Senior/Staff Verification & Validation Engineer

Who we are:

Glydways is reimagining what public transit can be. We believe that mobility is the gateway to opportunity—connecting people to housing, education, employment, commerce, and care. By making transportation more accessible, affordable, and sustainable, we empower communities to thrive and unlock economic and social prosperity.

Our mission is to revolutionize transit with a solution that delivers high capacity, exceptional user experiences, unmatched affordability, and minimal environmental impact.

The Glydways system is a groundbreaking network of carbon-neutral, interconnected transit pathways powered by standardized autonomous vehicles on dedicated roadways. Operating 24/7 with on-demand access, it offers personalized and efficient mobility—without the burden of heavy upfront infrastructure costs or ongoing taxpayer subsidies.

With Glydways, we’re building more than a transportation system; we’re creating a future where everyone, everywhere, has the freedom to move.

Meet the team:

At Glydways, the Test Engineering team is responsible for proving that our integrated autonomous transit system is safe, reliable, and ready for real-world operation.

We work across autonomy, vehicle hardware, embedded software, systems engineering, safety, infrastructure, operations, manufacturing, quality, and deployment teams. Our work spans simulation, lab testing, vehicle testing, test-track operations, production acceptance, and project-site commissioning.

This role focuses on turning requirements and operational scenarios into repeatable system tests, including tests that prove new features work as intended and End-of-Line (EOL) tests that confirm vehicles or configured items are ready before release, shipment, rework closure, or deployment.

Role Overview:

We are seeking a System Test Engineer who can develop rigorous, repeatable tests for integrated autonomous transit behavior and production acceptance.

This role is ideal for someone who can translate product goals, safety needs, operational concepts, and system requirements into concrete test scenarios, executable procedures, measurable pass/fail criteria, and clear technical conclusions. You will help build the bridge between engineering intent and demonstrated system evidence.

You will work on scenario-based testing for integrated system behavior as well as End-of-Line (EOL) and post-rework testing for vehicles, subsystems, and configured assets. You should be comfortable working hands-on with vehicles, logs, test procedures, issue records, requirements, and cross-functional teams.

We are open to candidates across a range of experience levels, from strong mid-level engineers through staff-level technical leaders. Scope and title will be calibrated based on experience. More senior candidates will be expected to own larger test suites, improve test strategy and process, mentor others, and represent test evidence in readiness and release discussions.

This role will include hands-on work at Glydways test facilities, vehicle facilities, and project deployment sites. Regular travel or on-site presence should be expected for major test campaigns, production acceptance activities, commissioning, and safety-critical release demonstrations.

Responsibilities:

• Deliver test reports for system verification and validation
• Develop system-level test scenarios, procedures, and acceptance criteria for autonomous transit features, operational workflows, degraded modes, and safety-relevant behaviors.
• Create and maintain repeatable End-of-Line (EOL), production acceptance, and post-rework test procedures for vehicles, subsystems, and configured assets.
• Execute and oversee tests across simulation, lab, vehicle, test-track, production, and project-site environments.
• Ensure test cases are traceable to requirements, operational scenarios, safety needs, product expectations, and customer acceptance criteria.
• Define clear pass/fail criteria and ensure results are captured with the configuration, logs, observations, and evidence needed for future review.
• Analyze logs, telemetry, dashboards, and field observations to determine test outcomes, identify anomalies, and support root-cause analysis.
• Track test failures from discovery through closure, including issue classification, impact assessment, regression scope, and verification of fixes.
• Improve test procedures, checklists, data capture, dashboards, and reporting workflows so tests become more repeatable, scalable, and efficient.
• Support readiness reviews by preparing evidence on configuration status, prerequisite completion, approved procedures, safety controls, and open issue disposition.
• Collaborate closely with systems engineering, safety, autonomy, embedded software, vehicle engineering, manufacturing, quality, operations, and deployment teams.
• Build lightweight tools, scripts, dashboards, or test utilities when existing tools are not sufficient for the test work.

Ideal Candidate:

• Can turn ambiguity into clarity: drive vague, high-level needs into concrete scenarios, test steps, pass/fail criteria, and release evidence.
• Has strong follow-through: closes the last 5% by cleaning up evidence, resolving ambiguity, documenting decisions, and leaving work in a reusable state.
• Thinks in systems: understands how software, hardware, controls, sensors, networks, operators, and procedures combine into real-world behavior.
• Communicates clearly and proactively: chooses the right medium and level of detail for the audience, creates durable artifacts when needed, and helps cross-functional teams align around complex technical problems.
• Is hands-on and data-driven: comfortable at the test track, around vehicles, in logs, in Python, and in issue-tracking and requirements tools.
• Enjoys building practical tools and improving processes when that makes the test program more effective.
• Learns quickly and willingly adapts to new tools, workflows, and technical domains when the work requires it.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Robotics, Aerospace, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 4+ years of experience in system test, systems integration, product validation, verification and validation, manufacturing test, autonomous systems, robotics, transportation, aerospace, automotive, medical devices, industrial automation, or other complex hardware/software systems.
• Experience developing or executing system-level, integration-level, production acceptance, or End-of-Line (EOL) tests, including scenario design, test procedures, acceptance criteria, execution, analysis, and reporting.
• Strong understanding of requirements-based testing, test coverage, evidence quality, configuration control, and disciplined defect management.
• Ability to analyze logs, telemetry, test data, and system behavior using tools such as Python, dashboards, log viewers, notebooks, or equivalent analysis environments.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate across multidisciplinary teams and communicate technical risk, test outcomes, and blockers clearly.

Preferred:

• Experience with autonomous vehicles, automated transit systems, railway systems, robotics, aerospace, automotive Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, or other safety-critical mobility platforms.
• Experience developing production acceptance, End-of-Line (EOL), commissioning, or post-rework verification tests for complex electromechanical systems.
• Familiarity with hardware-in-the-loop testing, software-in-the-loop testing, simulation frameworks, automated regression frameworks, or continuous integration-driven test execution.
• Experience with requirements, issue-tracking, or lifecycle tools such as Jama, DOORS, Polarion, Systems Modeling Language, Jira, GitHub, or equivalent tools.
• Experience building reusable test automation, data-analysis tools, dashboards, report-generation workflows, or other practical engineering tools that made a test program more effective.
• Ability to read, modify, or write C/C++ for embedded systems, test harnesses, or low-level debugging.

*This is an in-person position based in Richmond, CA
**The pay range for this position at commencement of employment in California is expected in the range below.

$135,000 - $200,000 USD plus stock options, commensurate with experience.

Glydways provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.