Director, Quality Engineering en Brain Corp

Brain Corp is a San Diego, California, USA-based AI company creating transformative core technology for the robotics industry. Our purpose is to create autonomous technology that helps the real world work better. Brain's robotic and AI solutions help retailers ensure that the right product is on the right shelf at the right price, in a clean environment. Through the BrainOS® Robotics Platform, which powers the largest global fleet of the Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) in operation in commercial public spaces, Brain Corp delivers insightful and efficient automated solutions in both commercial floor cleaning and inventory management, empowering organizations and their employees to achieve more. Brain Corp currently powers more than 30,000 AMRs, representing the largest fleet of its kind in the world. Brain Corp is funded by the SoftBank Vision Fund, Clearbridge, and Qualcomm Ventures.

Position Overview:

Brain Corp is a global leader in AI and robotic automation, creating transformative core technology for the robotics industry. Our BrainOS® platform and its cloud-connected services power the world's largest fleet of autonomous mobile robots operating in public spaces.

As the Director of Quality Engineering, you will lead a talented team responsible for ensuring the safety, reliability, security, and performance of our entire product ecosystem. This is a highly strategic role that oversees all testing for our core robotics autonomy and application platform (BrainOS), cloud services, and AI data pipelines. You will be responsible for leading a mixed-discipline team of Managers, SDETs, and System Technicians, driving the evolution of our proprietary test automation platform (TAROS), and ensuring we maintain our critical safety and security certifications.

The ideal candidate is a seasoned QA leader with a deep understanding of complex hardware/software systems, a passion for automation, and a proven track record of upholding the highest quality standards in a safety-critical environment. You will partner closely with leaders in Platform Engineering, Safety, Security, and Autonomy & AI to shape the future of quality at Brain Corp.

Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States without current or future sponsorship.

Essential Job Functions:

• Team Leadership & Strategy: Lead, mentor, and grow the Quality Engineering team composed of both Software Development Engineers in Test (SDETs) and System Technicians. Set the strategic vision for quality across the organization, defining and driving an AI-powered roadmap to enhance all aspects of the testing lifecycle. Foster a culture of ownership, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Test Planning & Execution: Develop and manage a comprehensive testing strategy, including test plans, resource allocation, and release schedules. Ensure all products undergo rigorous validation, from feature and regression testing to performance, security, and user experience (UX) testing.
• Safety & Compliance: Serve as a key member of the Functional Safety Committee. Own the QA processes and execution for maintaining our safety certifications, including all necessary testing, validation, and report generation.
• Security Partnership: Partner with the security team to integrate security testing into the QA lifecycle for both on-robot and cloud applications. Guide the team in evaluating security testing frameworks, participating in penetration testing efforts, and establishing best practices for secure development.
• Test Automation & Infrastructure: Direct the strategy and ongoing development of TAROS, our custom, Python-based Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) and Software-in-the-Loop (SIL) test automation platform. Envision and guide the integration of AI/ML capabilities into the platform. Ensure it scales to meet the demands of our growing product complexity.
• Simulation Partnership: Collaborate with other leaders to advance our autonomous simulation capabilities. Guide the integration of QA methodologies with new simulation platforms to accelerate testing and improve coverage of real-world scenarios.
• AI & Data Quality: Oversee the end-to-end validation of our AI and data pipelines. Includes ensuring the quality of large-scale datasets and the performance of machine learning models deployed on our robots and in our cloud services that drive our autonomous capabilities.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work with product management, hardware, and software engineering teams to define quality metrics, release criteria, and a holistic testing strategy that covers everything from unit and integration testing to full system endurance and performance testing.
• Process Improvement: Analyze test results from automation, simulation, and our deployed robot fleet to identify trends, uncover edge cases, and provide data-driven recommendations for improving product quality and development processes. Leverage AI and machine learning to derive predictive insights from this data, proactively identifying potential quality issues before they impact customers and improving overall development processes.
• OEM & Partner Quality Management: Collaborate closely with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) partners and Contract Manufacturers (CMs) to establish and enforce rigorous quality standards throughout the product lifecycle. Drive joint quality initiatives, manage escalations, and foster strong partnerships to ensure the final robotic products meet Brain Corp's high standards for reliability and performance.
• Other duties and projects as assigned.

Required Education and Work Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 10+ years of experience in Quality Engineering or Test Engineering, with at least 5 years in a leadership role directing technical teams comprising of managers, engineers, and technician
• Demonstrated experience managing QA teams with a mix of automation (SDET) and manual test engineers in an Agile development environment.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Other Characteristics:

• ​​Proven experience leading QA for complex, safety-critical systems that integrate hardware, firmware, and software.
• Strong technical background in test automation, including experience with custom-built or complex test frameworks (Python and/or C++ experience is highly desirable).
• Deep understanding of the full software and hardware development lifecycle and various testing methodologies (Regression, Performance, Stress, Security, etc.).
• Excellent leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills with the ability to influence and align cross-functional teams and stakeholders.
• A strategic mindset with strong analytical and problem-solving skills, capable of translating business needs into a technical QA strategy.
• Commitment to staying current with new testing tools, technologies, and industry trends, and evaluating their potential impact on quality and efficiency.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, innovative, and collaborative environment.

Things that make a difference:

• Direct experience in the autonomous systems industry (robotics, autonomous vehicles, drones).
• Experience with the processes involved in achieving or maintaining functional safety certifications (e.g., ISO 26262, IEC 61508, SIL).
• Familiarity with security compliance frameworks (e.g., SOC1, SOC2) and the QA team's role in providing audit trails and documentation.
• Familiarity with high-fidelity simulation environments for robotics or autonomous systems (e.g., NVIDIA Omniverse, Gazebo, CARLA).
• Experience in developing quality strategies for AI/ML models and validating large-scale data pipelines.
• Experience applying modern AI tools and models (e.g., LLMs, VLMs such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude) to solve real-world challenges in software quality.
• Knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) and experience testing distributed, cloud-based applications and services.

Physical Demands:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Essential functions may require maintaining the physical condition necessary for sitting, walking or standing for periods of time; operating a computer and keyboard; talk and hear at normal room levels; using hands to finger, grasp, and feel; repetitive motion; close visual acuity to prepare and analyze data and figures; transcribing; viewing a computer terminal; extensive reading; lift, push, carry, or pull up to 20 pounds.

Work Environment:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. The noise level in the work environment is usually quiet to moderate. Employees are exposed to the typical office environment with computers, printers and telephones.

Salary Range:

The anticipated salary range for candidates who will work in San Diego, California is $190,074.00 - $230,090.00. The final salary offered to a successful candidate will be dependent on several factors that may include but are not limited to the type and length of experience within the job, type and length of experience within the industry, education, etc. Brain Corp is a multi-state employer and this salary range may not reflect positions that work in other states.

In addition to base pay, our competitive total rewards package consists of:

• A discretionary annual target bonus
• Stock options
• 401(k) plan with match (no waiting period and immediate vesting)
• Comprehensive suite of insurance benefits for employees (and their families) to include a variety of medical plan options (including an HSA with employer contribution), dental, vision, life and disability insurance, Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Legal/Identity support plans, pet insurance.
• Access to Flexible Spending Accounts (Medical and Dependent Care)
• Generous paid time off including flexible vacation, Paid Sick Leave, time off for volunteering in the community, 10 paid company holidays, and a winter company shutdown

Additional Perks include:

• Daily on-site lunch available in the San Diego office
• On-campus gym including pool and tennis courts in the San Diego office
• Opportunities to connect with colleagues including monthly game nights, hikes, wellness challenges, and community events 
• Internal continuous learning events 
• Opportunities to share your own interests and hobbies with the Company