Test & Verification Engineer II/III

Kraken Kinetics; Pinehurst (NC); On-site; USD 85,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Kraken Kinetics is seeking a hands‑on Test & Verification Engineer II/III to advance testing and verification across development, qualification, and production stages. You will own the testing problem, design verifiable approaches, instrument the device under test, collect and analyze data, troubleshoot failures, and document results to enable repeatable methods.

The role collaborates with systems, mechanical, electrical, firmware, manufacturing, and program teams to build test plans, fixtures,

Qualifications

• Participate in requirements and design reviews to ensure verifiability.
• Translate requirements into verification methods and acceptance criteria.
• Develop, refine, and execute test plans for development and production testing.
• Instrument devices with sensors and test equipment; collect data.
• Develop scripts and tools for data acquisition, analysis, and reporting.

Responsibilities

• Participate in requirements and design reviews to evaluate verifiability.
• Translate requirements into verification methods, test approaches, and acceptance criteria.
• Develop, refine, and execute test plans for development, verification, qualification, and production testing.
• Design and integrate test setups, fixtures, and data-acquisition systems.
• Develop automation for instrument control, data collection, and analysis.
• Execute diverse testing across electrical, mechanical, firmware and environmental domains.
• Document test results, anomalies, and conclusions clearly.

Skills

Test planning

Data analysis

Requirements reviews

Instrumentation

Troubleshooting

Tools

Lab equipment setup

Test automation

Job description

ABOUT KRAKEN KINETICS

Kraken Kinetics designs and manufactures advanced kinetic solutions that enable modern warfighting capabilities for the United States Armed Forces and its allies. We specialize in mission-tailored warheads and firing systems for unmanned and autonomous weapon platforms, delivering production-ready solutions at speed to address urgent national security challenges.

Our team brings decades of specialized Department of War experience across the full lifecycle of kinetic system development-from concept and design through testing, manufacturing, and operational deployment. Built on a foundation of work that helped lead the DoW into the era of kinetic drones, Kraken Kinetics combines commercial agility with deep technical expertise to deliver DEFINITIVE LETHALITY ™ when it matters most.

Position Summary

Kraken Kinetics is seeking a hands‑on Test & Verification Engineer II/III to help develop and mature the testing and verification capabilities needed to support product development, design verification, qualification, production acceptance, and continuous product improvement.

This is not a narrowly scoped test execution or data‑analysis role. We are looking for an engineer who can take ownership of the broader testing problem: understanding what needs to be proven, determining whether requirements are practically testable, developing the test approach, selecting and configuring equipment, instrumenting the device under test, collecting and analyzing data, troubleshooting failures, documenting the work, and helping turn successful approaches into repeatable test methods.

The Test & Verification Engineer will work closely with systems, mechanical, electrical, firmware, manufacturing, and program teams throughout the product-development lifecycle. Early in development, this engineer will participate in requirements and design reviews and provide practical input on testability and verification feasibility. As designs mature, the engineer will help develop test plans, procedures, fixtures, instrumentation, automation, data‑analysis methods, and verification documentation.

Kraken's test infrastructure and processes are still developing, but this role will not operate in isolation. To date, engineers across the organization have collectively supported many of Kraken's testing and verification needs and will continue to provide specialized technical expertise and design knowledge. The Test & Verification Engineer will help bring greater focus, ownership, consistency, and repeatability to that work.

We do not expect one engineer to fill every gap or be an expert in every test discipline. We do expect this person to identify important gaps, take ownership of the problems they can solve, bring in the right expertise when needed, and steadily improve Kraken's overall verification capability.

As Kraken grows, we expect the Test & Verification function to expand into a broader multidisciplinary team with deeper specialization in areas such as electronics and embedded systems testing, environmental and mechanical qualification, shock and vibration, weatherproofing and ingress protection, automated test systems, and production acceptance testing. This position offers the opportunity to make an immediate individual contribution while helping establish the foundation for that future team.

Roles & Responsibilities

• Participate in requirements and design reviews to evaluate whether requirements are objective, measurable, and practically verifiable.
• Work with systems and design engineers to translate requirements into appropriate verification methods, test approaches, and acceptance criteria.
• Develop, refine, and execute test plans and procedures for development, design verification, qualification, regression, and production acceptance testing.
• Design, build, configure, and integrate test setups, fixtures, instrumentation systems, data‑acquisition systems, and supporting test hardware.
• Bring new laboratory and test equipment online, including setup, configuration, software integration, validation, and documentation.
• Instrument devices under test and select appropriate sensors, test equipment, sampling methods, and measurement techniques.
• Develop scripts, tools, and automated test methods for instrument control, data acquisition, analysis, visualization, and reporting where appropriate.
• Personally execute electrical, mechanical, firmware, environmental, subsystem, and integrated system-level testing.
• Collect, analyze, interpret, and clearly document test data, results, anomalies, and conclusions.
• Troubleshoot unexpected behavior and test failures in collaboration with cross‑functional engineering teams.
• Support root‑cause investigations by developing diagnostic tests and experiments that help isolate failure mechanisms and verify corrective actions.
• Distinguish between product failures, test‑system issues, instrumentation limitations, fixture problems, software issues, and procedural errors.
• Develop clea