Test Architect - (Aircraft/Avionics, Python, Embedded)
Job Description
Job Title: Test Architect – (Aircraft Onboard Platform & Application Systems)
\n
Department: Quality Engineering / Test Engineering
\n
Location: (onsite) – Hillsboro, OR
\n
Duration: Long-term Contract
\n
\n
Role Summary
\n
We are looking for a hands-on Test Architect to own the end-to-end test strategy for an aircraft-wide, edge-compute application hosting platform spanning hardware, embedded software, connectivity, AI-driven features, and a multi-tenant application ecosystem. This role blends strategic ownership (defining and evolving the detailed test strategy), technical leadership (guiding and mentoring the test team), and hands-on execution (test plan execution and building automation frameworks/scripts). The ideal candidate is equally comfortable authoring a test architecture document and writing automation code.
\n
\n
Key Responsibilities
\n
1. Test Strategy & Architecture
\n
• Own and continuously evolve the platform-wide Test Strategy Document — covering Development/Feature/Functionality , integration, system, performance, connectivity, security, CI/CD, and certification-adjacent testing
\n
• Define the testing approach for each architectural layer ( platform services, application, data/sync) and ensure test coverage scales with architectural risk (e.g., shared-resource isolation, third-party app sandboxing)
\n
• Design the test environment and lab infrastructure strategy, including physical lab, virtualized/simulated environments, and network/connectivity emulation
\n
• Define entry/exit criteria, test levels, and release-gating standards across the test lifecycle
\n
\n
2. Team Leadership & Guidance
\n
• Lead and mentor a cross-functional test team (functional, integration, performance, security, hardware/environmental testers)
\n
• Set technical direction and best practices for test design, execution, and automation across the team
\n
• Review test plans, test cases, and automation scripts authored by team members; provide technical guidance and quality gate sign-off
\n
• Act as the primary technical point of contact between the test team and architecture/engineering stakeholders
\n
\n
3. Test Plan Execution
\n
• Translate the test strategy into detailed, executable test plans per release/sprint
\n
• Plan and coordinate execution across test levels (unit through system/E2E) and test areas (functional, integration, performance, connectivity resilience, security, CI/CD)
\n
• Track test execution progress, defect trends, and coverage metrics; report release readiness to stakeholders
\n
• Drive root-cause analysis and cross-application regression risk assessment for defects found during execution
\n
\n
4. Automation Script Development
\n
• Design and build the automation framework(s) for regression, integration, and performance testing
\n
• Personally develop automation scripts for critical-path and high-risk scenarios (e.g., cross-application resource contention, connectivity resilience under simulated network impairment, CI/CD pipeline validation)
\n
• Integrate automated test suites into the CI/CD pipeline as build/release gates
\n
• Continuously expand automation coverage and reduce manual regression effort over time
\n
\n
5. Traceability & Tooling
\n
• Own the Jira/Xray traceability framework — requirement-to-test-case-to-defect linkage, test plan/test set structuring, and release reporting
\n
• Ensure test evidence is audit-ready, including for certification-adjacent test areas
\n
\n
Required Qualifications
\n
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, or related field (Master's preferred)
\n
• 8+ years in software/systems testing, with at least 2–3 years in a test architect, lead, or principal test engineer capacity
\n
• Proven experience defining test strategy for a complex, multi-component or platform-level system (not just single-application testing)
\n
• Strong hands-on experience building test automation frameworks (not just using existing ones) — e.g., API-level automation, UI automation, performance/load testing tools
\n
• Practical experience with CI/CD pipelines and integrating automated tests as pipeline gates
\n
• Strong working knowledge of Jira + Xray (or equivalent test management/traceability tooling)
\n
• Solid understanding of networking concepts — connectivity resilience, degraded/intermittent network conditions, and network testing tools/emulators
\n
• Experience with multi-tenant / shared-resource systems and the isolation, security, and contention-testing challenges they introduce
\n
• Strong programming/scripting ability for automation (e.g., Python, Java, or similar) and API/test-tool scripting
\n
• Excellent written communication skills — able to author clear, structured strategy and planning documents
\n
\n
Preferred / Nice-to-Have
\n
• Experience in avionics, aerospace, automotive, or other safety-adjacent regulated industries, particularly with DO-178C / DO-160 or equivalent certification-linked testing standards
\n
• Experience testing edge-computing — systems that must operate reliably with intermittent/constrained connectivity
\n
• Experience testing platforms with an open developer/SDK ecosystem (third-party or partner-developed applications running on shared infrastructure)
\n
• Familiarity with AI/ML system testing — validating AI-generated outputs, accuracy/drift monitoring, and testing local/edge AI inference
\n
• Prior experience standing up a test program from early stage (as opposed to only maintaining an established one)
\n
\n
Key Competencies
\n
• Strategic + hands-on balance: equally credible writing architecture-level strategy and personally writing automation code
\n
• Cross-functional leadership: able to guide a team while also collaborating closely with software architects, developers, and certification/compliance stakeholders
\n
• Risk-based thinking: able to prioritize test investment based on architectural risk (e.g., shared blast radius, third-party app unpredictability) rather than treating all areas equally
\n
• Clear communicator: able to translate complex technical test status into clear risk/readiness reporting for leadership
\n
• Ownership mindset: comfortable being the accountable owner of test strategy and quality outcomes, not just an execution resource
\n
\n
What Success Looks Like
\n
• A validated, internally-accurate Test Strategy Document owned and maintained by this role
\n
• A functioning core regression automation suite integrated into the CI/CD pipeline
\n
• A properly configured Jira/Xray traceability structure with clear requirement coverage reporting
\n
• A test team operating against clear entry/exit criteria