Senior Quality Engineer - NODA AI

Location: Austin, TX (On-site, with less than 10% travel)

Clearance Requirement: U.S. Citizen with the ability to obtain a security clearance

The Role

We are seeking a Senior Quality Engineer to own the quality function for Core Engineering. You will build the test automation infrastructure, set the coverage standard, make quality measurable and visible, and issue go/no-go recommendations that leadership can act on. You will embed security and compliance validation into the Core Engineering quality function as first-class citizens alongside functional quality, ensuring every release upholds NODA's five-phase Security & Compliance Maturity Roadmap. This is a build-and-own role with a clear path to leading QE across Core Engineering as the team grows.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the test automation framework across Rust and Python, covering unit, integration, regression, and scenario-level testing.
• Integrate test suites into CI/CD with enforced gates at every stage, including security checks (SAST, dependency scanning, vulnerability).
• Enforce NODA's compliance boundary so CUI and export-controlled data never reach clean-zone or vendor-accessible test paths.
• Drive build quality metrics: coverage, flake rate, false positive rate, and mean time to detect and triage.
• Maintain a component-level quality dashboard feeding into the program-level go/no-go view for engineering and program leadership.
• Own go/no-go checklists and issue release recommendations backed by functional, security, and compliance evidence.
• Triage failures before routing, giving engineers a diagnosis rather than a symptom.
• Keep the test suite healthy: review cadence, deprecation of stale tests, and coverage gap identification.
• Translate quality state into language that drives release decisions at leadership level.
• Grow the QE function under Core Engineering as headcount scales.

Required Qualifications

• 7+ years in software QE, with a track record of building test infrastructure, not inheriting it.
• Engineering fundamentals to match: test code is production quality, test harnesses are maintained like products.
• Python required; Rust or a clear plan to get there.
• Hands-on CI/CD integration: you've built the gates, debugged the flakes, and enforced the blocks.
• Owned quality dashboards and metrics that drive go/no-go decisions.
• Fluent in distributed and concurrent systems and how they fail.
• Integrated security testing into CI/CD (SAST, dependency scanning, compliance validation aligned to NIST 800-171 or equivalent).
• Designed test infrastructure that respects security boundaries and vendor guardrails while supporting restricted core components.
• Background in defence, robotics, aerospace, or autonomous systems.
• US Citizenship with ability to obtain a security clearance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) or software-in-the-loop (SIL) testing experience.

• Simulation-based test pipelines.

• Edge or resource-constrained testing experience.

• Active security clearance.

Skills & Attributes

Builds with rigor: Test infrastructure is a product you design and maintain - not accumulate.

Makes quality visible: Dashboards and metrics that let engineering and leadership see exactly where the platform stands before every release.

Owns the call: Go/no-go recommendations backed by evidence and checklists. No hedging when the data is clear.

Communicates up: Comfortable translating quality state into language that drives decisions at the program and leadership level.

Collaborative by design: Works effectively across engineering sub-teams and engages program and mission stakeholders on quality outcomes.

What We Offer

• Competitive salary and equity

• Health, dental, and vision insurance

• Free OneMedical membership

• 401(k)

• Flexible time off

• Federal holidays

Growth Path at NODA

Quality Engineer - Owns one or more test domains; builds and maintains test harnesses that support integration and validation objectives.

Senior Quality Engineer - Owns the quality function for Core Engineering, builds the test automation framework from scratch, and drives go/no-go decisions backed by metrics and dashboards.

Staff Quality Engineer - Advises engineering leadership on QE architecture and strategy; sets quality standards across multiple engineering sub-teams.

Principal Quality Engineer - Defines the long-term QE roadmap across the engineering org; establishes company-wide standards for test infrastructure, coverage, and release quality.

Final leveling will be determined at the offer stage based on demonstrated scope, impact, and technical leadership.