Systems Software Test Engineer

Job Title

Systems Software Test Engineer

Role Summary

Taara is hiring a Systems Software Test Engineer to lead automation and validation of end-to-end systems that control high-precision optical hardware. The role bridges software and hardware teams to ensure real-time software reliably operates on physical devices and in cloud backends.

The team validates embedded firmware, hardware-in-the-loop systems, and cloud integrations to maintain network stability and performance at scale.

Experience Level

Mid-level — typically requires 4+ years of experience in software testing, QA automation, or system validation.

Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities focus on building automated validation frameworks and maintaining repeatable test systems that exercise the full data path from hardware to cloud.

• Design and implement scalable test automation frameworks for embedded software and cloud integrations.
• Develop and maintain Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) test benches to simulate field conditions and exercise real devices.
• Integrate automated tests into CI/CD pipelines to provide quality gates for every build.
• Perform end-to-end validation across physical optical links, embedded systems, and backend monitoring dashboards.
• Create automated regression and performance suites to detect throughput, latency, and stability regressions.
• Triage test failures, reproduce field issues, and collaborate with software and hardware engineers to drive fixes.
• Produce test metrics, reports, and actionable data to improve system reliability.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and experience for successful performance in this role.

• 4+ years of experience in software testing, QA automation, or system validation.
• Proficient in Python for test development and automation.
• Hands-on experience with CI/CD tools such as GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or GitLab CI.
• Proven experience with Hardware-in-the-Loop testing or deploying tests on physical devices (Raspberry Pi, custom PCBs, networking gear).
• Good understanding of networking protocols (TCP/IP, Ethernet, VLANs) and tools (Wireshark, iPerf).
• Ability to work from the Sunnyvale office at least 3 days per week.

Nice-to-have:

• Experience with telecom/ISP protocols (gRPC, SNMP) and network management.
• Experience testing physical layer components (optical sensors, motors, wireless communication).
• Familiarity with Docker/Kubernetes for containerized test environments.
• Data analysis skills using SQL or Python libraries (Pandas/NumPy) to analyze telemetry.
• Experience designing tests that simulate environmental edge cases affecting hardware performance.

Education Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field — or equivalent practical experience.

About the Company

Company: Taara

Headquarters: Sunnyvale, CA, USA

Born at X, Google's Moonshot Factory, Taara develops wireless optical communication systems and photonics chip technologies to deliver high-speed, affordable internet to underserved regions worldwide.