Team Lead, Software Test & Quality Assurance

The role

Lead a team of Software Test and Automation Engineers and QA Engineers across Hivemind Vision and Hivemind Solutions. Set technical direction for test automation and infrastructure, and own test evidence and release recommendations for each software release.

What you will do

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of Software Test & Automation Engineers and Quality Assurance Engineers, including hiring and career development.
• Plan and prioritise test work across Hivemind Vision and Hivemind Solutions programs.
• Identify risks, delays, and resourcing constraints early and communicate them to leadership.
• Implement the Australian software test strategy across unit, integration, simulation, SIL, HIL, VIL, and flight-test environments.
• Own the software release process, including readiness criteria, test evidence, and go / no-go recommendations.
• Maintain traceability from requirements and interface control documents through test cases to verification results.
• Prepare verification evidence for formal technical reviews, customer acceptance, and airworthiness submissions.
• Set technical direction for automated test frameworks, with Python-based automation at the core.
• Drive integration of automated testing into CI/CD pipelines.
• Coordinate operational and integration testing on flights in and around Melbourne with the flight test team.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Aerospace, Electrical, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent overseas qualification).
• 8+ years developing software test, verification, automation, validation, or quality assurance solutions for robotics, autonomy, aerospace, embedded, or other complex distributed systems.
• 2+ years leading engineers, as a people manager or technical lead.
• Experience implementing test strategy across multiple products or programs and owning software release or acceptance recommendations.
• Strong proficiency in Python for automation, testing, and data analysis.
• Experience validating software in simulation, SIL, HIL, and/or representative hardware or flight-test environments.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and continuous validation practices.
• Experience with Linux and Windows environments and setting up test environments.
• Experience with requirements and test management tools and fault tracking systems.
• Strong understanding of software verification, regression testing, traceability, and QA methodologies.
• Experience working in Agile software development environments.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Nice to have

• Experience testing computer vision, perception, or imaging-sensor systems.
• Experience with flight control systems such as ArduPilot or PX4.
• Experience with unmanned aerial systems.
• Experience testing and validating real-time embedded software systems.
• Background in autonomy, robotics, or aerospace systems.
• Experience producing evidence for formal technical reviews, customer acceptance, or airworthiness approval.
• Familiarity with software assurance frameworks such as DO-178C, DEF(AUST) 5679, or ASDEFCON, or quality systems such as AS9100 or ISO 9001.
• ISTQB accreditation (Advanced or Test Manager level highly regarded).

Before you apply

• Ability to obtain an Australian NV1 security clearance is required.
• Ability to comply with export-control requirements (ITAR, EAR, Defence Trade Controls Act 2012) is required.
• All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check.

About the company

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company that builds intelligent systems to protect service members and civilians. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation technologies.