Principal Test Software Engineer

QuantumScape is on a mission to transform energy storage with solid-state lithium-metal battery technology. The company's next-generation batteries are designed to enable greater energy density, faster charging and enhanced safety to support the transition away from legacy energy sources toward a lower carbon future.

About the team: The Electrical Test Team comprises engineers and technicians that create, manage and run electrical tests that are used to characterize cell samples across production and R&D.

What we need: As Principal Test Software Engineer, you will be the primary software owner for our Test Engineering team. This is a high-impact role that requires a unique ability to balance high-level system architecture with deep, hands-on debugging of hardware and software interfaces. You will be the crucial link between the physical world of battery testing and our cloud data infrastructure, leveraging your fluency in AI and Machine Learning to transform massive datasets into actionable, predictive insights.

Your communication skills will be as critical as your code, as you'll work daily with folks ranging from  R&D scientists to production technicians, and other software engineers to translate complex requirements into robust, reliable, and intelligent software solutions that build value.

What You'll do:

• Design, build, and maintain the complete software ecosystem for our advanced battery test systems, from hardware control to the start of data ingestion.
  Develop scalable software solutions while diving deep to resolve lower-level issues on physical test hardware like battery cyclers and DAQs.
• Apply AI/ML to build models for anomaly detection, outlier flagging, and predictive analysis to proactively uncover critical insights from test data.
• Deep dive and analyze GB's of electrical test data extracting relevant insights and optimizing our data processing and analysis pipelines. 
• Develop standard test models to implement new test requirements across multiple equipment types.

Skills You'll Need:

• BS or MS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a proven track record of shipping and maintaining complex software systems.
• Demonstrated expertise in Python,  Golang, or an object-oriented language.
• Practical AI/ML experience, including applying machine learning models for tasks such as anomaly detection, classification, or regression using common frameworks (e.g., scikit-learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch).
• Significant hands-on experience developing software that directly interfaces with and controls hardware, measurement equipment (e.g., DAQs, PLCs), or other physical systems.
• Strong experience with cloud platforms (GCP) and deploying services in a cloud environment.
• Proficiency with both relational (SQL) and non-relational (NoSQL) databases.
• Experience building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitHub Actions, Jenkins, etc.).
• Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to diverse audiences.
• Experience with commercial battery test equipment (e.g., Arbin, Maccor, BioLogic).
• Fundamental knowledge of electrical circuits, secondary (rechargeable) batteries, or general electrochemistry.

Nice to have:

• Experience with MLOps practices for deploying and monitoring models in production environments.
• Experience in a fast-paced R&D or manufacturing environment

Physical requirements:

• Occasional lab work in a clean dry lab will be required.

ONSITE: This position is required to work onsite 5 days per week to meet the minimum essential duties and requirements of this position.  As an on-site R&D and manufacturing operations organization, in-person face to face interaction is essential to building authentic relationships, trust, teamwork, and collaboration. 

Compensation & Benefits: Expected salary range for this role is from $ 167,500 to $255,500, and a final salary will be determined by the candidate's experience and educational background. QuantumScape also offers an annual bonus and a generous RSU/Equity package as part of its compensation plan. In addition, we do offer a tremendous benefits plan including employee paid health care, Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP), and other benefits. 

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request an accommodation.