Electrical Test Engineer

About Powerus

Powerus is building a next-generation American autonomous systems platform designed to move, protect, and sustain critical assets in high-consequence environments. The company combines advanced autonomy, manufacturing capability, operational expertise, and strategic acquisitions to support defense, national security, critical infrastructure, and commercial operations globally.

Mission

Our mission is to deliver resilient autonomous technologies that strengthen national security, improve operational safety, and expand the capabilities of organizations operating in complex environments.

Why Join Powerus

At prototype volumes an engineer can test a board by hand. At production volumes that is how escapes reach the flight line. Every electrical assembly Powerus builds needs a fixture, a script, and a pass criterion that means something - and it needs them before the ramp, not after the first field return.

This role builds that layer. You will design the fixtures and automated tests that qualify electrical assemblies before they go into an aircraft, own the ground support equipment the shop and the flight line depend on, and turn line data into the yield and coverage improvements that keep production moving.

Position Overview

Powerus is looking for an Electrical Test Engineer to develop the test capability behind our electronics production. This position requires U.S. Person status, as the work involves access to export-controlled technical data. You will design test fixtures and automated test equipment, write the functional tests that run on them, and support ground support equipment used in build, integration, and field operations. You will sit between hardware design and the production floor - close enough to the design to know what needs proving, close enough to the line to know what is actually failing. Expect to be on-site in Charlotte, in the lab and on the floor.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and build test fixtures and automated test equipment for boards, harnesses, and electrical subassemblies, including interfacing, power, safety, and instrumentation
• Develop automated functional test software that exercises a unit against its requirements and produces a clear, recorded pass or fail result
• Define test coverage for each electrical assembly with the responsible design engineer, and be explicit about what a test does and does not prove
• Write and maintain acceptance test procedures, test plans, and calibration and maintenance practices for test assets
• Design and support ground support equipment used for vehicle power-up, battery handling, subsystem checkout, and field operations
• Run failure analysis on units that fail test or return from the field, isolate root cause, and drive corrective action with design and manufacturing
• Track first-pass yield, test escape, and false-failure data, and use it to improve fixtures, limits, and process
• Support new product introduction by getting test capability in place ahead of build, including first-article testing and operator training
• Maintain test data collection and traceability so results are recoverable per unit, per revision

Qualifications

• Must be located in the United States, within commuting distance of Charlotte, NC, and able to work on-site
• Degree in electrical engineering, electronics, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
• Experience testing electronic hardware, whether in production, validation, or a well-instrumented lab setting
• Scripting or programming ability for test automation and data handling, in Python, LabVIEW, C, or a comparable environment
• Comfort with bench instrumentation - oscilloscopes, power supplies, electronic loads, DMMs, and programmable instruments under remote control
• Ability to read schematics well enough to design a test around them and to interpret an unexpected result rather than only record it
• U.S. Person status required (U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual under 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3));
  this role involves access to ITAR- and EAR-controlled technical data

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience designing test fixtures, bed-of-nails interfaces, or automated test equipment for a production line
• Exposure to aerospace, defense, automotive, or other regulated hardware production and its acceptance documentation
• Experience with instrument control over SCPI, VISA, or similar, and with structured test result storage
• Familiarity with statistical yield analysis, measurement uncertainty, or gauge capability
• Ground support equipment or field test equipment design experience
• Background in electronics failure analysis, including reworking and probing assemblies to find a fault

What We Look For

We are looking for an engineer who is skeptical of a green light. Good test engineering here means knowing why a unit passed, distrusting a fixture before distrusting the product, and being willing to hold a shipment when the data is ambiguous. You should like building things that other people use every day, take the operator's experience seriously, and be comfortable moving between a soldering iron, a test script, and a conversation with the design engineer whose board keeps failing at the same station.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Powerus is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a diverse and mission-driven workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.