Test Architect Aircraft Onboard Platform and Application Systems

Role name: Test Architect - Aircraft Onboard Platform and Application Systems

Work Location: Hillsboro, Oregon (Onsite)

Start date: Immediate availability.

Job Type: Contract

Interview: Phone/Video.

We are looking for a hands-on Test Architect to own the end-to-end test strategy for an aircraft-wide, edge-compute application hosting platform spanning hardware, embedded software, connectivity, AI-driven features, and a multi-tenant application ecosystem. This role blends strategic ownership (defining and evolving the detailed test strategy), technical leadership (guiding and mentoring the test team), and hands-on execution (test plan execution and building automation frameworks/scripts). The ideal candidate is equally comfortable authoring a test architecture document and writing automation code.

Key Responsibilities

1. Test Strategy & Architecture

Own and continuously evolve the platform-wide Test Strategy Document covering Development/Feature/Functionality , integration, system, performance, connectivity, security, CI/CD, and certification-adjacent testing

Define the testing approach for each architectural layer ( platform services, application, data/sync) and ensure test coverage scales with architectural risk (e.g., shared-resource isolation, third-party app sandboxing)

Design the test environment and lab infrastructure strategy, including physical lab, virtualized/simulated environments, and network/connectivity emulation

Define entry/exit criteria, test levels, and release-gating standards across the test lifecycle

2. Team Leadership & Guidance

Lead and mentor a cross-functional test team (functional, integration, performance, security, hardware/environmental testers)

Set technical direction and best practices for test design, execution, and automation across the team

Review test plans, test cases, and automation scripts authored by team members; provide technical guidance and quality gate sign-off

Act as the primary technical point of contact between the test team and architecture/engineering stakeholders

3. Test Plan Execution

Translate the test strategy into detailed, executable test plans per release/sprint

Plan and coordinate execution across test levels (unit through system/E2E) and test areas (functional, integration, performance, connectivity resilience, security, CI/CD)

Track test execution progress, defect trends, and coverage metrics; report release readiness to stakeholders

Drive root-cause analysis and cross-application regression risk assessment for defects found during execution

4. Automation Script Development

Design and build the automation framework(s) for regression, integration, and performance testing

Personally develop automation scripts for critical-path and high-risk scenarios (e.g., cross-application resource contention, connectivity resilience under simulated network impairment, CI/CD pipeline validation)

Integrate automated test suites into the CI/CD pipeline as build/release gates

Continuously expand automation coverage and reduce manual regression effort over time

5. Traceability & Tooling

Own the Jira/Xray traceability framework requirement-to-test-case-to-defect linkage, test plan/test set structuring, and release reporting

Ensure test evidence is audit-ready, including for certification-adjacent test areas

Required Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, or related field (Master's preferred)

8+ years in software/systems testing, with at least 2-3 years in a test architect, lead, or principal test engineer capacity

Proven experience defining test strategy for a complex, multi-component or platform-level system (not just single-application testing)

Strong hands-on experience building test automation frameworks (not just using existing ones) e.g., API-level automation, UI automation, performance/load testing tools

Practical experience with CI/CD pipelines and integrating automated tests as pipeline gates

Strong