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Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md). --- # STAFF SOFTWARE QA ENGINEER - **Company:** Smart Wires Inc. - **Location:** Durham, NC, United States - **Experience:** Experienced - **Contract:** Permanent contract - **Skills:** Testing (Software), C (Programming Language), Artificial Intelligence, Software Applications, Systems Engineering, JIRA, Automation of Tests, Bug Tracking Systems, C Sharp (Programming Language), C++ (Programming Language), Software Quality, Cyber Security, Continuous Integration, Embedded Software, Firmware, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), Python (Programming Language), LabVIEW, Real-Time Operating Systems, Software Engineering, Software Requirements Analysis, Software Quality Assurance (SQA), Systems Integration, Test Case, Test Execution Engine, Strategies of Testing, Large Language Models, Test Scripts, Software Version Control - **Published:** July 11, 2026 - **Apply:** https://www.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=333a1bf37b0321c6 ## About the Role * Bachelor's degree in Electrical, Computer, Software, or Systems Engineering or related field * 10 years of experience with SQA testing of complex embedded system products. * 5+ years of experience with test automation platforms (LabVIEW preferred) * 3+ years of experience with software/firmware development using C, C++, C#, test scripts using Python & lab view graphical language etc. * 3+ years of people management, which include coaching & mentoring. * 3+ years of experience collaborating with offshore teams. * 2+ years of experience managing software process improvement for a 30+ software SQA group. * 3+ years of related experience with the electric-power, medical or other mission-critical industry * 2 years of experience with cybersecurity testing. * Well versed with CI/CD tools, version control systems, bug tracking system (Jira is preferred), and able to design continuous verification and test infrastructure that scales to the code volume of an AI-assisted pipeline rather than a nightly batch build. * Working knowledge of LLM-based development tooling and hands-on experience building or running evaluation harnesses to validate AI-generated code and tests Desired Skills and Experience * Master's degree in electrical, Computer, Software, or Systems Engineering or technically related field * Demonstrated proficiency is a systems-based approach to problem solving. * Excellent communication and presentation skills * Ability to work with various internal and external technical stakeholders. * Strong problem-solving skills * Excellent attention to details * Experience with the electric-power industry * Experience with supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems and plant automation. * Strong organization and documentation abilities * Self-motivated and willing to take initiative. * Thrives working in a fast-paced environment among a multi-disciplinary team., * This position is expected to travel up to 10% of the year, both domestically and internationally. Must be willing and able to travel to India and Pakistan ## Description Smart Wires is currently looking for a Staff SQA (Software Quality Assurance) Engineer based in Durham, NC, to lead our SQA team. The Staff SQA engineer will be the highest technical expert regarding SQA and will lead a team of engineers that are responsible for testing all Smart Wires software and firmware. The Staff SQA Engineer will report to the Head of Controls & Communication engineering, work cross-functionally with peers in the controls & communication group, product management, test engineering, and others to build Smart Wire's next generation of products and maintain our existing products., * Define, own & implement the SQA strategy for embedded firmware, RTOS- based systems, hardware/software integration, and desktop application software. This includes cybersecurity & SCADA integration. * Develop and maintain firmware & software quality plans, test strategies (integration, regression, functional, boundary, fault injection and stress test) and entry/exit criteria aligned. * Lead release readiness reviews to determine whether packages are ready for release. * Lead the development and continuous improvement of the software test life cycle processes. * Establish and maintain traceability between system requirements, software requirements, test cases, and defects, including the provenance of AI-generated artifacts (the model and prompt version that produced them) and a defined approach to the reproducibility of non-deterministic outputs. * Define, track and share software quality KPIs, including metrics specific to AI-generated code such as defect escape rate, rework rate, and the share of changes auto-verified versus manually reviewed. * Manage the offshore SQA team. * Coordinate with the Software Manager and Product Manager to plan the firmware/software releases for various projects. * Manage the SQA lab at Smart Wires HQ. * Establish and maintain Smart Wires HQ as the production center for software and firmware. * Automate firmware deployment and testing in SmartValve hardware prior to test execution. * Work with the Test team with regards to the common development elements of the factory test setups. * Collaborate closely with firmware & software development engineers to review designs, identify testability gaps, and drive design for test improvements early in the development cycle. * Author and maintain unit and automation test suites to accelerate test case generation, scenario coverage analysis, and defect pattern identification. * Champion enterprise AI adoption within the SQA team and own the verification strategy for AI-generated firmware and software: define the independent test cycles, acceptance thresholds, and human-in-the-loop review gates that determine which machine-generated artifacts can be trusted for release. * Establish verification methods targeting the failure modes specific to AI-generated code - plausible-but-incorrect logic, hallucinated interfaces or dependencies, and silently dropped edge cases - that conventional regression suites do not reliably catch. Ensure test cycles are defined independently of the code under test so that AI-authored tests cannot merely confirm AI-authored behavior. * Extend the cybersecurity test scope to the AI development pipeline itself, including prompt injection, insecure-by-default generated code, and dependency-confusion risk from hallucinated packages. * Conduct RCA and CAPA processes for escaped software defects and systemic process failures. * Maintain quality records and artifacts in support of internal audits and external customer or regulatory assessments. * Mentor mid-level and junior SQA engineers; establish and communicate best practices and quality engineering standards. * Partner with the requirements team on requirement decomposition and verification planning from concept through validation., * This role is located at the Smart Wires HQ in Durham, NC. Candidates are expected to work from the office for at least 24 core hours per week unless agreed up with the Manager. 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