Principal Test Engineer, Team Lead

Mission Summary:

Motional is seeking a talented leader to join the AV Test Organization to expand Motional Autonomous Vehicle testing capabilities. As the lead of the AV Test Engineering team, you will be responsible for leading all closed course track and public road testing activities, as well as initial troubleshooting of the autonomy software, from development to releasing a safe, driverless product on public roads. The team will also create, maintain and execute test plans designed to verify and validate system requirements and all autonomy capabilities on closed course test track.

You will be collaborating with our TestOps, AV Performance Analysis and Triage teams, as well as supporting our Systems Engineering and Autonomy development. One of the key ingredients of successful software development for an AV is to be able to implement frequent software releases, test on closed course test tracks and public roads, analyze all the data resulting from software iteration, and provide valuable insight to the Autonomy teams in collaboration with the Triage teams. You will be the key player within the company to implement and operate a massive implementation-test-triage iterative cycle covering strategic aspects, management, and operations.

The Motional Las Vegas office is located less than 10 miles from the Las Vegas strip at 730 E Pilot Road, the Las Vegas office is home to one of the largest fleets of self-driving vehicles. The city’s grid system of roads and being one of America’s “smart cities” allows for extensive research and development testing.

What you’ll do:

• Own global on-vehicle, closed course and public road test engineering.
• Ensure compliance with all company, industry, and government testing and safety rules, regulations, and procedures.
• Recruit, motivate, develop, and retain the very best technical talent and collaborate with Leadership during budget and/or project planning to ensure staffing levels are accurately represented.
• Contribute to an environment where people and technology thrive together to accomplish more than they could apart.
• Navigate the complexities of cross-border and/or diverse teams and engagements.
• Provide technical leadership to the team, including coaching and training.
• Initiate open and candid coaching conversations at all levels.
• Be responsible for the professional growth of your team members
• Work cross-functionally with organizations such as Product, Commercial Operations, Enterprise Safety, Autonomy, Systems, and Hardware Engineering.
• Create and improve current processes and systems to support AV testing.
• Position the AV Test Engineering organization for scalable success by achieving Motional OKRs and establishing best-in-the-business testing and safety practices.

What you’ll bring:

• Exceptional organizational and leadership skills.
• Experience leading teams.
• Extensive experience leading real world testing operations in the Autonomous Vehicle space.
• Experience testing safety-critical applications.
• Strong understanding of software development principles. 
• BA in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Science, Robotics, or equivalent knowledge and work experience.
• 10+ years professional experience with 5+ years of experience testing complex systems, robotics and/or autonomous vehicles.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced tech environment with plans for significant team growth.
• Strong communication skills, with an expectation to lead discussions and presentations ranging from small teams to executive briefings.
• Passion for high-level safety guidelines and documentation practices for global standardization.
• Demonstrated problem solving skills and ability to think logically and remove bias from evaluation of problems.
• Experience in using issue tracking, configuration management, and test management tools (such as Atlassian JIRA, Confluence, Git/GitLab, Zephyr Scale)
• Flexible schedule and willing to attend early morning/evening meetings.
• Up to 20% travel may be required for this position.

Bonus Points (not required):

• Good practical understanding of robotics principles: localization, motion planning, CV, behavior prediction, etc.
• Experience in technical writing, technical drawings and documentation of complex software systems.
• Hands on SW development experience.
• Good understanding of industry standards like ISO26262, ISO 21448 and ISO 9001.

Safety Requirements:

Because interfacing with the public and/or other employees in a confined setting is an essential function of the job, Motional currently requires tho