Software Test Engineer, HIL

<p><strong>About Hark</strong></p>
<p>Hark is an artificial intelligence company building advanced, personalized intelligence. One that is proactive, multimodal, and capable of interacting with the world through speech, text, vision, and persistent memory.</p>
<p>We're pairing that intelligence with next-generation hardware to create a universal interface between humans and machines. While today's AI largely operates through chat boxes and decade-old devices, Hark is focused on what comes next: agentic systems that interact naturally with people and the real world.</p>
<p>To get there, we're developing multimodal models and next-generation AI hardware together - designed from the ground up as a single, unified interface for a new era of intelligent systems.</p>
<p><strong>About the Role</strong></p>
<p>Hark’s Device Software team is building the test infrastructure that proves our software works on real hardware, and we are looking for a Software Test Engineer to build it with us from the ground up. You will design and build hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test benches and the software infrastructure to control them, create test cases that run on them, and turn test results into clear, actionable findings.</p>
<p>Our automated test suite shall comprehensively cover nearly all aspects of device functionality and performance, ensuring seamless integration across audio, ML, connectivity, and backend services.</p>
<p>This is not a hardware validation role: the hardware team proves the hardware, and your job is to prove the software running on it. It is also not app-only or storage test automation. The work happens on physical devices with radios, audio, cameras, sensors, and actuators.</p>
<p><strong>Responsibilities</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Build physical test systems and HIL benches for software verification, starting from zero</li>
<li>Develop the test infrastructure and libraries, mostly in Python, that let any engineer run develop and run automated tests on hardware devices</li>
<li>Design test strategies from product requirements and build the test cases that produce the quality signals necessary for rapid deployment</li>
<li>Automate end-to-end tests that verify radios and sensors such as Wi-Fi, LTE, 5G, Bluetooth, GPS/GNSS, audio, camera and video input and output</li>
<li>Interpret test results, root-cause and document failures, and fix issues in the product when it makes sense</li>
<li>Integrate test runners with CI/CD so builds are tested automatically on real devices</li>
<li>Partner with device software, backend, audio, radio, and ML teams so their work can be tested on shared benches</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Requirements</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>5+ years of experience testing software on hardware devices</li>
<li>Hands-on experience building HIL test benches for automated software testing on devices</li>
<li>Proficiency in Python for building test cases and test infrastructure with CI/CD</li>
<li>Experience designing test strategies and test cases from product requirements</li>
<li>Testing experience with several of the following: Wi-Fi, LTE, 5G, Bluetooth, GPS/GNSS</li>
<li>Experience testing devices with multimedia inputs and outputs, such as audio and cameras</li>
<li>Ability to root-cause failures across hardware, firmware, and software, and communicate findings clearly</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Bonus Qualifications</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Experience with robotics, motion control and signal simulation for test automation</li>
<li>Experience integrating test infrastructure into CI/CD pipelines</li>
<li>Prior experience with speech and audio testing, such as wake word, microphone array and replay testing</li>
<li>Experience with agentic test engineering and agent-native test architecture</li>
<li>Working knowledge of C, C++, or Java</li>
<li>A background in electrical engineering</li>
<li>Experience testing consumer electronics such as smart speakers, phones, wearables, or earbuds, or automotive, EV, or robotics products</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Compensation</strong></p>
<p>The US base salary range for this full-time position is between $150,000 - $350,000 annually.</p>
<p>The pay offered for this position may vary based on several individual factors, including job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. The total compensation package may also include additional components/benefits depending on the specific role. This information will be shared if an employment offer is extended.</p>