Engineering Manager, Software Test & Automation at Firestorm in San Diego, CA

Job description

Who We Are At Firestorm, we are building the future of expeditionary defense manufacturing and autonomous systems. Modern conflict has exposed a fundamental problem: the systems needed most by operators are often too expensive, too slow to produce, and too difficult to sustain at scale. Firestorm exists to change that. We develop mission-adaptable aerial systems and deployable manufacturing infrastructure designed to put capability directly into the hands of the warfighter. From modular unmanned aircraft to xCell — our deployable microfactory — our goal is to make defense systems rapidly deployable, adaptable, and producible at the point of need. We are looking for builders, operators, and problem-solvers who want to work on meaningful technology with real-world impact. About the Role Firestorm builds modular autonomous aircraft designed to adapt across missions, payloads, and deployment environments. As those capabilities evolve, the software integration and test system has to keep pace. We are hiring an Engineering Manager to lead Software Test & Automation for aircraft software. The team owns end-to-end software integration testing, release test planning and reporting, automated test execution, and the SIL, HIL, and VIL environments used to validate software before flight. You will grow the team, own how aircraft software is tested for release, and build the test capability needed to increase coverage while keeping release cycles fast. What You’ll Do Lead Software Test & Automation — Own the team responsible for aircraft software integration and release testing. Own release testing — Define test plans, coverage, entry and exit criteria, defect disposition, and release reporting. Drive end-to-end integration testing — Validate aircraft behaviors and interfaces across SIL, HIL, VIL, and flight-representative environments. Scale test automation — Increase automated coverage and reduce the time and manual effort required to qualify software releases. Own the test capability roadmap — Identify gaps in environments, tooling, instrumentation, and automation and drive the right solutions. Build reliable test infrastructure — Improve the systems used to configure, execute, observe, and report automated testing. Partner with aircraft software teams — Work across autonomy, embedded software, controls, GCS, systems, simulation, and flight test to identify risk and close integration gaps. Grow the team — Hire and develop engineers with strong software, systems, and test fundamentals. Required Qualifications U.S. Citizenship and ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance 8+ years of software, systems, integration, or test engineering experience 3+ years leading engineering teams Experience owning integration and release testing for complex software-intensive systems Strong experience with test planning, coverage, defect management, and release reporting Experience with SIL, HIL, VIL, simulation, or similar integrated test environments Strong software engineering fundamentals and experience developing test automation or test infrastructure Experience debugging failures across software, interfaces, networks, hardware, and system boundaries Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional test efforts and drive issues to closure Strong written and verbal communication Preferred Qualifications Experience testing autonomous systems, robotics, aircraft, or vehicles Experience with scenario-based system testing and fault injection Experience scaling automated test execution through CI/CD Experience supporting flight software releases and flight test Aerospace, defense, UAS, or safety-critical software experience Work Environment This role is based in San Diego, CA. We welcome candidates who are local or open to relocating; relocation assistance is available and may be included in the offer package where appropriate. Compensation US Salary Range: $175,000 – $220,000 USD The posted salary range reflects an estimate based on