QA Engineer at Molg

QA ENGINEER Hours: Full-time Location: Molg HQ in Sterling, VA (Northern Virginia) Salary: Compensation will be commensurate with experience, additional benefits including 401k, equity, and full healthcare benefits ABOUT US: Hey! We're Molg 👋 We're building robotic systems that make electronics manufacturing circular. We work with hyperscalers and leading electronics manufacturers to automate how hardware is designed, manufactured, disassembled, repaired, reused, and recovered. Using robotics, computational design, and AI, our systems turn today's e-waste into resilient, data-driven supply chains—and change how electronics are made in the first place. IN THIS ROLE YOU WILL: Join a talented cross-functional team of software, mechanical, electrical, and robotics engineers to develop and own quality assurance processes across Molg's robotics systems, microfactories, and software platforms. This role reports directly to the Director of Process Engineering. As a QA Engineer, you will: - Lead the design and execution of test strategies that span hardware, firmware, robotics, and software — ensuring production-grade quality across all layers of Molg's systems. - Own the full testing lifecycle from test planning and case development through execution, defect tracking, and sign-off in both pre-production and production environments. - Build and maintain automated test frameworks for backend services, robotic workflows, and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) systems. - Develop repeatable test protocols for physical hardware and robotic systems, including functional, regression, performance, and failure-mode testing. - Collaborate closely with robotics, mechanical, electrical, and software teams to identify testability requirements early in the design process and integrate QA into the development workflow. - Define and improve CI/CD quality gates and automated test pipelines to catch regressions before they reach production. - Triage, document, and track defects with precision — articulating root cause, reproducibility, and impact to drive timely resolution. - Participate in sprint planning, design reviews, and architectural discussions, contributing a quality-first perspective throughout the product lifecycle. - Drive continuous improvement of QA processes, tooling, and standards as Molg's systems scale in complexity and production volume. You'll have the opportunity to build alongside an incredible team, develop innovative solutions, and grow in a fast-paced environment that values autonomy and impact. WHO YOU ARE: A hands-on QA engineer who is equally comfortable writing automated test scripts and running physical hardware through its paces on the shop floor. You bring a rigorous, systems-level approach to quality and thrive in environments where software meets the physical world. Specifically, you have: - 4+ years of industry experience in QA engineering, with demonstrated ownership of test strategy across software and/or hardware systems. - Experience testing embedded systems, robotics, or electromechanical hardware — including hands-on validation of physical systems in a lab or production environment. - Proficiency building and maintaining automated test frameworks (pytest, Robot Framework, or similar) and integrating them into CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or similar). - Strong understanding of software QA methodologies: unit, integration, system, regression, and end-to-end testing. - Experience with hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) or software-in-the-loop (SIL) testing is a strong plus. - Familiarity with containerized environments (Docker, Docker Compose) and Unix/Linux systems, including shell scripting. - Ability to read and interpret basic electrical schematics, mechanical drawings, or robotics system diagrams is a plus. - Experience with defect tracking and test management tools (Jira, TestRail, or similar). - Clear and effective communication skills, with the ability to translate complex failure modes into actionable engineering feedback. - Ability to work in-person at Molg HQ in Sterling, VA. WHO WE ARE: We spend our days building robotic systems, developing complex assembly intelligence software, and designing the next generation of circular products for our customers. Given the importance of working hands-on with physical systems, we are a 100% in-person team collaboratively working in our industrial space in Sterling, VA, down the road from the largest data center market in the world. Our facility includes a variety of robots, CNC milling machines, 3D printers, and all the tools needed to build and test our products. It is important to us that anyone on our team that is interested in learning how to use our various pieces of equipment and machinery is taught and can gain the skills and appreciation for making physical things. THINGS TO KNOW: - We're a hands-on collaborative team with big ambitions, and there's a good amount of context-switching. We expect people to be autonomous and drive their own work to completion. - We are scrappy and looking to build a great sustainable company for years to come. - As a growing company and startup, priorities may shift as customer or business requirements change. We strive to empower individuals with context and decision-making power to meet this need.