operation.
• Develop the electrical and instrumentation side of these test systems: load cells, thermocouples, encoders, current sensing, motor drivers, pneumatic actuators, DAQ, safety interlocks, etc.
• Write the automation software that runs them – Python scripting, data logging, live health monitoring, automated pass/fail evaluation, integration into our broader hardware test framework.
• Drive test campaigns from early prototype validation through qualification, life testing, and production end-of-line testing.
• Triage and root-cause failures across mechanical, electrical, and firmware domains, using data, test heritage, and one-off targeted campaigns.
• Partner directly with the mechanical, electrical, firmware, and manufacturing engineers designing EV3 – pushing back on requirements when the physics does not support them, and proposing changes when testing reveals opportunities to improve reliability.
• Travel occasionally to suppliers and manufacturing partners (China, Malaysia, Japan, Italy, Germany, Vietnam) to deploy test equipment, qualify processes, and support production ramps.

Qualifications

• BS or MS in Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, Robotics, or a related field, with 3+ years of hands-on experience delivering electromechanical hardware or test software.
• Demonstrated ability to design mechanical hardware in a CAD environment (we use Siemens NX).
• Comfort with the electrical side of test equipment – reading schematics, wiring up a fixture, debugging with a scope, selecting the right sensor for the job.
• Real Python experience – you have written test automation, data processing scripts, or bench-top control software that others relied on.
• A systems approach to problem solving: a knack for identifying whether a failure lives in mechanics, electronics, firmware, or their interaction, and diving deep into whichever domain the problem lives in.
• Strong fabrication and prototyping instincts – you are comfortable in a machine shop, with hand tools, and at a soldering stati.