Software Engineer, Test

Skip is on a mission to make life joyful through powered movement.

Movement is a powerful way to build physical, mental and social health. Yet it is elusive for 2 billion people due to age, injury, or disability. We are building products that will restore mobility for millions and enable a new frontier of joyful movement experiences. We want to build a future where a grandparent can easily outrun their grandkids and no one is left behind at the trailhead.

Skip is a 22-person early-stage start-up that spun out of Google X in 2023. With deep cross-disciplinary expertise and key partnerships (e.g. with Arc’teryx) we are uniquely positioned to launch the first commercially successful wearable robotic device, the MO/GO, develop a platform to launch future Movewear products and transform millions of lives in the coming years.

The Role

We’re looking for an engineer who can own software quality end-to-end, from a user unboxing the device for the first time to data syncing reliably on Google Cloud. You’ll operate across web, mobile, backend API, and device/IoT layers in a fast-moving sprint cycle where 1–2 engineers need to punch far above their weight.

This is a hands-on IC role. You’ll build the automation infrastructure that makes scaling our test suite possible, design mock environments, and collaborate closely with firmware, app, and cloud engineers to bridge the gap between unit-level coverage and full regression suites.

What You’ll Own

• Design and execute end-to-end test plans covering the full user journey — device unboxing, app onboarding, BLE pairing, charging modes, and cloud data sync

• Participate in EVT/DVT hardware-software integration testing and Hardware-in-Loop (HIL) test planning

• Build and maintain automation frameworks spanning web (Selenium), mobile (Appium), and backend API layers

• Develop and manage mock environments, test data pipelines, and sandbox configurations to isolate and reproduce issues reliably

• Write and own unit and integration test suites in collaboration with firmware and SW engineers to close coverage gaps ahead of scale

• Identify and document edge cases systematically: network unavailability, BLE/WiFi failure modes, data sync retry logic, storage-full conditions, server errors, and app crashes

• Verify data correctness across the full stack — on-device, app, and GCP endpoints

• Define and track test metrics; flag release risks early in each sprint cycle

• Wear prototypes several hours a week for on-body testing, data collection, and feedback

Basic Qualifications

• 5+ years of software testing experience in a product company, ideally with consumer devices or IoT

• Ability to test e2e features across hardware device, mobile app, firmware, backend/cloud systems

• Strong programming and scripting fundamentals — Python and JavaScript/TypeScript required

• Experience with XCUITest(iOS), espresso(Android) and other native mobile test automation frameworks

• Experience designing and executing API test automation (REST/GraphQL)

• Ability to independently define test strategies from scratch — no pre-built QA infrastructure to lean on

• Familiarity with HIL (Hardware-in-the-Loop) test setups or firmware-level testing at EVT/DVT stages

• Demonstrated skill in creating edge-case scenarios and thinking adversarially about user flows

• Experience building and maintaining mock services, test environments, and synthetic test data

• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and integrating automated tests into release workflows

• Comfortable working across mobile (iOS/Android) and cloud-connected system testing

• Ability to work from our Bay Area office 3 days/week

Bonus Points

• Background testing BLE, WiFi, or other wireless protocols in consumer devices

• Experience with motor control, robotics, or powered consumer electronics (drones, e-bikes, powered prosthetics, etc.)

• Experience writing or reviewing infrastructure-as-code for test environments

• Strong opinions about sprint velocity and what actually slows teams down

• Personal motivation to improve human movement or experience with adaptive sports/assistive tech

• Sense of humour, tolerant of Aussie & Canadian spelling

Skip is an equal opportunity employer. Our hiring decisions are based on need and competence to satisfy said need. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other legally protected status.

Any and all offers of employment extended by Skip are conditional on candidates’ ability to provide satisfactory proof of eligibility to maintain full-time employment in the United States.