Senior Software Engineer I/II, Test Robotics

Lila Sciences•Cambridge, MA

1d•$144,000 - $240,000

About The Position

Your Impact at LILA You will steward Verification & Validation and software quality for our autonomous labs, where software meets real robotics hardware. On the Independent Verification & Validation team, you'll build the V&V, Hardware-in-the-Loop, and UI testing that lets us ship fast without breaking the lab, partnering with platform, simulation, and human-factors engineers to catch failures in test rather than on the bench. What You'll Be Building Automate the test suites: fast, reliable Python automation — from pytest unit and API coverage to Playwright UI flows — wired into CI/CD (GitHub Actions). Validate against hardware: Hardware-in-the-Loop tests that exercise platform software against real and simulated robotics hardware, integrated with our simulation and digital-twin systems. Own V&V and test planning: verification & validation processes and test plans that map requirements to coverage across the software-to-hardware boundary. Test the interfaces scientists use: UI testing for the internal dashboards and orchestration UIs that drive the factory. Tame nondeterminism: regression and reliability testing that isolates flakiness and keeps signal high as the platform grows. Manage test data: fixtures that make results reproducible and failures diagnosable.

Requirements

Test/QA automation depth: 4–8 years in software test or QA automation for complex, integrated systems.
Automation in Python: hands-on with pytest and a modern UI framework (Playwright); front-end unit testing (Vitest/Jest) a plus.
V&V and test strategy: defining test plans and V&V processes, and reasoning about what to test at which layer.
CI/CD integration: embedding tests into pipelines (GitHub Actions or similar) and keeping them fast and stable.
Integration & HIL mindset: testing across service, UI, and hardware boundaries, including nondeterministic behavior.
Cross-functional communication: working alongside platform and simulation engineers and communicating risk clearly.

Nice To Haves

Hardware-in-the-Loop experience: prior HIL, robotics, or lab automation testing against physical or simulated devices.
Simulation / digital twin: testing software against simulators or digital-twin environments.
Test infrastructure: building test data management, fixtures, or reporting for large suites.
Systems engineering & regulated industries: V&V experience in aerospace, manufacturing, or healthcare/life sciences, and a systems-thinking approach to the software-hardware boundary. Exposure to GAMP 5 / FDA CSA, 21 CFR Part 11, or DO-178C a plus.

Responsibilities

Automate the test suites: fast, reliable Python automation — from pytest unit and API coverage to Playwright UI flows — wired into CI/CD (GitHub Actions).
Validate against hardware: Hardware-in-the-Loop tests that exercise platform software against real and simulated robotics hardware, integrated with our simulation and digital-twin systems.
Own V&V and test planning: verification & validation processes and test plans that map requirements to coverage across the software-to-hardware boundary.
Test the interfaces scientists use: UI testing for the internal dashboards and orchestration UIs that drive the factory.
Tame nondeterminism: regression and reliability testing that isolates flakiness and keeps signal high as the platform grows.
Manage test data: fixtures that make results reproducible and failures diagnosable.