Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) – Consumer Hardware Devices

The SDET – Consumer Hardware Devices is a software-and-hardware-fluent engineer responsible for the design, ownership, and operation of consumer hardware device farm and testing laboratory, and for building the engineering-grade automated test infrastructure that validates the company's consumer hardware product line. Drawing on a foundation in Electrical Engineering, this role bridges hardware understanding and software engineering to create sophisticated test frameworks, harnesses, and automation pipelines that enable continuous, reliable qualification of firmware, software, and hardware across development and release cycles. This role works in close partnership with the Service Operations Support Administrator – Consumer Hardware Quality Control, who focuses on evaluation and triage of devices returned from the field. The SDET operates upstream — defining test architecture, owning the lab and device farm, and delivering the tooling and frameworks that both teams depend on.

Responsibilities

Owns, designs, and administers the consumer hardware device farm and testing laboratory, including infrastructure architecture, device inventory, test fixture and jig design, bench instrumentation, power and signal measurement tooling, network topology, environmental configurations, and lab access governance; Establishes and enforces lab standards, safety protocols, and operational policies; Designs, builds, and maintains scalable automated test frameworks for consumer hardware and firmware validation, including test harnesses, simulators, mocks, stubs, and testability hooks; Selects and implements automation tooling appropriate to Android-based consumer hardware environments (e.g., Android CTS/VTS, ADB, Espresso, instrumentation frameworks, or equivalent); Integrates device-level automated test suites into CI/CD pipelines to enable continuous hardware and firmware qualification across the engineering development cycle; Maintains pipeline configurations, test triggers, and result reporting infrastructure; Leads engineering-level validation of new and updated consumer hardware platforms and firmware builds, covering functional, performance, reliability, stress, regression, and compliance testing; Defines and owns pass/fail criteria, entry/exit gates, and engineering release readiness checklists; Applies Electrical Engineering knowledge to design tests that validate hardware behavior at the signal, power, and interface level — including GPIO behavior, power sequencing, I2C/SPI bus integrity, RF performance, audio signal path, and peripheral interfacing; Uses bench instrumentation (oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, spectrum analyzers, multimeters) as needed; Designs and engineers User Acceptance Testing (UAT) environments, frameworks, and tooling used across product and service release cycles; Partners with the Service Operations Support Administrator, who executes UAT procedures within these environments, to ensure test environments accurately reflect production conditions; Engineers test plans and procedures supporting FCC, CE, and UL compliance certification efforts; Works with external test labs and internal engineering teams to ensure hardware designs are validated against applicable regulatory requirements prior to submission; Leads root cause analysis (RCA) for hardware and firmware defects identified during prerelease validation, engineering escalations, and field quality reviews; Partners with the Service Operations Support Administrator — who surfaces field-observed failure trends and assists in RCA activities — to close the loop between field performance and engineering quality; Authors and maintains engineering-level test plans, test specifications, requirements traceability matrices, automated test case libraries, and test reports; Manages pass/fail criteria and quality metrics within designated engineering systems (e.g., Jira, TestRail, or equivalent); Partners with Engineering, Product Management, Manufacturing, and IT to embed quality practices into the product development lifecycle; Represents the engineering quality perspective in hardware design reviews, sprint planning, and release readiness discussions; Establishes, tracks, and reports on engineering quality KPIs including test coverage, defect escape rates, automation coverage, and release readiness; Uses data to drive continuous improvement of QA processes, tooling, and infrastructure; Leads engineering qualification of new device platforms and hardware configurations, including initial bring-up testing, capability baseline establishment, and validation of APK, SDK, and OS-level integrations on new silicon or board revisions; Performs other duties and responsibilities as assigned

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering is required (equivalent combinations of education and highly relevant work experience will be considered); A minimum of four (4) years of experience in an SDET, QA Engineering, or hardware validation engineering role, with demonstrated ownership of test automation infrastructure and test strategy; Hands-on experience owning or operating a hardware device farm or testing laboratory, including device inventory management, fixture/jig design, bench instrumentation, and lab infrastructure administration; Proficiency in one or more programming or scripting languages used for test automation (e.g., Python, Java, Kotlin, Bash) and demonstrated experience building and maintaining automated test frameworks from scratch; Demonstrated experience building testability hooks, mocks, simulators, stubs, and test harnesses for embedded or consumer hardware products; Proficiency with Android OS, ADB, APK/SDK testing methodologies, and Android CTS/VTS or equivalent instrumentation frameworks; Experience integrating device-level test automation into CI/CD pipelines (e.g., Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Bitrise, or equivalent); Practical experience using bench instrumentation including oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, multimeters, and spectrum analyzers for hardware-level validation; Working knowledge of hardware interfaces and protocols relevant to consumer electronics (e.g., I2C, SPI, UART, USB, GPIO, RF fundamentals); Proficiency with VoIP, TCP/IP, DHCP, DNS, and network-level testing concepts relevant to consumer communications devices; Experience authoring engineering-level test plans, test specifications, and traceability documentation; Demonstrated ability to lead root cause analysis and drive defect resolution across engineering and manufacturing stakeholders; Strong verbal and written communication skills with the ability to translate technical quality findings for cross-functional audiences; Self-starter with strong organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced product development environment; Demonstrated ability to use discretion, make sound decisions, and maintain confidentiality; Reliable and predictable attendance; Willingness and ability to work flexible hours as needed; Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and modern collaboration tools (e.g., Microsoft Teams, Slack, Jira, Confluence)

Nice to have

Concentration or coursework in embedded systems, signal processing, hardware design, or telecommunications; Experience with PSTN and VoIP-based consumer hardware devices in a telecommunications or accessibility technology context; Familiarity with FCC, CE, and UL compliance certification requirements and test processes; Experience with event monitoring and observability platforms (e.g., Firebase, Datadog, Count.ly) in a quality or validation context; Android CTS, ISTQB, or equivalent QA/test engineering certifications; Experience in accessibility technology or regulated communications products; Familiarity with ITIL/ITSM frameworks as they apply to coordinating quality processes with service operations teams

Benefits

Weekly Direct Deposit; 401K Matching; Competitive medical, dental and vision insurance; Consistent communication throughout your project; ZeekTek Referral Program