Hardware Test Automation Engineer

About Sesame

Sesame believes in a future where computers are lifelike - with the ability to see hear and collaborate with us in ways that feel natural and human. With this vision were designing a new kind of computer focused on making voice agents part of our daily lives. Our team brings together founders from Oculus and Ubiquity6 alongside proven leaders from Meta Google and Apple with deep expertise spanning hardware and software. Join us in shaping a future where computers truly come alive.

About the Role

Sesame is building Cypress a wearable AI hardware device that brings our voice companion into the physical world. Were standing up our hardware quality function from the ground up and were looking for our first dedicated Hardware Test Automation Engineer to build the automation backbone for the program. Youll design and own an automated test rig a rack of devices wired into our CI/CD pipeline that on every firmware change builds flashes runs the test suite and generates reports automatically. Youll establish nightly stability runs weekly stress runs and long-duration audio sessions and youll build the live performance and stress dashboard that becomes the teams shared source of truth for quality. Your metrics will gate releases and back the performance story we tell investors and customers.

This is a high-ownership high-visibility role at the firmware/wireless/hardware boundary on a small team that moves fast. Youll partner closely with the firmware team and our hands-on platform tester and youll have visibility and authority across both the firmware and the testbed so the two are built to cooperate.

Initial focus (first 60 days):

• Stand up an automated test framework driven from a programmable Bluetooth central (Android iOS or a Pi-based rig whatever fits) firmware-first then integration-first; even if early runs are short get the foundation in place before Cypress scales.

• Establish nightly (sanity/stability) and weekly (stress) automated runs with extended weekend runs for long-duration audio sessions (e.g. 5-hour and 18-hour using synthetic data).

• Begin a live performance/stress dashboard: A2DP/throughput BT link duration BT latency battery life firmware crash counts and regression flags.

Responsibilities:

• Design build and own an automated hardware test rig integrated with CI/CD (build flash run report) for the Cypress device.

• Implement throughput/bandwidth connectivity stress tests (e.g. iPerf A2DP/AVRCP) including sustained-throughput connection-stability/range testing and simulated degraded-connectivity scenarios.

• Build API-level tests (easier to automate than full end-to-end iOS flows) covering throughput sustained load and crash detection.

• Run long-duration audio session testing (multi-hour synthetic data) and battery/thermal performance characterization (including full discharge cycling).

• Build and maintain a live performance & stress dashboard with defined safety thresholds and target (high-achieving) benchmarks; automatically flag regressions.

• Develop diagnostic tooling and support automated bug triage for hardware/firmware issues.

• Provide daily automation summaries and updates; support ad hoc/cherry-picked test runs when the team needs targeted coverage.

• Partner with firmware (and the QA coordinator) to define what is automated vs. manual API vs. integrated and which platform drives the rig.

Required Qualifications:

• Hands-on experience building hardware/embedded test automation and integrating it into CI/CD (automated flashing execution and reporting).

• Solid wireless/networking fundamentals: Bluetooth audio (A2DP/AVRCP) BLE and throughput testing (e.g. iPerf). You understand what to test not just how to automate.

• Strong scripting/programming (e.g. Python) and the ability to build harnesses and dashboards from scratch.

• Experience defining test plans metrics and pass/fail thresholds from real data.

• Comfort operating in an early-stage prototype hardware environment with limited units and evolving specs.
  

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience owning an automation testbed for a shipping consumer hardware product (wearables audio devices smart cameras IoT).

• Performance instrumentation experience: latency sustained-throughput IPC/cycle-count and thread/core-level tracing on embedded/multi-core platforms.

• Familiarity with Qualcomm chipsets and tooling (e.g. DSP framework PyDebug) and the realities of vendor bug turnaround.

• Experience automating from a programmable Bluetooth central: Android iOS a Pi-based rig or similar; bonus for breadth across more than one.

• Battery and thermal test methodology.

• Experience with sensor/IMU testing and creative physical test setups for connectivity/range.

Sesame is committed to a workplace where everyone feels valued respected and empowered. We welcome all qualified applicants embracing diversity in race gender identity orientation ability and more. We provide reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities. Contact for assistance.

Full-time Employee Benefits:

• 401 (k) max employer match: 3.5% of compensation

• 100% employer-paid health vision and dental benefits for you and your dependents

• Unlimited PTO and sick time

• Flexible spending account with employer matching up to $1650/year (medical FSA)

• Guardian Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

• Opportunity to share in the companys success with competitive stock options

Benefits do not apply to contingent/contract workers.

Required Experience:

IC