{"id":848747,"url":"https://alion.io/job/workshop-ventures-senior-test-engineer-hardware-automation-qa","title":"Senior Test Engineer (Hardware Automation QA)","company":{"id":384097,"name":"Workshop Ventures","domain":"workshop.dev","url":"https://alion.io/company/work-shop-5","size_band":"201-500","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":true,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":null},"role":"QA","role_family":"QA","seniority":"senior","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Austin, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":120000,"max":145000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":145000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-09-10T03:31:12Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-09-10","last_verified_at":"2026-10-13T00:58:34Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":32,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":32},"description":"About Drover\nDrover is building a virtual fencing ear tag for cattle, and the platform around it to run the modern ranch.\nFencing is one of the oldest unsolved problems in agriculture. Ranchers spend billions of dollars a year building and maintaining physical fences, and every fence line locks land into a grazing pattern it wasn't made for. Virtual fencing is changing that, a generational shift in how ranches are run, bringing precision and productivity gains to an industry that has to feed a growing population with fewer resources.\nBut every system on the market today requires a collar: bulky, infrastructure-dependent, and built around electric shock. We're taking a path the industry thought impossible. We've shrunk virtual fencing into the ear tag, the form factor every cattle producer on earth already uses. Our tag combines low-power GPS, cellular and satellite connectivity, embedded sensing, solar power, and patent-pending muscle stimulation that guides cattle directionally rather than shocking them. Ranchers tag their cattle once and immediately start running their operation from their phone.\nWe were founded by Callum Taylor (Harvard, EE & fifth-generation ranching family) and Samuel Aubin (USYD, CS), who both grew up in Australian ranching towns. We built a working ear tag and a patent-pending stimulation method in twelve months (five times faster than competitors), and are now scaling manufacturing to put the technology on every head of cattle in the USA, Australia, and New Zealand.\nWe closed an oversubscribed seed round, signed a top-tier contract manufacturer, and are on track to launch commercially in Texas in Q1 2027.\nWe're headquartered in Austin, Texas.\nAbout the role\nAs our device QA / Test Engineer, you'll be the backbone of reliability for Drover products. Our device has to survive years in a field environment: sun, rain, mud, dust, cattle behavior. All while running solar power management, low-power GPS, cellular and satellite radios, embedded sensing, and our muscle-stimulation actuation system. Every one of those subsystems needs to be tested to a standard that lets us ship with confidence.\nThis is a high-ownership role at an early-stage company: you'll design test plans, build fixtures, run environmental and reliability testing, and report results almost from day one, with the opportunity to build and lead a test/quality function as we scale.\nWhat You'll Do\nOwn the test strategy for the Drover ear tag, from component-level verification through full-unit environmental and reliability testing\n\nHelp design and manage environmental and reliability tests - thermal cycling, ingress (IP-rating), UV/solar exposure, tumble, impact/drop, vibration, and accelerated life testing (e.g. HALT)\n\nBuild bespoke test rigs, fixtures, and data acquisition setups to automate and scale testing across hundreds of units\n\nWrite test plans that trace directly back to product and reliability requirements, and deliver clear pass/fail evidence to engineering leadership\n\nPartner with hardware, firmware, and our contract manufacturer to catch failure modes early, rather than at end-of-line\n\nMaintain calibration records, test versioning, and full traceability across procedures and equipment\n\nAnalyze test data and turn it into clear, actionable recommendations for design and manufacturing decisions\n\nHelp stand up quality processes and test infrastructure that scale as we move from seed-stage prototypes to commercial production volume\n\nHelp with early customer support to resolve early issues, high willingness to put on boots and travel out to ranchers to help debug.\n\nRequirements\nMeaningful experience in hardware/device test engineering, QA, or reliability validation for physical products (IoT, ruggedized consumer electronics, wearables, automotive, or similar)\n\nExperience building test automation, fixtures, or DAQ/instrumentation systems from scratch\n\nComfortable working with ambiguity and building process at an early-stage startup\n\nStrong data analysis and reporting skills - you can turn raw test data into a clear ship/no-ship recommendation\n\nWilling to work in-person in Austin\n\nNice to have\nExperience testing battery/solar-powered or low-power embedded devices\n\nHands-on experience designing and executing environmental/reliability stress tests and understanding the underlying failure physics, not just running a checklist\n\nExperience with cellular, GPS, or satellite-connected hardware\n\nExperience with actuator, motor, or stimulation-based hardware systems\n\nBackground working directly with contract manufacturers on DVT/PVT/MP builds\n\nNote: Even if you don't have all of the above and still think you're an excellent candidate, please reach out. We're always open to great people with core skillsets who are willing to push and learn.\nBenefits\nMeaningful equity package with a high trajectory start-up\n\nHealth, dental, vision insurance\n\nPaid family and medical leave\n\nUnlimited PTO\n\nCollaborative environment with emphasis on strong team culture\n\nOwnership and responsibility","description_format":"text","description_chars":5046,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity","Unlimited PTO","Vision insurance"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Venture Capital","Angel Networks & Startup Accelerators"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-13T02:24:53Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":63,"band":"ok","label":"Likely open","p_open":1,"p_active":0.846,"p_room":0.75,"age_days":32,"expected_fill_days":44,"reasons":["conf:2","velocity","win:late"],"computed_at":"2026-10-12T06:55:09Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":145000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/workshop-ventures-senior-test-engineer-hardware-automation-qa","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/workshop-ventures-senior-test-engineer-hardware-automation-qa.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-13T02:12:55Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"search","counted_by":"address","units_charged":0,"used_today":0,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":null,"resets_at":"2026-10-14T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":384097},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=384097"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fworkshop-ventures-senior-test-engineer-hardware-automation-qa"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fworkshop-ventures-senior-test-engineer-hardware-automation-qa"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fworkshop-ventures-senior-test-engineer-hardware-automation-qa"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/workshop-ventures-senior-test-engineer-hardware-automation-qa\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fworkshop-ventures-senior-test-engineer-hardware-automation-qa"}]}