Optimal Staffing · 1 day ago
Vehicle Test Engineer
Allen Park, MI
Contract
Hybrid
Mid Level
3+ years expOptimal Staffing is seeking a Vehicle Test Engineer who will be a key contributor in managing and operating a fleet of test vehicles for software development and validation. The role involves vehicle operations, maintenance, software updates, and collaboration with various teams to ensure high-quality software delivery.
AutomotiveIndustrial AutomationIndustrial Manufacturing
Hiring Manager
Rakshitha Sushma
Responsibilities
As a Product Development Engineer, the candidate will be a key contributor within a team responsible for managing and operating a fleet of test vehicles supporting vehicle software development and validation
This role focuses on vehicle operations, vehicle maintenance, software baselining, OTA and service software updates, scripting and tools development, and advanced root cause analysis across vehicle systems
You will own portions of the test-vehicle lifecycle, ensuring vehicles are properly configured, updated, maintained, and operational to support continuous software development, validation, and release activities
The role requires close collaboration with technicians, software engineers, feature owners, and test teams to diagnose complex vehicle and software issues, improve operational efficiency, and enable high-quality software delivery
The candidate is expected to develop and maintain scripts (preferably using Python, and/or C++ or similar languages as a plus) to support vehicle operations and efficiency
The candidate should leverage automation to improve operational efficiency by creating scripts to automatically read vehicle diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) using logs, CAN data, or diagnostic APIs, categorizing and flagging known error codes with recommended remediation steps
The candidate is not responsible for executing test cases, but should support efficient test execution by ensuring vehicles are properly prepared and available for testing teams, verifying vehicles are on the correct software baseline, coordinating vehicle availability to minimize test delays, supporting test teams by quickly identifying and resolving vehicle-related blockers
The candidate is expected to perform root cause analysis related to vehicle and fleet issues, including, investigating recurring vehicle faults, connectivity issues, or test failures, analyzing diagnostic data, logs, and usage history to identify root causes, differentiating between software, hardware, and operational issues, documenting findings and resolutions to support continuous improvement
Fleet management is a core responsibility of the role. Expectations include, managing vehicle sign-out and sign-in processes, ensuring vehicles are maintained in test-ready condition, tracking vehicle status, location, usage, and health, coordinating maintenance, updates, and repairs, supporting audits and ensuring compliance with fleet policies
Manage and operate assigned test vehicles, ensuring readiness for software validation, and release activities
Coordinate vehicle usage, availability, sign-out/sign-in, and configuration control to support multiple engineering teams
Oversee preventive, corrective, and predictive maintenance of test vehicles, including hardware, ECUs, Safety, power systems, and network components
Execute and manage vehicle software baselining activities, including flashing, configuration management, and version control across multiple ECUs
Perform OTA, service, manufacturing, and manual software updates on test vehicles
Verify software integrity, configuration correctness, and system behavior following updates
Support software release readiness by validating baseline stability and vehicle operability
Develop and maintain scripts and tools (e.g., Python, shell, or similar) to automate vehicle auditing, health checks, log collection, dashboards, and reporting
Work closely with product, software, validation, and operations teams to align vehicle readiness with program milestones and sprint objectives
Provide accurate effort estimates for vehicle operations, software updates, and tooling tasks during sprint planning
Contribute to technical documentation, operational procedures, and best practices for vehicle software operations
Identify and drive continuous improvement initiatives related to vehicle management, software update reliability, and operational efficiency
Qualification
Required
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Software Engineering, or a related technical field
3–5 years of experience in software engineering, automotive product development, vehicle software operations, test systems, or complex embedded/software environments
Demonstrated experience managing test vehicles and executing vehicle software updates
Hands-on experience with scripting, automation, and diagnostic tools
Proven ability to perform advanced root cause analysis and debug complex system issues
Manage and operate assigned test vehicles, ensuring readiness for software validation, and release activities
Coordinate vehicle usage, availability, sign-out/sign-in, and configuration control to support multiple engineering teams
Oversee preventive, corrective, and predictive maintenance of test vehicles, including hardware, ECUs, Safety, power systems, and network components
Execute and manage vehicle software baselining activities, including flashing, configuration management, and version control across multiple ECUs
Perform OTA, service, manufacturing, and manual software updates on test vehicles
Verify software integrity, configuration correctness, and system behavior following updates
Support software release readiness by validating baseline stability and vehicle operability
Develop and maintain scripts and tools (e.g., Python, shell, or similar) to automate vehicle auditing, health checks, log collection, dashboards, and reporting
Work closely with product, software, validation, and operations teams to align vehicle readiness with program milestones and sprint objectives
Provide accurate effort estimates for vehicle operations, software updates, and tooling tasks during sprint planning
Contribute to technical documentation, operational procedures, and best practices for vehicle software operations
Identify and drive continuous improvement initiatives related to vehicle management, software update reliability, and operational efficiency
Preferred
Scripting, Software Testing, Test Automation, Test Execution, Root Cause Analysis, Fleet Management
Scripting / Software Testing The candidate is expected to develop and maintain scripts (preferably using Python, and/or C++ or similar languages as a plus) to support vehicle operations and efficiency
Test Automation The candidate should leverage automation to improve operational efficiency by creating scripts to automatically read vehicle diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) using logs, CAN data, or diagnostic APIs, categorizing and flagging known error codes with recommended remediation steps
Test Execution The candidate is not responsible for executing test cases, but should support efficient test execution by ensuring vehicles are properly prepared and available for testing teams, verifying vehicles are on the correct software baseline, coordinating vehicle availability to minimize test delays, supporting test teams by quickly identifying and resolving vehicle-related blockers
Root Cause Analysis The candidate is expected to perform root cause analysis related to vehicle and fleet issues, including, investigating recurring vehicle faults, connectivity issues, or test failures, analyzing diagnostic data, logs, and usage history to identify root causes, differentiating between software, hardware, and operational issues, documenting findings and resolutions to support continuous improvement
Fleet Management Fleet management is a core responsibility of the role. Expectations include, managing vehicle sign-out and sign-in processes, ensuring vehicles are maintained in test-ready condition, tracking vehicle status, location, usage, and health, coordinating maintenance, updates, and repairs, supporting audits and ensuring compliance with fleet policies
Company
Optimal Staffing
At Optimal, we don’t just deliver what is asked. We go far beyond that, consistently exceeding customer expectations.
51-200 employees
H1B Sponsorship
Optimal Staffing has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (31)
2024 (23)
2023 (23)
2022 (33)
2021 (30)
2020 (14)
Funding
Current Stage
Growth StageCompany data provided by crunchbase