Lead Validation Engineer

AIM

Seattle (WA)

On-site

USD 90,000 - 120,000

Full time

14 days+

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Job summary

A leading robotics firm in Seattle seeks a Lead Validation Engineer to ensure autonomous machines perform reliably and safely. This role requires defining and implementing validation strategies and building systems for scalable, measurable quality assurance. Candidates should have a strong engineering background, experience in system-level validation, and a proactive approach to decision-making. This unique opportunity involves substantial cross-functional leadership and direct influence on system performance and safety in demanding environments.

Qualifications

Experience in system-level validation, test engineering, or reliability engineering.
Strong experience in designing validation strategies and frameworks.
Hands-on experience debugging system-level failures.

Responsibilities

Define the end-to-end validation strategy across various deployments.
Ensure validation scales through automation and data-driven testing.
Build validation infrastructure enabling engineers to validate their work.
Drive validation across AI, software, and hardware engineering teams.

Skills

System-level validation

Debugging system-level failures

Designing validation strategies

Cross-functional leadership

Data-driven decision-making

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Software, Systems, Robotics, or related field

Job description

About us

AIM builds autonomy for the real world - robots that move mountains. Our systems integrate software, electronics, mechanical systems, perception, and mission-critical infrastructure into rugged, safety-critical machines operating on construction and mining sites globally.

Our machines operate in dynamic, unpredictable environments where performance, reliability, and safety must hold under real-world conditions - not just in simulation. Delivering autonomy at scale requires not only building systems, but proving they work consistently, safely, and reliably in the field.

Validation is how we make that real.

About You

You are a systems-oriented engineer who cares deeply about whether things actually work - not just whether they were designed to work.

You:

Think in terms of system behavior, not isolated components
Build mechanisms that scale, not manual processes
Use data and real-world evidence to drive decisions
Have strong judgment in ambiguous situations with incomplete information
Hold a high bar for reliability, performance, and safety

You are equally comfortable:

Designing validation strategies and frameworks
Building infrastructure and tooling
Debugging failures across hardware, software, and AI systems
Working in the field to understand real-world conditions

You take ownership of outcomes - ensuring validation directly improves system performance, safety, and reliability.

About Us Together

We’re building autonomous systems that must perform under real-world conditions - and we validate them by:

Ensuring end-to-end system behavior across electrical, mechanical, software, and AI subsystems
Validating performance under harsh environments: dust, vibration, temperature extremes, and dynamic terrain
Ensuring reliability across long-duration operation in real jobsites
Testing complex interactions across autonomy, controls, perception, and hardware systems
Capturing real-world edge cases and converting them into repeatable validation scenarios

We move fast, test rigorously, and build validation systems that scale with the fleet.

Why this role exists

Autonomous systems fail at system boundaries - in the interactions between perception, planning, controls, hardware, and real-world environments.

While engineering teams validate their own components, the Lead Validation Engineer ensures that the integrated system actually works in reality.

This role exists to:

Close the gap between engineering intent and real-world behavior
Build the validation system that scales with the company
Provide an independent signal of system readiness

This is not a QA role. This role builds the system that makes quality measurable, enforceable, and scalable across AIM.

What You Will Own

As the Lead Validation Engineer, you will own the system that ensures AIM’s autonomous machines work reliably, safely, and predictably in the real world. You are accountable not just for validation activities, but for making validation scalable, measurable, and deeply integrated into how we build and deploy systems.

Validation System Ownership

Own how validation is performed across AIM.

Define the end-to-end validation strategy across:
- simulation
- software-in-the-loop (SIL)
- hardware-in-the-loop (HIL)
- proving ground (PG)
- field deployments
Establish the test pyramid, shifting validation earlier in development
Define validation coverage across:
- system behaviors
- environmental conditions
- Operational Design Domain (ODD)
Ensure validation scales through automation, replay systems, and data-driven testing

Validation Infrastructure & Tooling

Build systems that enable engineers to validate their own work.

Develop:
- automated test frameworks
- simulation and replay systems
- data capture and labeling pipelines
- validation dashboards and reporting systems
Integrate validation into CI/CD and development workflows
Enable self-service validation across AI, software, and hardware teams

System-Level Validation

Ensure the integrated system behaves correctly across domains.

Validate interactions across:
- perception
- planning
- controls
- hardware systems
- operator interfaces
Identify emergent failure modes not visible at the component level
Design validation scenarios that reflect real-world complexity

Real-World Validation & Field Feedback

Ensure validation reflects actual operating conditions.

Define validation strategies for PG and field deployments
Build systems to:
- capture real-world data
- reproduce field failures
- convert issues into repeatable tests
Ensure field learnings feed back into validation systems

Release Gating & Readiness

Define and enforce system readiness.

Define validation gates for:
- feature releases
- system releases
- customer deployments
Provide validation input into ORRs and release decisions
Ensure systems meet performance, reliability, and safety thresholds

Acts as an independent signal of readiness, not a bottleneck.

Metrics, Observability & Coverage

Make validation measurable.

Define metrics including:
- coverage across ODD conditions
- failure and escape rates
- MTBI (Mean Time Between Interventions)
- validation effectiveness
Build dashboards and reporting systems
Identify and close validation gaps

Incident Analysis & Continuous Improvement

Ensure failures improve the system.

Partner on root cause analysis (CoE)
Identify validation gaps from incidents and near misses
Feed learnings back into validation frameworks and test coverage

Cross-Functional Leadership

Drive validation across engineering teams.

Define validation expectations across AI, software, and hardware
Ensure teams own validation of their components
Drive alignment on validation practices and standards

Validation Culture & Mechanisms

Establish validation as a core engineering discipline.

Define validation standards and best practices
Establish validation reviews and processes
Train teams on validation methodologies
Ensure validation is treated as an engineering output

Decision Authority

Serve as the technical authority on validation.

Provide independent input on system readiness
Gate releases when validation is insufficient
Escalate validation risks to leadership
Challenge assumptions where system behavior is not proven

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Software, Systems, Robotics, or related field (or equivalent experience)
Experience in system-level validation, test engineering, or reliability engineering
Experience validating complex systems integrating hardware, software, and autonomy
Strong experience designing validation strategies and frameworks
Hands‑on experience debugging system-level failures

Preferred Qualifications