3.20 Verification and Validation Software Engineer
Irvine, CA
Area 3: Infrastructure and Software Team /
Full time /
On-site
Who are We?
Field AI is transforming how robots interact with the real world. We are building risk-aware, reliable, and field-ready AI systems that address the most complex challenges in robotics, unlocking the full potential of embodied intelligence. We go beyond typical data-driven approaches or pure transformer-based architectures, and are charting a new course, with already-globally-deployed solutions delivering real-world results and rapidly improving models through real-field applications.
Learn more at https://fieldai.com.
About the Job
We are looking for a Verification and Validation Software Engineer to own the quality bar for Field AI’s off-road autonomy, legged, and humanoid robotics stacks—designing strategy, building tooling, and shipping the evidence that proves we’re safe and ready for the real world. You’ll implement scalable scenario-based testing (SIL/HIL + high-fidelity simulation), stand up CI pipelines and metrics that catch regressions early, and lead structured field validations where the terrain is messy and the stakes are real. Day to day, you’ll partner with perception, planning, controls, and hardware to define clear entry/exit criteria, instrument systems for truth, and turn logs into actionable insights that raise reliability every week. If you love breaking things so customers don’t have to, care deeply about measurable safety, and want your rigor to translate into robots that confidently tackle the world, this is the role for you.
What You’ll Get To Do:
- Own end-to-end V&V for autonomy stacks
- Define test strategies for perception, planning, and control across vehicle and robot platforms
- Build SIL/HIL pipelines for continuous regression and performance tracking
- Establish entry/exit criteria, traceability, and sign-off gates
- Level up our simulation & scenario coverage
- Develop realistic, adversarial scenarios (terrain, weather, lighting, sensor faults)
- Create large-scale batch tests using scenario generators and digital twins
- Calibrate sim-to-real via data replay and hardware characterization
- Engineer reliable test infrastructure
- Implement CI/CD integrations (build, artifacting, test orchestration, dashboards)
- Develop tooling for log capture, triage, and automated failure bucketing
- Track metrics: requirement coverage, code coverage (incl. MC/DC), and safety KPIs
- Prove safety and reliability in the field
- Plan and run structured field validations for off-road, legged, and humanoid use cases
- Execute fault-injection and degraded-mode testing with clear escalation paths
- Produce evidence packages for internal design reviews and external stakeholders
What You Have:
- 2–5+ years in software or robotics V&V, QA, or test infrastructure (or equivalent research/industry experience)
- Strong coding in Python and/or C and/or C++ for test harnesses, automation, and analysis
- Hands-on with ROS/ROS 2, bag tools, and robotics logging/telemetry workflows
- Experience designing SIL/HIL setups, simulators, and scenario-based testing at scale
- Familiarity with autonomy components (perception, localization, mapping, planning, control)
- Proficiency with CI/CD (e.g., GitHub Actions, GitLab), containers, and build systems (CMake)
- Comfort with sensors and data: cameras, LiDAR, IMU, joint/force sensors; calibration & synchronization basics
- Clear, concise technical writing: test plans, results summaries, risk registers, and release notes
- A pragmatic, evidence-driven mindset and bias for automation over manual toil
The Extras That Set You Apart:
- Domain experience in off-road autonomy (unstructured terrain, slip, wheel/track dynamics)
- Experience with legged/humanoid robots (whole-body control, contact/force validation)
- Deep simulation chops: Isaac Sim, Gazebo custom scenario engines
- Fault-injection and robustness testing (sensor dropouts, time skew, GPS denial, actuator faults)
- Statistical testing & evaluation: scenario coverage metrics, outlier analysis, reliability modeling
- ML evaluation experience (perception KPIs, dataset curation, drift detection, labeling QA)
- Tooling you can show: log diff/visualization tools, test dashboards, scenario libraries
- Field test operations in challenging environments; strong safety discipline and test readiness reviews
Compensation and Benefits
Our salary range is generous ($70,000 - $200,000 annual), but we take into consideration an individual's background and experience in determining final salary; base pay offered may vary considerably depending on geographic location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Also, while we enjoy being together on-site, we are open to exploring a hybrid or remote option.
Why Join Field AI?
We are solving one of the world’s most complex challenges: deploying robots in unstructured, previously unknown environments. Our Field Foundational Models™ set a new standard in perception, planning, localization, and manipulation, ensuring our approach is explainable and safe for deployment.
You will have the opportunity to work with a world-class team that thrives on creativity, resilience, and bold thinking. With a decade-long track record of deploying solutions in the field, winning DARPA challenge segments, and bringing expertise from organizations like DeepMind, NASA JPL, Boston Dynamics, NVIDIA, Amazon, Tesla Autopilot, Cruise Self-Driving, Zoox, Toyota Research Institute, and SpaceX, we are set to achieve our ambitious goals.
Be Part of the Next Robotics Revolution
To tackle such ambitious challenges, we need a team as unique as our vision — innovators who go beyond conventional methods and are eager to tackle tough, uncharted questions. We’re seeking individuals who challenge the status quo, dive into uncharted territory, and bring interdisciplinary expertise. Our team requires not only top AI talent but also exceptional software developers, engineers, product designers, field deployment experts, and communicators.
We are headquartered in always-sunny Mission Viejo (Irvine adjacent), Southern California and have US based and global teammates.
Join us, shape the future, and be part of a fun, close-knit team on an exciting journey!
We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Candidates and employees are always evaluated based on merit, qualifications, and performance. We will never discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, national origin, ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, martial status, mental or physical disability, or any other legally protected status.
