Engineering Manager, Hardware Validation

Applied Intuition • Sunnyvale, CA

1d • Onsite

About The Position

Applied Intuition is hiring a Manager of Hardware System Validation to build and lead a new hardware system validation department. The role owns hardware validation and reliability testing across the company's automotive, trucking, defense, construction, mining, and agriculture products. The manager will build and scale a multidisciplinary team spanning electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, software automation, and systems engineering, while working directly with external automotive and defense customers. The team will ensure hardware meets strict quality and performance targets through rigorous validation processes and automated testing.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
• 10 or more years of experience in hardware system validation, testing, and reliability engineering.
• 5 or more years of experience leading and managing cross-functional technical teams, including electrical, mechanical, automation, and systems engineers.
• Mixed product background spanning consumer electronics and one or more of automotive, trucking, defense, construction, mining, or agriculture.
• Deep expertise defining hardware system test requirements, environmental reliability tests, and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) validation setups.
• Hands-on coding proficiency in Python, C++, or scripting languages for test automation, data analysis, and hardware control.

Nice To Haves

• Hands-on experience shipping high-complexity hardware in both early-stage startup (0 to 1) and mass-production environments.
• Familiarity with automotive reliability standards such as ISO 16750 and AEC-Q100, or MIL-STD environmental testing protocols.
• Strong commitment to customer success and raising technical quality bars across complex hardware platforms.

Responsibilities

• Build the hardware system validation function from 0 to 1 and scale it cross-functionally.
• Define, architect, and execute system test plans and reliability validation processes across hardware products.
• Hire and direct a validation engineering team across electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, software automation, and systems engineering.
• Work with external customers to translate operational requirements into rigorous hardware validation test specifications.
• Ensure physical AI hardware products meet electrical, mechanical, environmental, and system-level KPIs.
• Develop automated test execution scripts and software pipelines to streamline test coverage and hardware validation cycles.

What This Job Offers

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