Staff Engineer - System Test

Ambiq Micro • Austin, TX

1d • Onsite

About The Position

Ambiq is seeking a Staff Engineer, System Test to provide technical leadership for system-level test strategy and automation across Ambiq MCU platforms. The role owns improvements to the regression framework and helps ensure system tests are reliable, repeatable, and effective at finding issues early. It covers embedded firmware, test infrastructure, lab equipment, and data analysis, supporting pre-silicon platforms such as FPGA or emulation and post-silicon evaluation boards. The engineer will lead complex test and debug efforts, convert recurring manual work into maintainable automation, communicate findings clearly, and help other engineers improve test quality and efficiency. The position guides regression and automation infrastructure, develops system tests and instrument-control workflows, analyzes results, drives root-cause investigations, mentors engineers, and contributes to the team's long-term system test methodology. This is an on-site role five days a week in NW Austin, Texas. Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States for any employer; employment visa sponsorship or takeover of sponsorship is not available.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
• At least 6 years of relevant experience with a Master's degree, or 8 years with a Bachelor's degree, in embedded systems, system testing, validation, or related engineering work.
• Strong Python programming experience for test automation and C or C++ experience for embedded software and test development.
• Demonstrated experience developing or maintaining automated regression systems, including test execution, result handling, failure analysis, and ongoing framework improvement.
• Hands-on experience automating laboratory instruments or measurement equipment.
• Strong understanding of MCU architecture and embedded systems, including interrupts, DMA, memory, power or clock control, and peripheral interfaces such as SPI, I2C, UART, or USB.
• Experience debugging embedded systems in a laboratory using equipment such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, power analyzers, or debug probes.
• Experience with an RTOS such as FreeRTOS or Zephyr, source control such as Git, and issue tracking and collaboration tools.
• Ability to lead technical investigations, manage multiple priorities, mentor engineers, and communicate clearly with global cross-functional teams.
• Must be currently authorized to work in the United States for any employer; Ambiq does not sponsor or take over sponsorship of employment visas for this role.

Nice To Haves

• Familiarity with instrument-control interfaces and protocols such as SCPI, VISA, or PyVISA.
• Experience with relational databases or SQL, test-data schemas, or data-analysis and reporting pipelines.
• Experience with pre-silicon validation, FPGA or emulation platforms, silicon bring-up, or MCU SDK testing.
• Experience using AI tools such as Cursor or OpenAI's Codex to develop test code or debug issues.

Responsibilities

• Define test coverage and execute system-level testing across Ambiq MCU platforms and SDK releases.
• Architect, develop, and maintain regression and test automation frameworks using Python or other scripting languages, including orchestration, board and target control, result collection, reporting, failure triage, and CI or automation workflow integration.
• Design, implement, and debug embedded test cases for MCU subsystems and peripherals using C and assembly where appropriate.
• Automate laboratory instruments and measurement workflows for repeatable system characterization and regression testing, including setup, control, data capture, and recovery behavior.
• Improve test result storage, traceability, querying, and reporting to support run comparisons, trend identification, and failure investigation.
• Lead system-level debugging across firmware, drivers, SoC blocks, evaluation boards, and lab setups; document root cause, evidence, and recommended corrective actions.
• Collaborate with software, validation, architecture, and hardware teams to define test requirements, acceptance criteria, and coverage priorities for new features and platforms.
• Support pre-silicon testing on FPGA or emulation platforms and post-silicon bring-up, validation, and regression on evaluation boards.
• Mentor engineers in test design, automation, debugging, and laboratory practices, and promote reusable tools and continuous improvement.

What This Job Offers

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