QA Software Hardware Test Engineer

Job Title: QA Software Hardware Test Engineer

Location of role: On-site at least initially. The role involves physical products that need to be in hand with some remote possible maybe 1 to 2 days a week but mostly on-site-first role.

Salary $70000 $90000 base Depending on experience DOE

Key Points of the role:

ROLE SUMMARY

QA / Software Test Engineer - not a QA Manager not a pure hardware test role. This is a hands-on individual contributor who will build testing capability incrementally alongside a small collaborative team.


WHAT THE ROLE ACTUALLY IS

Primary function: black-box functional testing of physical products (timing instruments clocks servers) - does the unit meet spec does it behave correctly does it do what a customer expects it to do.

Software testing is the center of gravity. Hardware is in the picture but as context not specialty.

Experience:
- Has done software testing before in a real job on real products
- Has tested physical products / instruments (preferred over software-only applications)
- Comfortable picking up a device plugging it in running it through its paces against a spec
- Has worked in a small team or has assisted a QA lead - understands what structured testing looks like without needing to run it yet
- Exposure to test planning test case documentation defect logging
- Curious about automation without being a zealot about it

Mindset:
- Genuinely likes QA - this is a career path for them not a fallback
- Human curiosity is the core skill: the ability to think like a user or a customer and find what engineers dont find
- Practical not theoretical - not trying to build a CMMI Level 3 program on day one
- Comfortable in ambiguity - there is no playbook yet
- Wants to be part of building something not just executing against an established process

Culture fit:
- Lives reasonably close to the St. Charles / west St. Louis metro area
- Collaborative low-ego

WHAT DOES NOT FIT

- Pure hardware test / validation engineers - theres an engineer for that
- QA Managers who want to write test plans and organize processes to manage in a team are the the one. There is no team.
- Automation specialists who lead with tooling and frameworks - the team isnt there yet
- Candidates who have only tested software applications that dont have a physical component unless there is a compelling draw.

Company relocation - At this time client will NOT relocate for this role

Company sponsorship - At this time client will NOT sponsor for this role

Travel: This role may require 0% travel

Duration of role: Direct hire Role - Fulltime

Job Description Details:

If applying for this role - Please take each key point and provide number of years experience and what you would rate yourself 1 thru 10 (10 being expert) for each key point. Send your resume and notes on the role to expediate our recruiting services.