Position Title: Senior PrincipalIntegration & Test Engineer
Requisition ID: 1799
Position Location: Sterling, VA
Position Reports To: Manager, Space Electronics
Supervises Others: No

Position Summary

We are expanding our multidisciplinary engineering team and seeking a Senior Principal Integration & Test Engineer to lead the planning, execution, and continuous improvement of test activities for space-grade electronics. This role is central to ensuring that our hardware meets mission requirements, manufacturing quality standards, and the stringent expectations of the aerospace industry.

The selected candidate will work closely with electrical, software, FPGA, systems, manufacturing, and quality engineering teams to develop test strategies, maintain and improve existing test systems, integrate hardware and software, and validate flight and non-flight electronics used in satellite and aerospace programs.

This selected candidate will play a key role in guiding integration, verification, qualification, acceptance, and production test activities across multidisciplinary engineering organizations. This individual will help establish test methodologies, improve test infrastructure and processes, coordinate integration efforts, and contribute to the resolution of the complex system-level issues throughout the product lifecycle.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Test Planning & Strategy
  • Develop comprehensive test plans, procedures, verification matrices, and acceptance criteria for space electronics.
  • Define test coverage and compliance pathways aligned with AS9100 and customer requirements.
  • Participate in design reviews to ensure testability and integration readiness.
  • Support integration and test planning activities across multidisciplinary engineering teams.
  • Support qualification, acceptance, and production readiness reviews.
• Test Execution & Reporting
  • Perform functional, environmental, and system-level testing of electronic assemblies and subsystems.
  • Document results with clarity and rigor, including test reports, discrepancy reports, root-cause analyses and corrective action recommendations.
  • Support troubleshooting and failure analysis during integration and production.
  • Present technical findings and recommendations to engineering leadership, customers, and stakeholders.
• Test Equipment Design & Integration
  • Maintain, improve, and expand existing test fixtures, harnesses, automated test equipment (ATE), ground support equipment (GSE) and supporting software.
  • Evaluate existing test systems and identify opportunities to improve reliability, maintainability, automation, throughput, and test coverage.
  • Integrate hardware and software components into reliable, repeatable engineering and production test environments.
  • Develop and maintain test automation using Python, VISA, or similar technologies.
  • Specify, procure, deploy, and support laboratory and production test instrumentation including oscilloscopes, DAQs, power supplies, electronic loads, environmental test equipment, and custom hardware.
  • Collaborate with manufacturing engineering to ensure test equipment is robust, maintainable, and compliant.
• Quality & Compliance
  • Ensure all test activities meet AS9100, configuration management, and traceability requirements.
  • Contribute to continuous improvement of test processes, documentation, and quality controls.
  • Support audits, reviews, and customer interactions related to test and verification.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Minimum of 12 years of relevant experience in integration, testing, or verification of electronic systems.
• Hands-on experience with test equipment such as oscilloscopes, power supplies, logic analyzers, and automated test systems.
• Familiarity with scripting or automation tools (e.g., Python, LabVIEW, MATLAB).
• Working knowledge of electronics fundamentals, system integration, and troubleshooting.
• Experience working in a regulated or high-reliability environment (aerospace, defense, medical devices, etc.).

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with space electronics, radiation-tolerant hardware, or satellite subsystems.
• Knowledge of environmental testing (thermal, vibration, EMI/EMC).
• Experience developing automated test equipment (ATE) for production environments.
• Understanding of configuration management and requirements management tools.
• Working knowledge of AS9100 or similar quality management systems.

Trident Systems reserves the right to change or assign other duties to this position.

Benefits

Hired applicants may be eligible for benefits including but not limited to:

• Health benefits
  • Medical
  • Dental
  • Vision
  • Basic life with AD&D
  • Short term disability
  • Long term disability
  • Ancillary (Voluntary life with AD&D, accident, critical illness, hospital, and pet)
  • Spending accounts (HSA, FSA, and DCFSA)
• Paid time off
• Holidays
• 401(k) (including company match)
• Tuition reimbursement
• Leaves (Parental, maternity, and military)
• Annual discretionary bonus (for eligible roles)