Senior V&V Engineer

Work with cutting edge technology, making the world a safer and more secure place. DroneShield (ASX:DRO) offers an opportunity to solve some of the world’s most challenging technical problems in Electronic Warfare, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, RF sensing, Sensor Fusion and distributed systems. Working with high profile customers across militaries, government agencies, airports, critical infrastructure, law enforcement and many others.

With one of the largest listed defence company market capitalisations in Australia and having raised approximately $250m in 2024 alone, DroneShield is undergoing hypergrowth stage, fuelled by rapidly increasing use of drones for nefarious applications, from battlefield, to terrorism, to contraband delivery and commercial espionage.

This role is in the DroneShield headquarters in Sydney CBD. There are approximately 300 staff based in the 4,000sqm facility today, scheduled to grow to approximately 400 staff by end of 2025. Overseas on the ground presence includes USA, Denmark, Mexico, and UAE, as well as distributors in over 70 countries globally.

About the role

We are looking for a Senior Verification & Validation Engineer with deep hands‑on experience in embedded systems, complex system integration, and advanced system‑level testing. In this senior role, you will work closely with the V&V Team Lead and collaborate with Systems Engineering, QA, T&E, NPI, and development teams to drive verification strategy, ensure product readiness, and uphold engineering excellence.

This position emphasises end-to-end system integration, performance and reliability analysis, environmental qualification, and formal verification of multi‑component hardware/software systems. You will lead activities across the complete V&V lifecycle from strategy and test architecture to execution, defect triage, reporting, and real‑world field validation while also contributing to process improvement and mentoring junior engineers.

Responsibilities, Duties and Expectations

- Lead the development, execution, and maintenance of complex V&V strategies, test plans, and test procedures for embedded systems, hardware/software integrated solutions, and system‑of‑systems deployments.

- Design, implement, and execute advanced system‑level tests, including both automated and manual testing across lab, integration, and field environments.

- Drive verification activities throughout the engineering lifecycle, ensuring thorough coverage across unit, integration, system, environmental, and field validation phases.

- Plan and conduct environmental, performance, and reliability testing using specialised equipment such as temperature chambers, RF test benches, oscilloscopes, logic analysers, and power measurement tools.

- Lead sensor integration testing, complex data validation workflows, and multi‑component interoperability verification for mission‑critical systems.

- Ensure complete requirements traceability and compliance through tools like Jama/DOORS, including reviewing requirement quality and providing feedback to engineering teams.

- Collaborate with cross‑functional engineering teams to triage, debug, root‑cause, and resolve system defects, providing strong technical leadership in issue resolution.

- Produce high‑quality technical documentation, including detailed test reports, failure analyses, V&V summaries, and recommendations for system readiness.

- Support and contribute to design reviews, risk assessments, and verification planning workshops.

- Mentor junior engineers, review test artefacts, and help uplift verification engineering practices across the team.

- Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives, including test automation, tooling enhancements, and process optimisation.

Required Qualifications and Skills

- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical/Electronics, Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, Computer Science, or a related technical discipline.

- 5+ years of experience in Verification & Validation, Systems Integration & Test, or Systems Engineering roles.

- Deep understanding of system‑level testing methodologies, particularly in safety‑critical, defence, aerospace, or high‑reliability environments.

- Strong experience with automation or scripting languages (Python, Bash, etc.) and working within Linux‑based or embedded environments.

- Proven hands‑on experience working with embedded hardware, sensors, antennas, power systems, and diagnostic lab equipment.

- Proficiency with test management, requirements management, and defect tracking tools (Jira, Xray, Jama, DOORS, Confluence).

- Demonstrated capability in root‑cause analysis, defect triage, and complex system debugging.

- Excellent technical communication, documentation skills, and the ability to present findings clearly to diverse stakeholders.

- Strong leadership behaviours: ownership, accountability, structured problem solving, and the ability to lead verification activities independently.

Desired Skillsand Experience

- Experience with RF sensing, signal processing, sensor fusion, or other advanced sensing technologies.

- Background in hardware‑in‑the‑loop (HIL), automated test frameworks, or CI/CD‑driven test pipelines.

- Knowledge of systems engineering practices, including requirements decomposition, risk management, and MBSE workflows.

- Experience in defence, aerospace, robotics, or autonomous systems projects.

- Familiarity with ruggedised hardware testing.

- Ability to influence engineering decisions, uplift V&V processes, and guide strategic improvements to the test organisation.

Note for recruitment agencies: We do not accept unsolicited candidates from external recruiters unless specifically instructed.

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