Production Test Engineer

TILT Autonomy, Inc. — Annapolis, MD Full-Time | $90,000–$140,000 DOE

About TILT

TILT Autonomy designs and builds the autonomy that runs uncrewed aircraft and boats — the boards, the firmware on them, and the ground software crews command them from. Everything runs on ArduPilot, and we do all of it in house, out of our shop in Annapolis.

We're scaling into rate production, and test is where a large share of the labor per vehicle currently goes.

The Role

Right now, proving a module works takes an engineer, a bench, and some judgment. That is the single most expensive hour in our build, and it is the one that does not scale.

Your job is to make it not require an engineer. You'll turn the checks our team does by instinct into automated test fixtures and acceptance procedures a technician can run in minutes, with an unambiguous pass or fail and a record that survives a program review.

Our hardware already has good bones for this — every TILT module speaks DroneCAN, reports telemetry, and can be scripted through ArduPilot. The built-in self-test story is half-written. You'll finish it.

Then you take it to the water, because a bench that passes and a boat that fails is a test that lied to you.

What You'll Own

Production test - Design and build the test fixtures and stands for our boards, modules and harnesses - Write acceptance test procedures a technician can run without interpreting anything - Automate it — Python, scripted DroneCAN and MAVLink, real instruments, logged results

Built-in test - Extend the self-test that already runs on boot: command a throttle, read the response, decide if it's right - Make a failure say what failed, not just that something did

Integration and field test - Bring up new hardware and find what the schematic did not predict - Support sea trials and flight test; instrument the vehicle so a bad run is diagnosable - Environmental and durability testing as we mature the product

Close the loop - Turn test data into defect trends the design team can act on - Cut test time per unit, and be able to show the number coming down

What We're Looking For

Must have: - 3+ years in test engineering, systems integration, or hardware bring-up - Strong Python for test automation and data analysis - Comfortable with instruments — scopes, DMMs, power supplies, loads — and with what a measurement actually proves - You've debugged at the hardware/software boundary and can tell the story of a hard one - Linux and the command line - U.S. citizenship or permanent residency

Strongly preferred: - Test fixture and stand design; automated functional test in production - Embedded and serial protocols: CAN, DroneCAN/UAVCAN, I2C, SPI, UART - Flight stack experience — ArduPilot, PX4, MAVLink - HIL or SITL test setups - Writing ATPs and test reports for a customer who will read them

Nice to have: - Marine, UAS, or other uncrewed systems; at-sea or flight test experience - MIL-STD environmental testing (810, 461) - Manufacturing or CM-facing test transfer - Active security clearance

Why TILT

• Directly measurable impact. Labor hours per vehicle is a number on our plan. You move it.
• Both worlds. Bench and boat. If you only want one of those, this isn't the seat.
• Build the tooling you need. Nobody will hand you a test framework — that's the job.
• Sustainable pace. We work hard and build for the long haul.
• Benefits. ICHRA health benefit, 401(k), and 31 days of paid time off (16 holidays + 15 discretionary + 5 sick days).

Location & Schedule

On-site in Annapolis, MD. Regular time on the water for sea trials, and occasional travel to contract manufacturers to transfer test to their floor.