Vice President, Test Engineering

Hadrian Automation•Los Angeles, CA

16d•$300,000 - $350,000

About The Position

Hadrian is building autonomous factories that help aerospace and defense companies manufacture rockets, satellites, jets, and ships up to 10x faster and up to 2x cheaper. By combining advanced software, robotics, and full-stack manufacturing, we are reinventing how America produces its most critical parts. We recently raised a $260 million Series C to accelerate this mission. We are excited to be launching a new factory in Mesa, Arizona—a 270,000-square-foot facility that will create 350 new jobs immediately. We are opening a new headquarters to support thousands of future hires, launching Hadrian Maritime to serve naval production, and introducing a Factory-as-a-Service model that delivers complete systems instead of individual parts. Hadrian works with startups, Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers, and major defense contractors across space, shipbuilding, and aviation to scale production, reduce costs, and accelerate delivery on mission-critical programs. We are backed by leading investors including Lux Capital, Founders Fund, and Andreessen Horowitz. Our fast-growing team is united by a shared mission to reindustrialize American manufacturing for the 21st century and beyond! As Vice President of Test Engineering, you will define and lead the organization’s end-to-end test engineering strategy across development, qualification, and production. This senior leadership role is responsible for building and scaling test organizations, infrastructure, and processes that support rapid iteration while maintaining high standards of quality, safety, and reliability. You will partner closely with executive leadership and cross-functional teams to ensure testing is a strategic enabler of scalability, operational excellence, and business objectives.

Requirements

Extensive experience in test engineering, integration and test, manufacturing test, or related technical leadership roles
Demonstrated success leading and scaling test organizations in complex, hardware-focused environments
Experience with development, qualification, environmental, acceptance, and production testing of complex systems
Proven ability to build scalable, data-driven test processes and infrastructure
Strong leadership, communication, and cross-functional collaboration skills

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting high-growth or rapidly scaling organizations
Background partnering closely with manufacturing and operations teams
Demonstrated ability to use test data to drive design, quality, and process improvements
Experience mentoring senior technical leaders and developing organizational capability

Responsibilities

Define and execute the vision, strategy, and roadmap for test engineering across the full product and manufacturing lifecycle
Build, lead, and scale multidisciplinary test engineering teams supporting development, integration, qualification, and production
Establish and continuously improve standardized test methodologies, infrastructure, and best practices
Oversee the design, deployment, and operation of test systems, facilities, automation, and data pipelines
Collaborate with engineering, manufacturing, quality, and operations leadership to align test strategy with program and business needs