Senior Systems Test Software Engineer
Builds and owns the testing platform for the software running on Saronic's autonomous vessels, unifying Rust unit/property tests, VM integration tests, hardware-in-the-loop rigs, replay and simulation, plus fuzzing and fault injection, into CI-run verification infrastructure. Uses Rust/C++, Python, and NixOS on-site in Austin, TX.
- Compensation
- Not disclosed
- Location
- Austin, TX
- Work setup
- Onsite
- Seniority
- Senior
- Employment
- Full time
- Experience
- 5+ years
- Category
- Software engineering
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- 5+ years professional software engineering experience with substantial ownership of test infrastructure, V&V strategy, or reliability engineering (Senior)
- 8+ years equivalent experience including architecture ownership and cross-functional technical leadership of a verification/test platform (Staff)
- Experience in one or more relevant domains: robotics, autonomous vehicles, distributed systems, embedded software, or networking
- Strong software development skills in Rust and/or C++, with proficiency in Python for test orchestration, data analysis, and CI tooling
- Hands-on experience building and operating one or more of: HITL test rigs, fuzz-testing harnesses, property-based testing suites, deterministic simulation frameworks, or large-scale simulation/replay/
- Treat test infrastructure as a production software codebase with emphasis on maintainability, extensibility, reliability, and usability
- Strong systems intuition: understand unfamiliar components, identify invariants and failure modes, and develop tests that expose defects
- Excellent debugging, troubleshooting, and root-cause analysis skills
- Proactive approach to resolving failures and preventing future defects through better tooling and coverage
- Ability to operate in a fast-paced startup environment
- U.S. Person status required due to access to export-controlled information
Nice to have
- Direct experience with deterministic simulation testing
- Experience designing and operating fuzz-testing infrastructure
- Familiarity with Rust property-testing frameworks such as proptest and quickcheck
- Experience with NixOS testing, Nix flakes, and Cargo-to-Nix integration
- Familiarity with robotics middleware and IPC patterns: ROS/ROS 2, Zenoh, Redis pub/sub, MCAP
- Experience with embedded Linux, low-level serial/hardware protocols, and networking fundamentals (RS-232, CAN, SPI, I2C, TCP/IP, UDP, QUIC, VPNs, PTP/PPS)
- Experience operating CI systems at scale, such as Buildkite or GitHub Actions
- Familiarity with sensor fusion, controls, path planning, or perception evaluation
- Experience in maritime, aerospace, robotics, autonomous systems, or other safety-critical environments
- Familiarity with Department of Defense (DoD) software development standards and regulations
- Bias toward building tools and frameworks that empower engineers to find and diagnose defects independently
Full description
Saronic Technologies is a leader in revolutionizing autonomy at sea, dedicated to developing state-of-the-art solutions that enhance maritime operations through autonomous and intelligent platforms.
Job Overview
Saronic is seeking a Systems Software Test Engineer to own and advance the testing strategy for the software stack running on every Saronic vessel. You will help unify and expand our existing verification capabilities, including Hardware-in-the-Loop (HITL) stations, virtual machine (VM) integration tests, replay-based evaluation, and simulation, into a cohesive, extensible testing platform.
You will also introduce and scale advanced testing methodologies, including property-based testing, protocol and message-bus fuzzing, deterministic simulation, and fault injection for safety-critical state machines.
This is a software engineering role focused on building the infrastructure and tools that give engineers confidence in shipping reliable software to autonomous vessels operating in the open ocean. You will work closely with our autonomy, perception, systems, controls, networking, and infrastructure teams to develop end-to-end validation frameworks that run as native Rust unit and property tests, VM-based integration tests, on physical HITL stations connected to real hardware, and in simulation using captured fleet data.
Your work will directly impact mission reliability by identifying edge cases early, strengthening system-level validation, and ensuring that vessel software is rigorously tested before deployment.
Responsibilities
Test Strategy and Verification Architecture
- Own and drive testing initiatives for Saronic's system software, including the HITL test catalog, station orchestrator, HITL-to-VM bridge framework, and NixOS-based VM integration test suite.
- Design and implement a unified verification strategy that combines Rust unit and property tests, VM-based integration tests, HITL testing, and replay- and simulation-based scenario testing.
- Establish a risk-based testing framework that determines the appropriate test type for each risk class, balancing coverage, execution cost, and confidence.
- Develop reusable testing patterns and infrastructure that enable engineers across the organization to author, extend, and maintain high-quality tests.
Property-Based Testing, Simulation, and Fuzzing
- Expand property-based and deterministic simulation testing across the software stack.
- Develop invariant-based tests for critical components, including planners, trackers, schedulers, state machines, codecs, inter-process communication (IPC) framing, and certificate and identity systems.
- Establish shared invariant-testing patterns that other engineers can readily adopt.