Autonomy Test Engineer

About the role

As an Autonomy Test Engineer, you will own the verification of our autonomy software on real vessels. You’ll design and execute test scenarios that exercise autonomous behaviors (navigation, collision avoidance, mission planning, fault handling), analyze the resulting data to determine whether the autonomy did the right thing and why, and give the engineering team precise, reproducible findings. Much of the actual testing happens at sea, but the job is evaluating autonomy performance, not operating vessels.

You’ll help bridge the gap between cutting-edge R&D and mission-proven capability, ensuring our autonomous surface vehicles are performant, reliable, and safe in the most demanding environments on Earth.

At Applied, you will:

• Design test scenarios and test cards that exercise specific autonomy behaviors and edge cases, with clear pass/fail criteria

• Execute on-water test events, participating in sorties aboard test and chase vessels while monitoring autonomy performance against expected behavior

• Analyze sortie data (logs, telemetry, sensor data) to characterize autonomy performance and isolate root causes of anomalies across perception, planning, control, and hardware

• Reproduce field anomalies in simulation and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HITL) environments, and build regression tests so fixes stay fixed

• Identify, document, and triage system discrepancies in Atlassian Jira with enough detail and reproducibility for autonomy and hardware engineers to act on

• Contribute to test plans, test procedures, and test readiness reviews under the direction of the Test & Evaluation Director

• Author clear, comprehensive test reports and after action reports that capture results, observations, and recommendations

• Support pre-underway system checkouts and launch and recovery operations alongside the marine operations team

We're looking for someone who has:

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant engineering discipline (e.g., Systems, Electrical, Mechanical, Ocean), Computer Science, or a related technical field, or equivalent hands-on experience

• 2+ years of experience in test or systems integration engineering for complex, software-intensive systems

• Hands-on experience testing or validating autonomous or robotic systems (air, ground, sea, or simulation), including designing test cases and evaluating system behavior against requirements

• Experience analyzing test data (logs, telemetry, sensor data) using tools such as Python, MATLAB, or similar

• Experience with simulation-based, software-in-the-loop (SIL), or HITL testing

• Experience with agile program management tooling such as Atlassian Jira

• Strong technical writing skills, with the ability to draft clear test reports and after action reports

• Comfort and demonstrated ability working on vessels offshore for extended periods, in potentially harsh conditions

• Willingness and ability to travel up to 40% of the time, including significant time offshore on vessels of various sizes

Travel Requirements:

• Based in San Diego, CA

• Up to 40% travel, including rotations offshore

Security Requirements:

• Must be a U.S. Citizen

• Must hold or be eligible for a U.S. Secret security clearance

Nice to have:

• Direct, hands-on experience with Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) or Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs)

• Experience with on-deck maritime operations, including vessel handling, launch and recovery, and working with pier-side and port service partners; USCG credentials or small boat qualifications are a plus

• Familiarity with marine electronics, RF communications, GPS/GNSS, and shipboard sensor systems

• Experience supporting government test programs, particularly with the U.S. Navy

Compensation at Applied Intuition for eligible roles includes base salary, equity, and benefits. Base salary is a single component of the total compensation package, which may also include equity in the form of options and/or restricted stock units, comprehensive health, dental, vision, life and disability insurance coverage, 401k retirement benefits with employer match, learning and wellness stipends, and paid time off. Note that benefits are subject to change and may vary based on jurisdiction of employment.

Please reference the job posting subtitle for where this position will be located. For pay transparency purposes, the base salary range for this full-time position in the location listed is: $145,000 to $190,000 USD annually.