Lead Product Validation Engineer

About the role

The Test Lead is responsible for owning end-to-end validation delivery for assigned programs and ensuring validation execution is technically sound, complete, and on schedule. This role leads test strategy, planning, execution coordination, risk management, and cross-functional alignment from validation planning through sign-off.

Responsibilities

• Define validation scope, coverage strategy, and detailed test plans that map requirements to executable validation content and milestone objectives.
• Own end-to-end validation delivery for assigned programs, including schedule alignment, resource coordination, execution oversight, and readiness reviews.
• Lead risk identification, defect management discipline, and issue escalation to ensure validation results provide clear and actionable engineering signal.
• Coordinate execution across functional, performance, reliability, integration, compliance, and related validation activities as required by the program.
• Serve as the primary validation point of contact for project teams and stakeholders, providing clear communication of plans, status, risks, and results.
• Guide Test Engineers on coverage, methodology, priority, defect quality, and issue closure expectations.
• Lead technical readiness reviews and support entry/exit criteria decisions for key validation milestones and release gates.
• Drive continuous improvement in validation methods, reporting clarity, risk visibility, and cross-functional execution efficiency.
• Roughly 10% travel.

Qualifications

Education & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical field or equivalent work experience.
• 5–10 years of relevant experience in product validation, testing, system integration, or related engineering disciplines.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Proven experience leading validation efforts, technical planning, or program-level test execution across complex products.
• Strong understanding of system-level validation, test strategy development, defect discipline, and engineering milestone management.
• Experience with server, storage, networking, platform firmware, or other complex hardware/firmware products is preferred.
• Strong project coordination, problem-solving, and cross-functional leadership skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including ability to translate technical validation status into clear stakeholder messaging.