Test & Verification Engineer II/III

About Kraken Kinetics

Kraken Kinetics designs and manufactures advanced kinetic solutions that enable modern warfighting capabilities for the United States Armed Forces and its allies. We specialize in mission‑tailored warheads and firing systems for unmanned and autonomous weapon platforms, delivering production‑ready solutions at speed to address urgent national security challenges. Our team brings decades of specialized Department of War experience across the full lifecycle of kinetic system development—from concept and design through testing, manufacturing, and operational deployment. Built on a foundation of work that helped lead the DoW into the era of kinetic drones, Kraken Kinetics combines commercial agility with deep technical expertise to deliver DEFINITIVE LETHALITY™ when it matters most.

Position Summary

Kraken Kinetics is seeking a hands‑on Test & Verification Engineer II/III to help develop and mature the testing and verification capabilities needed to support product development, design verification, qualification, production acceptance, and continuous product improvement. This role is not limited to narrow test execution or data‑analysis; the engineer will own the broader testing problem—from defining what needs to be proven, determining testability, developing approaches, selecting and configuring equipment, instrumenting devices, collecting and analyzing data, troubleshooting failures, documenting work, and turning successful approaches into repeatable test methods. The engineer will collaborate with systems, mechanical, electrical, firmware, manufacturing, and program teams throughout the product‑development lifecycle.

Responsibilities

• Participate in requirements and design reviews to evaluate whether requirements are objective, measurable, and practically verifiable.
• Work with systems and design engineers to translate requirements into appropriate verification methods, test approaches, and acceptance criteria.
• Develop, refine, and execute test plans and procedures for development, design verification, qualification, regression, and production acceptance testing.
• Design, build, configure, and integrate test setups, fixtures, instrumentation systems, data‑acquisition systems, and supporting test hardware.
• Bring new laboratory and test equipment online, including setup, configuration, software integration, validation, and documentation.
• Instrument devices under test and select appropriate sensors, test equipment, sampling methods, and measurement techniques.
• Develop scripts, tools, and automated test methods for instrument control, data acquisition, analysis, visualization, and reporting where appropriate.
• Personally execute electrical, mechanical, firmware, environmental, subsystem, and integrated system‑level testing.
• Collect, analyze, interpret, and clearly document test data, results, anomalies, and conclusions.
• Troubleshoot unexpected behavior and test failures in collaboration with cross‑functional engineering teams.
• Support root‑cause investigations by developing diagnostic tests and experiments that help isolate failure mechanisms and verify corrective actions.
• Distinguish between product failures, test‑system issues, instrumentation limitations, fixture problems, software issues, and procedural errors.
• Develop clear test reports, verification records, and supporting documentation that capture test configuration, procedure, results, and conclusions.
• Improve test repeatability, data quality, procedural clarity, fixture usability, automation, and configuration control.
• Support the transition of engineering test methods into repeatable production acceptance and manufacturing test processes.
• Advocate for product testability, including appropriate access to signals, diagnostics, test points, interfaces, and fixture provisions.
• Help establish practical standards for test planning, test readiness, documentation, data retention, verification traceability, and test infrastructure.
• Support testing at external laboratories, supplier facilities, customer locations, field sites, or ranges as required.
• Identify future test‑equipment, tooling, facility, and personnel needs as Kraken’s products and verification requirements continue to expand.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Mechatronics, Physics, or a related technical discipline.
• Professional experience in test engineering, design verification, product validation, systems integration, product development, or related engineering work.
• Demonstrated experience developing a test approach from an engineering problem or requirement, not solely executing pre‑existing test procedures.
• Hands‑on experience instrumenting hardware and configuring engineering test systems.
• Experience using engineering test equipment such as oscilloscopes, multimeters, DAQs, power supplies, electronic loads, sensors, environmental equipment, or similar instrumentation.
• Ability to understand engineering requirements and translate them into measurable test objectives and acceptance criteria.
• Experience collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and communicating engineering test data.
• Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot technical problems and methodically investigate unexpected results.
• Ability to work effectively across mechanical, electrical, firmware, software, systems, and manufacturing disciplines.
• Strong technical documentation