System Test Automation Engineer

Before the detail, here's the challenge you'd help us solve.

We build the embodied intelligence that moves real vehicles safely, and the ecosystem a billion machines will run on in the future. Very few people in AI can say this. Every role here, whatever the team, plugs into that.

Here’s what this particular role covers.

🛠️ About our Verification and Release Test Team

Wayve’s Verification and Release Test team sits at the intersection of hardware, embedded software and machine learning models. Our testing spans component, system and vehicle levels, and we build novel test automation in-house to identify issues earlier in development. We pride ourselves on finding the most efficient and effective ways to deliver the most valuable results for the company.

As a System Test Engineer, HIL, you’ll build robust, reusable automation and work across engineering disciplines to improve coverage, reliability and traceability. This is a hands-on delivery role with room to grow into broader areas of the system, including sensing and model-behaviour testing, as Wayve and your experience evolve.

🧠 Your day-to-day

Develop automation for system functionality tests at component, integration and system levels, working across software and hardware boundaries.

Lead root-cause investigations for failures identified during test campaigns, collaborating with hardware, software, infrastructure and DevOps teams to resolve issues.

Analyse test results, uncover software and hardware bugs, and report findings through Jira with clear evidence to support debugging.

Optimise Buildkite CI/CD-integrated test workflows for rapid, reliable and repeatable execution.

Review, create and follow risk assessments to ensure all testing activities are conducted safely and responsibly.

🧩 What you’ll be working on:

Independently owning the design and delivery of automated verification for a defined area of our embedded software stack, steadily raising the bar on coverage, reliability and traceability.

Building open-loop and closed-loop hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) replay tests, alongside reliability and fault-injection tests, to support verification, release and debugging.

Automating HIL test setups and improving test infrastructure to expand coverage, make failures easier to trace and strengthen compliance reporting.

Integrating requirements, coverage and compliance workflows, including Jama, MC/DC coverage analysis and MISRA checks, and managing test artefacts through Artifactory and Azure.

Developing traceability dashboards and defining KPIs and quality metrics that support data-driven validation and release decisions.

🙌 You should apply if:

You have hands-on experience with system-level verification and validation in robotics, embedded software or mechatronic systems, with a track record of independently delivering test automation.

You’re highly proficient in Python and have experience developing automation test frameworks using pytest.

You’ve worked with HIL testing and tooling, including interfaces such as CAN, Ethernet or GMSL, and tools from dSPACE, Vector, Xylon or similar providers.

You understand open-loop and closed-loop HIL replay testing using dSPACE or other emulators.

You’re familiar with automotive safety and process standards, including ISO 26262, ASPICE and SOTIF, and have experience integrating requirements and test-management tools such as Jama and Xray.

You’re proficient in CI/CD principles and related tooling, such as GitLab CI, Buildkite and Bazel.

You have experience developing or testing automotive software at embedded and system levels, including hardware/software interactions and interface-level testing, and have worked with L2+ hands-off, L3 or L4 automated driving systems.

You have knowledge of consumer safety-rating protocols such as Euro NCAP, including AEB and LSS/LKA scenarios; DCAS regulatory testing under UN R171; and automotive cybersecurity testing and standards, including ISO/SAE 21434 and UN R155.

You’ve worked with test automation dashboards, logging and reporting infrastructure, using tools such as Grafana, Looker, Datadog and Jira.

You’re a self-starter with a sharp eye for improvement who communicates clearly and works effectively across software, hardware, autonomy, DevOps and product teams.

Ideally, you’ve contributed to improvements in test methods, safety procedures or operational efficiency, and are familiar with data management and version control tools such as Git.

Experience using agentic AI coding tools such as Cursor or Claude Code to accelerate and improve test development, debugging and automation workflows would also be valuable.

🌱 Not ticking every box? That’s totally okay! If you’re passionate about autonomy and keen to learn, we encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet every requirement.

More about Wayve:

🚀 Wayve is building the leading AI platform for autonomous driving. We are pioneering an end to end AI approach that enables vehicles to learn directly from real world experience, developing the ability to adapt, generalise and improve at scale. Instead of relying on hand coded rules or pre mapped environments, our AI Driver learns to drive by understanding the world around it. The result is technology that navigates complex urban environments with intelligence, precision and natural flow, unlocking meaningful advances in both safety and efficiency. We believe autonomy represents a once in a generation transformation in how people and goods move, comparable to the shift from horses to cars, and from human driven vehicles to intelligent machines.

Our ambition is to make autonomy universal. Wayve’s mapless and hardware agnostic AI platform integrates with global OEM partners, enabling continuous software evolution and unlocking advanced levels of automation from L2 plus through to L4 as our core AI model scales. In a race increasingly defined by intelligence and real world learning, Wayve is taking a distinct approach, building a generalisable driving intelligence that can power any vehicle, anywhere. By combining embodied AI with scalable deployment, we are creating technology that can be shaped to each OEM brand and driver experience, accelerating the transition to a safer, more intelligent future of mobility.

How we work 💻- Locations & Flexible Working:

Our main hubs are in London, Sunnyvale, Yokohama, Herzliya, Vancouver and Leonberg. We operate a hybrid working model that combines in-person collaboration in our dedicated office spaces with focused time working remotely. This gives our teams the connection and energy of working together, alongside the flexibility to do their best work in a way that fits their lives.

🔍 The Interview Process:

Our process is clear and respectful of your time:

Initial call / recruiter screen (30 minutes)

Competency Interviews (Programming and hiring manager interview; 1 hour 45 minutes total)

Deep-dive technical interviews (Cross-functional, system design; 1 hour 45 minutes total)

Final interview : mission & values alignment (45 minutes).

We’ll always explain the format and work around your availability.

What’s in it for you (Location dependant):

• 💰 Salaries benchmarked against the market annually
• ✅ Hybrid working, core hours and the chance to work hands on in vehicle workshops and labs
• 📚 Learning and development budgets with support for training, conferences and growth
• 🩺 Comprehensive benefits including health insurance, dental, enhanced maternity and paternity leave, retirement or pension where applicable, access to therapists, wellbeing partnerships, team socials and more

A quick, honest note before you apply.

Wayve is not a mature, fully-structured place with the playbook already written. Much of how we work is still being written, and if you join, you’ll help write it. That suits people who want real ownership more than people who need a settled structure from day one.

If that sounds lik