Senior/Staff Embedded Test Engineer

BrightAI; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

BrightAI is seeking a Senior/Staff Embedded Test Engineer to validate IoT ecosystems across hardware, edge firmware, and cloud platforms. You will design end-to-end test strategies, simulate networks, and ensure secure, reliable wireless operation in real-world conditions.

Responsibilities include HIL test rig maintenance, automated tests of cloud APIs, and integration into GitLab CI/CD. Strong expertise in MQTT/CoAP/HTTPS and RF protocols will be essential.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in embedded systems QA, with 5+ years in connected IoT products.
• Proven track record testing smart home or industrial IoT devices.
• Strong knowledge of MQTT/CoAP/HTTPS and wireless stacks.

Responsibilities

• Design IoT end-to-end test strategies from sensors to cloud databases.
• Set up network simulations for varying conditions and high-latency scenarios.
• Build and maintain Hardware-in-the-Loop test rigs for continuous testing.
• Automate cloud API and device tests; integrate into GitLab CI/CD.
• Validate RF/wireless performance across BLE, Wi‑Fi, NB-IoT, and cellular.
• Audit security, TLS/ECC, OTA updates, and resilience of the stack.

Skills

IoT QA testing

Test automation

Network simulation

RF testing

Python

C/C++

Cloud testing

Tools

Wireshark

Logic analyzers

Digital multimeters

RF network analyzers

GitLab CI/CD

Job description

Job Overview

We are seeking an experienced Senior or Staff Embedded Test Engineer with 10+ years of experience specializing in Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystems. In this role, you will validate the end-to-end connectivity, functionality, security, and reliability of our smart devices, bridging the gap between physical hardware, edge firmware, and cloud platforms. You will design automated edge-tocloud test setups, simulate necessary test environments, and ensure flawless wireless communication under real-world conditions.

Key Responsibilities

IoT Test Strategy & Network Simulation

Edge-to-Cloud Validation: Design test strategies covering the entire IoT data path from physical sensors to cloud databases and user applications.

Network Simulation: Set up test benches to simulate varying network conditions, packet loss, high latency, and intermittent connectivity.

Scale & Stress Testing: Conduct fleet-scale simulation to evaluate how cloud infrastructure handles concurrent data bursts from thousands of edge nodes.

Automation & CI/CD

Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL): Build and maintain automated HIL test rigs for continuous testing of connected products.

API Testing: Automate verification of cloud APIs.

DevOps Integration: Embed automated hardware connectivity tests directly into GitLab CI/CD delivery pipelines.

Wireless, Protocol, & Power Verification

RF & Wireless Testing: Validate wireless performance across protocols like BLE, Wi-Fi, LoRaWAN, and Cellular.

Protocol Analysis: Intercept and analyze network traffic using Wireshark to verify MQTT, CoAP, HTTP, and Protobuf payloads.

Power Profiling: Measure microampere battery consumption during active transmission, sleep states, and deep sleep modes to verify battery-life targets.

IoT Security & Resilience

Security Auditing: Conduct vulnerability testing, including firmware reverse engineering resistance, secure boot verification, and certificate rotation.

Encryption Validation: Ensure all data-at-rest and data-in-transit utilizes appropriate TLS, AES, or ECC encryption standards.

OTA Update Validation: Rigorously test Over-the-Air (OTA) firmware update mechanisms against power interruptions, corrupted payloads, and rollbacks.

Required Qualifications & Skills Experience

10+ years of experience in embedded systems QA, with at least 5 years focused specifically on connected IoT products.

Proven track record of testing and deploying commercially successful smart home, industrial IoT (IIoT), or wearable devices.

Technical Skills IoT Protocols:

Advanced knowledge of messaging protocols (MQTT, CoAP, HTTPS) and wireless stacks (Wi-Fi, BLE, NB-IoT).

Languages: Python and solid understanding of C/C++. Cloud Infrastructure: Practical testing experience with major IoT cloud suites (e.g., AWS IoT Core, Azure IoT Hub, or Google Cloud IoT).

Network & Hardware Tools: Mastery of Wireshark, logic analyzers, digital multimeters, and specialized RF network analyzers/attenuators.

Embedded OS: Deep familiarity with IoT-focused operating systems like Zephyr RTOS, FreeRTOS, Embedded Linux, or Mbed OS.