Industrial Engineer

Swarm Aero; Oxnard (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity in a high‑growth defense tech

Medical, dental, vision

401k

PTO and sick leave

Wellness stipend

Daily catered lunch

Parental leave

Direct impact on national security

Job summary

Swarm Aero in Oxnard, CA is seeking a hands‑on hardware test engineer to own HIL test systems, fixtures, and automated tests for our avionics and autonomous aircraft.

You will collaborate with avionics, embedded software, and manufacturing teams to translate requirements into repeatable tests, improve coverage, and scale testing as production grows.

Qualifications

• Experience developing HIL systems, automated hardware test equipment, or functional testers for complex electronic systems.
• Strong electrical engineering fundamentals and hands‑on experience integrating and troubleshooting hardware.
• Proficiency in Python, C/C++, LabVIEW, or similar languages and tools used for test automation.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and bring up HIL systems that connect flight hardware with simulated aircraft systems, sensors, and operating environments.
• Develop functional testers for avionics components and assemblies, including test fixtures, interface electronics, harnesses, instrumentation, and automated software.
• Work with avionics, embedded software, flight controls, and manufacturing teams to turn system requirements into practical tests with clear pass/fail criteria.
• Develop automated test sequences for nominal operation, fault injection, and recovery behavior.
• Debug electrical, software, and integration issues using schematics, logs, oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and other bench tools.
• Establish repeatable test methods, configuration control, and useful reporting across engineering and production.
• Improve test coverage, reliability, and execution time as hardware matures and production scales.

Skills

HIL systems development

Test automation

Electrical troubleshooting

Python

C/C++

Tools

LabVIEW

CAN

Ethernet

UART

SPI

I2C

Oscilloscopes

Logic analyzers

Job description

Swarm Aero is redefining air power, building the largest swarming UAV and the most versatile swarming aircraft network in the world. The company is moving quickly to launch the first aircraft designed specifically for swarming, as well as the Command & Control software to mobilize swarms of thousands of heterogeneous autonomous assets and empower human operators to achieve superhuman results.

The team has created and exited multiple startups, negotiated defense deals worth billions of dollars, and designed and built 30+ novel aircraft, with aerospace experience from Scaled Composites, Airbus, Archer Aviation, Blue Origin, and Boom Supersonic.

Before an aircraft flies, its avionics need to prove they work together. At Swarm Aero, you’ll build the systems that make that possible.

You’ll own the development of hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test systems and functional testers for our autonomous aircraft’s avionics. That means designing test architectures, building fixtures and interfaces, writing automation, and putting real hardware through realistic operating conditions. Your work will help engineers find problems earlier and give manufacturing repeatable ways to verify every unit we build.

This is a hands-on engineering role with scope from the first bench setup through aircraft integration and production.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Design, build, and bring up HIL systems that connect flight hardware with simulated aircraft systems, sensors, and operating environments.
• Develop functional testers for avionics components and assemblies, including test fixtures, interface electronics, harnesses, instrumentation, and automated software.
• Work with avionics, embedded software, flight controls, and manufacturing teams to turn system requirements into practical tests with clear pass/fail criteria.
• Develop automated test sequences for nominal operation, fault injection, and recovery behavior.
• Debug electrical, software, and integration issues using schematics, logs, oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and other bench tools.
• Establish repeatable test methods, configuration control, and useful reporting across engineering and production.
• Improve test coverage, reliability, and execution time as hardware matures and production scales.

WHAT YOU’LL BRING

• Experience developing HIL systems, automated hardware test equipment, or functional testers for complex electronic systems.
• Strong electrical engineering fundamentals and hands‑on experience integrating and troubleshooting hardware.
• Proficiency in Python, C/C++, LabVIEW, or similar languages and tools used for test automation.
• Experience with embedded interfaces and communication protocols such as CAN, Ethernet, UART, SPI, or I2C.
• Ability to read schematics and develop test fixtures, harnesses, and interface hardware.
• An understanding of how to turn requirements into meaningful test coverage and diagnose failures across hardware and software.
• A track record of taking a test system from concept to a reliable tool other engineers or technicians can use.

NICE TO HAVE

• Experience with aircraft avionics, flight computers, sensors, actuators, or power distribution systems.
• Experience integrating real‑time simulation environments with physical hardware.
• PCB design experience for test interfaces or support electronics.
• Experience deploying production testers with calibration, traceability, and configuration management.
• Experience executing environmental testing of electronic equipment in accordance with DO-160, MIL-STD-810, SMC-S-016, or similar test standards.

ITAR requirement

To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Swarm Aero is an equal opportunity employer. We value diverse backgrounds and experiences and make employment decisions without regard to race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, or disability.

What We Offer

• Meaningful equity in a high-growth defense technology company
• Competitive base salary commensurate with experience
• Medical, dental, vision, and 401k
• PTO and paid sick leave
• Monthly wellness stipend
• Daily catered lunch (office)
• Paid parental leave
• Direct impact on a critical national security mission
• A world-class team of engineers and operators solving genuinely hard problems