Staff Software QA Engineer

About the role

Smart Wires provides advanced power flow control solutions and analytics that enable controllable power systems. This gives grid operators more control over where power flows and helps them use their existing networks more efficiently. Our solutions support system reliability, reduce congestion, and make it easier to integrate new load and generation while minimizing costs and community disruption. We collaborate with customers to achieve their strategic objectives and help them face an uncertain energy future with flexible, high-impact solutions.

This is a hybrid position based in Durham, North Carolina. Candidates are expected to work from the office for at least 24 core hours per week (9a to 3p ET). The position requires up to 10% travel, both domestically and internationally, including travel to India and Pakistan.

Responsibilities

• Define, own, and implement the SQA strategy for embedded firmware, RTOS-based systems, hardware/software integration, and desktop application software, including cybersecurity and SCADA integration.
• Develop and maintain firmware and software quality plans, test strategies (integration, regression, functional, boundary, fault injection, and stress test), and entry/exit criteria aligned with release readiness.
• Lead release readiness reviews to determine whether packages are ready for release.
• Lead the development and continuous improvement of the software test life cycle processes.
• Establish and maintain traceability between system requirements, software requirements, test cases, and defects, including the provenance of AI-generated artifacts (model and prompt version) and reproducibility of non-deterministic outputs.
• Define, track, and share software quality KPIs, including metrics specific to AI-generated code such as defect escape rate, rework rate, and the share of changes auto-verified versus manually reviewed.
• Manage the offshore SQA team.
• Coordinate with the Software Manager and Product Manager to plan firmware/software releases for various projects.
• Manage the SQA lab at Smart Wires HQ and establish it as the production center for software and firmware.
• Automate firmware deployment and testing in SmartValve hardware prior to test execution; collaborate with the Test team on common development elements of factory test setups.
• Collaborate closely with firmware and software development engineers to review designs, identify testability gaps, and drive design-for-test improvements early in the development cycle.
• Author and maintain unit and automation test suites to accelerate test case generation, scenario coverage analysis, and defect pattern identification.
• Champion enterprise AI adoption within the SQA team and own the verification strategy for AI-generated firmware and software, including independent test cycles, acceptance thresholds, and human-in-the-loop review gates.
• Establish verification methods targeting failure modes specific to AI-generated code, such as plausible-but-incorrect logic, hallucinated interfaces, and silently dropped edge cases.
• Extend cybersecurity test scope to the AI development pipeline, including prompt injection, insecure-by-default generated code, and dependency-confusion risk from hallucinated packages.
• Conduct RCA and CAPA processes for escaped software defects and systemic process failures.
• Maintain quality records and artifacts in support of internal audits and external customer or regulatory assessments.
• Mentor mid-level and junior SQA engineers; establish and communicate best practices and quality engineering standards.
• Partner with the requirements team on requirement decomposition and verification planning from concept through validation.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical, Computer, Software, or Systems Engineering or a related field.
• 10 years of experience with SQA testing of complex embedded system products.
• 5+ years of experience with test automation platforms (LabVIEW preferred).
• 3+ years of experience with software/firmware development using C, C++, C#, test scripts using Python, and LabVIEW graphical language.
• 3+ years of people management, including coaching and mentoring.
• 3+ years of experience collaborating with offshore teams.
• 2+ years of experience managing software process improvement for a 30+ software SQA group.
• 3+ years of related experience with the electric-power, medical, or other mission-critical industry.
• 2+ years of experience with cybersecurity testing.
• Proficiency with CI/CD tools, version control systems, bug tracking systems (Jira preferred), and designing continuous verification and test infrastructure scalable to AI-assisted pipelines.
• Working knowledge of LLM-based development tooling and hands-on experience building or running evaluation harnesses to validate AI-generated code and tests.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Electrical, Computer, Software, or Systems Engineering or a technically related field (desired).
• Demonstrated proficiency in a systems-based approach to problem-solving.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Ability to work with various internal and external technical stakeholders.
• Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
• Experience with the electric-power industry (desired).
• Experience with supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems and plant automation (desired).
• Strong organization and documentation abilities.
• Self-motivated and willing to take initiative.
• Thrives working in a fast-paced, multi-disciplinary team environment.

Benefits

• Flexible PTO.
• Paid parental leave to support you and your family.
• Competitive total compensation packages that include salary, bonus, and equity.
• Comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, and vision insurance, life and disability coverage, and a 401(k) retirement plan with company match.

About the Company

We are passionate about creating a culture that empowers our team to create positive change for everyone and achieve their full potential, based on our core values:

• Making an impact: We are passionate and ambitious about a better future for everyone. We focus on creating meaningful, positive impact with real change for our customers, industry, electricity consumers, and the planet.
• Collaboration to drive success: We collaborate with each other and our stakeholders because we know great outcomes come from teamwork. We value diverse perspectives and seek high-impact results.
• Accountability: We take responsibility for our actions and behaviors, and for the outcomes we deliver. Acting with integrity and authenticity ensures we improve and deliver safe, high-quality solutions.
• Tenacious courage: We pioneer new ideas that challenge the status quo, even when unpopular. We push boundaries to leave the world better than we found it.