Director, System Test

Skylo Technologies • Mountain View, CA

2d

About The Position

Skylo is pioneering a standards-based approach to satellite connectivity, enabling direct-to-satellite connection for smartphones and IoT devices without special hardware. Their direct-to-device service is live on millions of devices globally, powered by Skylo's commercial NTN vRAN, a 3GPP standards-based, cloud-native platform. This role offers an opportunity to work on technology that matters in the consumer device, automotive, and industrial IoT markets, enabling connectivity in remote areas. As the Director, System Test, you will lead the team responsible for ensuring Skylo's services are production-ready. This involves defining and executing service-level acceptance and automation to validate releases, ensuring they are observable and operationally ready. You will build frameworks, infrastructure, and standards for validating complex satellite-to-cellular network behavior across devices, satellites, cloud infrastructure, and MNO integrations. The role requires leading a global team, managing performance, and remaining technically engaged in complex system failures while fostering innovation and reliability across multiple time zones.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field with emphasis on telecommunications, or equivalent practical experience.
• 10+ years of hands-on experience in telecommunications system testing and/or test automation, including at least 5 years in a technical leadership or people management role building high-performing teams.
• Experience working with or within a mobile network operator (MNO), MVNO, or network equipment vendor; familiarity with MNO operational processes and partner onboarding.
• Hands-on experience with formal network change control processes, defining quality gates, and managing test-to-release workflows.
• Proficiency with cloud-based test infrastructure (GCP preferred), test automation frameworks (e.g., Robot Framework), and 3GPP RAN/core protocol analysis tools.
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex technical risks into clear narratives and drive alignment across engineering, operations, product, and external partners.
• Experience building and leading high-performing engineering teams, with the ability to set technical direction while remaining hands-on.
• Every role at Skylo uses AI tools daily to amplify output. We expect active habits using AI tools and a track record of folding new ones into your workflow quickly.

Nice To Haves

• Familiarity with the application of machine learning techniques to test automation, anomaly detection, or network performance analysis.
• Prior exposure to satellite-specific testing (GEO/LEO) and/or 3GPP NTN standards (Release 17 and beyond).

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end system testing across Skylo’s global network platform, spanning RAN infrastructure, 3GPP-based cloud-native core networks, back-office and provisioning systems, and integrations with customer and MNO partner networks
• Lead a high-performing global team by managing performance through OKRs and KPIs, remaining technically engaged in diagnosing complex system failures and building a culture of innovation and reliability across multiple time zones.
• Define and drive Skylo’s system test strategy to establish a consistent, data-driven view of test coverage, automation efficiency, and bug escape prevention across engineering teams.
• Envision, design, and scale Skylo's worldwide system test architecture and lab strategy — maintaining hybrid test environments that span physical devices, satellite channel emulators, and cloud-based automation agents to enable thorough pre-production validation of NTN-specific behaviors.
• Maintain traceability between product requirements, test coverage, and release acceptance criteria to ensure complete validation of customer-facing services.
• Drive company-wide frameworks and standards for quality, test automation, validation infrastructure, and defect escape prevention, ensuring consistent approaches to tooling, coverage, and release readiness across engineering teams.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation packages including a stock option based equity program.
• Comprehensive benefits including medical, dental, vision, and retirement plan.
• Monthly allowances for wellness and education reimbursement.
• A generous time off policy, holidays.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director