Test Automation Engineer, Hardware-in-the-Loop

Employer description

Hadrian - Manufacturing the FutureHadrian is building autonomous factories to reindustrialize America. By combining AI, advanced software, robotics, and full-stack manufacturing, we help aerospace and defense companies build rockets, satellites, aircraft, ships, and other mission-critical systems up to 10x faster and at significantly lower cost.

Following our $1.37B Series D at a $7.87B valuation, Hadrian is rapidly expanding our manufacturing footprint, launching new capabilities across welding, casting, forging, electronics, additive manufacturing, and more, while scaling our Factory-as-a-Service platform to transform how critical products are built.

Backed by leading investors including JPMorgan Chase, Valor Equity Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, 137 Ventures, Lux Capital, T. Rowe Price, and Morgan Stanley, we’re building the future of American manufacturing—and looking for exceptional people to help make it happen.

If you’re ready to take on the most challenging and rewarding work of your career while helping create American manufacturing jobs for generations to come, you’re exactly who we’re looking for.

The Role

Applied Physical Systems is a small, cross-functional engineering team at Hadrian. We build technology that spans more than one manufacturing capability, needs hardware and software designed together, and can’t be bought off the shelf. We take a solution from proof of concept through prototype to a first production-ready version, then hand it to the teams that run it at scale. Engineers on the team design, build and commission their own systems on the factory floor.

You will build the test infrastructure that lets engineers and AI agents check hardware the way software teams check code. Your work will span designing and wiring test stands, writing the frameworks and CI that run them, and analyzing results from unattended test campaigns. You will work with the mechatronics, robotics, firmware and controls engineers whose systems run on your benches, and with software teams on CI and test data. You will also decide which questions need the bench and which ones simulation can answer.

 What You’ll Do

Design and build hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test stands for robots, end effectors, sensors and machine subsystems

Build test frameworks, including instrument and device control, fixtures, stimulus, results schema and dashboards

Add bench tests to CI so that firmware and hardware changes run on real hardware before release

Build safe interfaces for AI agents to run tests and experiments on real hardware

Run unattended, repeatable test campaigns and report results with their statistical confidence

Decide which questions simulation can answer and which ones need the bench

Keep test infrastructure running as a service that other teams depend on

Support integration and acceptance testing of new automation before it reaches production

 What We’re Looking For

Bachelor’s degree in electrical, computer or mechanical engineering, or a related field

Strong electrical fundamentals, including bench instruments, wiring and electrical safety

Strong software engineering in Python, including test frameworks, CI and version control

Systems engineering fundamentals, including tracing requirements to tests and managing interfaces

Experience instrumenting hardware with sensors, including selection, mounting and calibration

Experience with data acquisition, including sampling, triggering and time synchronization

Experience flashing, debugging and testing firmware on microcontrollers

Experience integrating and validating electromechanical systems

Experience building automated test stands or HIL systems end to end, including instrument control over SCPI, serial, CAN or Ethernet

Heavy daily use of AI tools and agents, with experience reviewing and verifying outputs for quality and completeness

 What Will Set You Apart

Breaking open-ended validation problems into staged experiments

Mechanical design of fixtures and test cells

Control fundamentals for motion stages and closed-loop test fixtures

Statistical analysis or machine learning on test data

Integrating motors, drives and sensors into test equipment

Programming industrial robots used inside test cells

Machine vision for measurement or inspection on a test stand

Defining software and hardware interfaces for shared infrastructure

 Compensation

For this role, the target salary range is $268,000 - $321,000 (actual range may vary based on experience).

This is the lowest to highest salary we reasonably and in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range, and the range may be modified in the future. An employee’s pay position within the salary range will be based on several factors, including, but not limited to, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, performance, and business or organizational needs.

Benefits for Full-time EmployeesMedical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans for employees
401k

Relocation support may be provided for certain situations, based on business need.

Flexible vacation policy

Equity

 ITAR RequirementsTo conform to U.S. Government export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen or national, lawful permanent resident, protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.

 Use of AI in hiringHadrian uses AI-assisted tools in our recruiting and hiring processes to help our team work more efficiently. This may include tools that help organize and analyze recruiting data, as well as an AI-powered notetaker that can record and transcribe interviews and help coordinate feedback. These tools support our team and are not used to make hiring decisions. All candidate evaluations and hiring decisions are performed by humans. If an interview will be recorded, you will be notified in advance and may opt out at any time with no impact on your candidacy. Candidate data processed through these tools is subject to the same protections described in our Privacy Policy.

 Consideration of Criminal HistoryHadrian will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of all applicable laws. We do not ask about criminal history on our application, and we do not consider criminal history before making a conditional offer of employment.

 Hadrian Is An Equal Opportunity EmployerHadrian does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, marital status, mental status, physical disability or any other legally protected status. When necessary, the Company also makes reasonable accommodations for disabled candidates and employees, including for candidates or employees who are disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.