Senior Automation Test Engineer

Motional’s Las Vegas office is located less than 10 miles from the Las Vegas strip at 730 E Pilot Road and is home to one of the largest fleets of self-driving vehicles. The city’s grid system of roads and being one of America’s “smart cities” allows for extensive research and development testing.

Mission Summary:

The Autonomous Vehicle (AV) Test Engineering team at Motional is responsible for validating the safety, functionality, and performance of our self-driving technology and commercial operations platform through rigorous, system-level testing. Motional is seeking a highly skilled and motivated Senior Automation Test Engineer to join our AV Test Engineering team. In this role, you will lead the design, development, and execution of backend and frontend automation frameworks for our fleet operations platform — the operational backbone of our commercial robotaxi service. You will also lead and mentor a fellow automation engineer, driving best practices and continuous improvement across the team.

What you'll work on:

• Own the architecture, development, and maintenance of scalable backend and frontend test automation frameworks for a fleet operations platform, with a primary focus on backend API and service-level validation.
• Design and execute comprehensive automated test suites covering backend services, APIs, and data pipelines, as well as frontend UI workflows within the operations platform.
• Lead integration testing efforts for third-party APIs and internal services, ensuring reliable end-to-end data flow across fleet management, dispatching, and monitoring systems.
• Develop automation solutions primarily in Python and Go for backend testing, and JavaScript for frontend validation, while proactively adopting new tools and frameworks as the platform evolves.
• Lead, mentor, and collaborate with one automation test engineer, providing technical guidance, code reviews, and support for professional development.
• Partner closely with software engineers and product teams to define test strategies, identify coverage gaps, and establish quality gates within CI/CD pipelines.
• Conduct root-cause analysis on test failures and system defects, driving resolution across backend services and frontend interfaces.
• Contribute to documentation, test plans, and operational frameworks that bring clarity and transparency to the automation testing process for all stakeholders.
  
  

What we're looking for:

• 5+ years in software QA or test automation, with a strong emphasis on backend and API testing.
• Bachelor's degree or higher in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field.
• Technical Expertise:
• Hands-on proficiency in Python and Go for backend test automation, and JavaScript for frontend automation.
• Demonstrated experience designing and building automation frameworks from the ground up for complex, distributed systems.
• Experience with REST/gRPC API testing, service integration validation, and data pipeline verification.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and integrating automated quality gates for production-grade software releases.
• Proven ability to lead technical efforts, operate autonomously, and drive cross-functional collaboration.
• Ability and willingness to quickly learn new tools, frameworks, and technologies as the platform and stack evolve.
  
  

Bonus points:

• Experience with autonomous vehicle fleet monitoring, dispatching, or fleet management systems.
• Experience with Uber API or similar ride-hail/transportation platform integration testing.
• Familiarity with cloud telemetry systems or AV data pipelines.
• Experience in a cross-site or global engineering organization.
• Master's degree in a relevant field.

 This role is based in our Las Vegas office and requires in-office days each week.