Autonomy Test/ Integration Engineer

AM Pierce and Associates•Remote, OR

2d•$100,000 - $115,000•Remote

About The Position

We are looking for a candidate who will be performing the role of an Autonomy Test & Integration Engineer – Journeyman. The Autonomy Test & Integration Engineer develops independent test infrastructure used to integrate, exercise, and evaluate third-party autonomy software. The position is not initially focused on developing autonomy products; however, hands-on autonomy implementation experience is a key qualification. Credible autonomy testing requires understanding how autonomy systems represent operational state, plan, make decisions, execute behaviors, interact with controlled systems, process feedback, and adapt to changing mission conditions. The engineer will apply this knowledge to develop test strategies, simulation and integration capabilities, test harnesses, instrumentation, automation, analysis tools, and vendor adapters capable of supporting different autonomy architectures without designing the test environment around a single vendor's implementation.

Requirements

Active DoD Secret Clearance, required.
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Robotics, Systems Engineering, or related technical discipline.
3-8 years of relevant engineering experience, or equivalent demonstrated capability.
Candidates should have practical experience developing, integrating, extending, debugging, or rigorously testing autonomous system software and understand the fundamental autonomy processing chain: Mission / Task Inputs → Operational State → Planning / Decision → Execution → System Command → System Response → Observation / Feedback → Updated State
Relevant experience may include mission autonomy, planning and replanning, decision-making, behavior execution, world models, state management, vehicle control interfaces, mission systems, multi-agent coordination, resource management, runtime feedback, or failure recovery.
The engineer must be capable of examining unfamiliar autonomy implementation and determining what must be stimulated, controlled, observed, measured, and evaluated to establish whether the autonomy is operating correctly.
Hands-on experience implementing, integrating, debugging, or testing autonomy software.
Demonstrated understanding of the architecture and operation of at least one autonomy system or significant autonomy subsystem.
Strong software development skills, preferably C++, with Python or similar languages for test automation, simulation, and analysis.
Experience with software integration, automated testing, test harnesses, simulation, instrumentation, or engineering support tools.
Experience debugging complex software and system-integration problems using logs, telemetry, runtime traces, or similar evidence.
Linux development and Git/configuration-management experience.
Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and technical communication skills.

Nice To Haves

Experience with multiple autonomy architectures; mission autonomy; robotics or uncrewed systems; AI/planning systems; multi-agent autonomy; aerospace systems; modeling and simulation; SIL/HIL testing; real-time or embedded software; vehicle dynamics; JSBSim, FlightGear, JSE/JTB, AFSIM, or similar environments; DDS/UDP/distributed communications; tactical or mission systems; MOSA; and government or defense software development.

Responsibilities

Design, develop, integrate, and maintain third-party autonomy test frameworks and supporting software.
Analyze vendor autonomy architectures, software, interfaces, data models, decision/execution mechanisms, and feedback paths to determine appropriate integration and test approaches.
Develop adapters, test harnesses, simulation interfaces, instrumentation, test automation, data collection, analysis, visualization, and supporting tools.
Adapt the test framework to accommodate different autonomy architectures, interfaces, execution models, and system configurations.
Develop test strategies that evaluate autonomous behavior and mission performance, not simply interface or message compliance.
Create repeatable scenarios and test stimuli involving changing mission conditions, constraints, threats, failures, degraded capabilities, resource limitations, and other operational events.
Instrument and analyze autonomy decisions, plans, behaviors, commands, state transitions, feedback, and mission outcomes.
Determine whether observed anomalies originate in the autonomy implementation, integration, simulation, configuration, or test infrastructure.
Integrate autonomy software with vehicle models, mission systems, simulations, communications infrastructure, and external services.
Support software-in-the-loop, hardware-in-the-loop, distributed simulation, demonstrations, experimentation, and formal test events.
Document test architecture, procedures, assumptions, results, limitations, and technical findings.