QA Engineer Maritime Systems (all genders)

STARK is a European defence technology company founded in 2023 specialising in the development and production of advanced UAV and USV systems for modern military operations. Our flagship platform Virtus is a next-generation VTOL loitering munition system and we are rapidly expanding our software and autonomy capabilities to deploy Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs) for maritime surveillance and security.

Were focused on delivering deployable high-performance systemsnot future a time of rising threats STARK is bolstering the technological edge of NATO Allies and their Partners to deter aggression and defend Europetoday.

Minerva is STARKs command and control software the brain that connects operators to autonomous systems across multiple domains in real time. The Minerva team is a small senior software group based across the UK Germany Greece & Ukraine working directly with our systems and hardware teams to build mission-critical C2 capabilities deployed in active operational environments.

We move fast ship real software and operate under constraints most engineers never encounter low-bandwidth networks air-gapped devices and high-stakes decision loops. There is no room for abstraction for its own sake. Everything we build ends up in the hands of real operators in the field.

• Test Strategy & Execution:Develop and maintain test plans scripts integration procedures and safety checklists for embedded marine solutions.

• Diagnostics & Defect Localization:Perform hardware/software diagnostics defect localization and root-cause analysis on physical prototype boats.

• System Integration Testing:Validate how pure software components interface and integrate with marine autopilots thrusters steering systems and payload hardware.

• Interface Protocols:Test and verify communication interfaces and protocols (MAVLink RS485 TCP/IP RTSP video streaming) as part of diagnostics and system verification.

• Marine Safety Validation:Verify critical safety-critical fail-safe mechanisms including remote emergency shutdowns geolocation geofencing and offline update/recovery systems.

• Loop Testing Support:Help setup maintain and run tests in Software-in-the-Loop (SITL) and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HITL) test environments.

• Collaboration:Interact closely with software development systems and field flight/marine testing teams to log track and eliminate errors in a timely manner.

• Documentation:Prepare clear testing reports bug reports and product stability/safety reviews in Jira and Confluence.

• Minimum of 3 years of experience in hardware testing hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing or embedded systems QA.

• Strong understanding of software testing theory (functional integration system regression) combined with hands-on hardware troubleshooting.

• Experience working with embedded communication protocols (MAVLink CAN RS485 etc.).

• Strong knowledge of Linux systems and experience writing test scripts in Bash and/or Python.

• Familiarity with test management tools (Jira Confluence) and version control (Git).

• Basic understanding of electronics multimeters and laboratory diagnostics equipment.

• Ability to write clear structured test documentation and reports in English.

• Willingness and ability to work on physical boats during harbor/sea trials and in field-testing environments.

• Prior experience in marine robotics maritime autopilots USVs UAVs or marine electronics.

• A valid marine boating license or experience with outdoor maritime testing operations.