About Careertakes

👉 Important disclosure: Careertakes is a third-party recruiting platform supporting this hiring process. If selected, you will be employed directly by our client, Engineering.

Applicants for this role may also receive access to additional matched opportunities through the Careertakes platform.

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What You’ll Do

Confidential Client is hiring a Payload Integration and Test Engineer to support electro-optical (EO/IR) space payload integration, automated test development, and verification & validation. This hands-on role works at the intersection of optics, electronics, firmware, and software to ensure prototype, qualification, and flight hardware meet performance and reliability requirements.

• Define and implement test strategies for functional, performance, and environmental verification with full requirements traceability
• Lead cross-discipline coordination between optical, electrical, software, and systems teams during integration and test campaigns
• Develop and maintain Python-based automated test frameworks and test infrastructure for hardware control, data collection, and analysis
• Integrate electrical and software interfaces for payload components (command/telemetry, sensors, power)
• Collaborate with Flight Software and Systems Engineering to assess and debug embedded C code via hardware-in-the-loop testing
• Operate and integrate optical test equipment (collimators, integrating spheres, blackbodies, lasers, motion stages)
• Analyze telemetry, image, and environmental-test data to evaluate system performance and stability
• Establish data management, reproducibility, and configuration-control practices for test results
• Document test procedures, configurations, and results per engineering and quality processes
• Support anomaly investigations and corrective actions during integration and environmental campaigns
• Mentor early-career engineers and test operators, promoting disciplined processes and engineering judgment

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Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in engineering or related technical discipline, or equivalent engineering experience
• 0–2 years of engineering experience (Entry-Level) — comfortable with hands-on lab work
• Experience with system-level integration and testing of complex hardware or embedded systems
• Familiarity with electro-optical system design and optics test equipment
• Proficiency in Python for test automation, hardware control, data handling, and analysis
• Ability to read and understand C for diagnostics and interface verification
• Experience working in Linux environments and with version control (Git)
• Strong technical writing, documentation, and communication skills
• U.S. Citizenship required for certain roles; ability to obtain and maintain a DoD security clearance is required

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Preferred Qualifications

• Experience developing automated test frameworks for electrical and embedded systems
• Familiarity with space-borne or high-reliability EO/IR payloads
• Background in instrument control, data acquisition, and hardware communication protocols (Ethernet, serial, CAN, SPI)
• Knowledge of image processing, calibration, or optical system performance assessment
• Experience with C++, hardware-in-the-loop testing, or continuous integration (CI) workflows
• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced lab environment and supporting off-shift or extended testing during major milestones

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Logistics & Additional Info

• Location: Acton, MA (Onsite)
• Employment type: Full-Time
• Experience level: Entry-Level (0–2 years)
• Travel: 0%–25%
• Clearance: Secret (desired); ability to obtain and maintain DoD clearance required
• U.S. Citizenship: Yes (required for certain positions)
• Relocation assistance: Yes
• Pay range: $68,770 — $116,193 per year (provided by Confidential Client)
• Workstyle: Onsite

Confidential Client is committed to building a diverse workforce and welcomes qualified applicants from all backgrounds.

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Equal Opportunity & Hiring Transparency

Careertakes and our client are Equal Opportunity Employers committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce. We prohibit discrimination or harassment of any kind. To support a fair and efficient hiring process, AI tools may be used to assist with application review or resume screening. These tools do not replace human decision-making. Final hiring decisions are made by people.

If you have questions about how your data is used, please contact us directly.