QA Engineer

Our vision at Vivid Machines is to revolutionize agricultural production to help solve food security globally. Our initial focus is on helping fruit and vegetable farmers improve the quality and quantity of produce they can generate on existing acreage while also improving sustainability. To do this, we are building cutting-edge technology, including real-time vision systems and state-of-the-art AI models, all while delivering a seamless experience to farmers.

As an Intermediate QA Engineer, you will own the end-to-end Software Testing Life Cycle across our whole product: web applications, mobile apps, backend services, and the camera hardware itself. You'll plan tests, run them by hand, maintain regression coverage, and write Python automation. You'll also work closely with Product Owners and Managers so acceptance criteria are clear, testable and complete before development starts.

Do you love finding the edge case nobody else thought of, and want to see your work hold up in the real world? We are looking for people who are self-directed and driven by a desire for excellence, and who care about quality as much as the people building the product do.

Join our extraordinary team

• We value excellence, integrity, curiosity, passion, open-mindedness, and decisive action. We iterate quickly, deliver with purpose, and work with people who bring their unique strengths to the team.
• We are a small, distributed team that works asynchronously. Clear writing, being open about problems, and fast feedback matter here more than check-ins. If you enjoy owning your work, the pace of a scaling startup, and want to make a global impact, we'd love to meet you.

How you will make an impact

Our product runs from a camera on a farm vehicle, through embedded firmware and a mobile app, to backend pipelines and the dashboards growers use to make decisions. You'll be the person who makes sure it all works, and keeps working, release after release.

Sharpen requirements before code is written. Work with Product during backlog refinement to make acceptance criteria clear, testable and complete on edge cases. Flag gaps early, not during test execution.

Own the STLC end to end. That covers requirement analysis, test planning, test case design, execution, defect tracking and sign-off, with test cases traceable back to the original ticket.

Test across every layer. Do functional, exploratory, integration and regression testing on web, mobile and backend. Check where hardware meets software: device behaviour, camera and sensor input, and connectivity states.

Write bug reports developers can act on immediately. Include steps, environment, logs, and expected vs. actual results.

Automate what should be automated. Build and maintain Python test suites (pytest, Playwright/Selenium, requests for APIs), integrate them into CI/CD, and steadily reduce manual regression work.

Set the quality bar for the whole team. Define end-to-end and automated test coverage standards as part of the definition of done, review developer-written tests, and push back when acceptance criteria aren't covered.

Make releases a confident decision. Run smoke and sanity testing, write go/no-go reports, look after test environments and data, and track quality metrics (defect density, coverage, pass/fail trends) over time.

Run your own week. Prioritize against sprint and release goals, investigate blockers before escalating, and keep a distributed team informed through clear written updates.

What we're looking for

We care more about strong testing fundamentals and judgment than about matching a tool list. You don't need to be a deep specialist in every layer. You do need to know how to test each one competently, and when to bring in a subject-matter expert.

3–5 years of QA/testing experience with practical STLC knowledge.

Hands-on manual testing across at least two of web, mobile and backend/API systems.

Working knowledge of Python and at least one Python test framework, preferably pytest.

Experience writing, maintaining and enforcing regression and automated test suites, including reviewing tests written by developers.

Experience working directly with Product Owners or Managers to refine and validate acceptance criteria.

Comfort reading basic hardware/device logs or working with hardware-in-the-loop test setups.

Familiarity with bug tracking and test management tools such as Jira, TestRail or similar, and an understanding of CI/CD concepts.

Clear, structured documentation habits for test plans, defect reports and release notes.

Self-direction. You figure out what matters most from the backlog, release goals and open bugs. You check docs, logs, past tickets and trial results before escalating. You raise risks, mistakes and uncertainty early, and you can push back collaboratively when quality or clarity is at risk.

Nice to have

Exposure to embedded systems or camera/sensor-based hardware testing.

Git workflows.

Jira-based test management plugins, test suite tooling and reporting.

Agriculture, robotics, or any other domain where the physical world refuses to cooperate.

What success looks like

You consistently know what to work on next without needing it assigned.

Tickets enter development with clear, testable acceptance criteria.

QA-written and developer-written automated tests meet a consistent coverage bar.

Regression suites stay current and catch real issues before release.

Failures are caught, reported and resolved quickly.

Releases ship with confidence, backed by clear, traceable test evidence.

People from all backgrounds can succeed at Vivid Machines. We believe differences and diversity help build excellent businesses.

Why do you want to work at Vivid Machines?

As an early employee of a VC-backed company, you will have the opportunity to help shape the company's vision, culture and products.

You can help build an amazing product in a company that plans to change the world.

You will be offered competitive compensation.

Competitive benefits package.

Open, friendly, collaborative company culture.

Company-sponsored team events and retreats.

Free drinks and snacks.

Where to from here?

• We want to ensure it's a good fit on both sides, so you get a job you love, and we offer you a place you're proud to work at.
• Vivid Machines is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing a working environment that embraces and values inclusion and diversity.