What is a QA Engineer at & General Intuition?

The QA Engineer role at & General Intuition—specifically operating as a Senior Flight Test Engineer—is a highly specialized and critical position. You are not just testing software in a vacuum; you are validating complex, safety-critical systems where hardware and software intersect. Your work directly ensures the reliability, performance, and safety of our advanced flight systems before they ever reach the real world.

In this role, your impact on the business is absolute. You act as the final gatekeeper for product integrity, translating high-level engineering requirements into rigorous, real-world test plans. Because our products operate in physical environments with strict safety margins, the QA Engineer must possess a deep understanding of aerospace principles, systems integration, and automated testing frameworks.

You will collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including embedded software engineers, hardware designers, and regulatory compliance experts. Operating primarily out of our Ann Arbor, MI facility, you will face challenges that require both strategic test design and hands-on, tactical execution. Expect a dynamic environment where your ability to anticipate edge cases and manage physical testing operations will directly influence our product launch timelines and overall market success.

Common Interview Questions

The questions below represent the patterns and themes frequently encountered by candidates interviewing for the Senior Flight Test Engineer role at & General Intuition. While you should not memorize answers, you should use these to practice structuring your thoughts around complex, multi-disciplinary problems.

Test Engineering & Flight Operations

This category tests your core ability to plan, execute, and adapt live testing scenarios under pressure.

• Walk me through the process of developing a flight test matrix for a completely new vehicle airframe.
• How do you determine the appropriate mix of simulated testing versus live flight testing for a new software release?
• Describe a situation where a test did not go as planned. What immediate actions did you take, and what was the ultimate resolution?
• How do you ensure that your test environment accurately reflects real-world operational conditions?
• What metrics do you prioritize when evaluating the stability of a new flight controller update?

Systems Integration & Troubleshooting

These questions evaluate your technical depth and your ability to isolate root causes across hardware and software boundaries.

• We are seeing a 200-millisecond latency in control response during flight, but the software logs show no delay. How do you troubleshoot this?
• Explain how you would test the integration between a newly installed optical sensor and the existing navigation stack.
• Tell me about the most difficult electro-mechanical bug you have ever had to track down. What was your methodology?
• How do you automate the analysis of post-flight telemetry data to catch edge-case anomalies?
• Describe your experience with hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) and software-in-the-loop (SITL) simulation environments.

Behavioral & Safety Culture

Because this role operates in a high-stakes environment, interviewers will heavily scrutinize your leadership, communication, and safety mindset.

• Tell me about a time you had to deliver bad news to a project manager about a critical feature failing testing just before a deadline.
• Describe a situation where you observed a safety protocol being ignored or bypassed. How did you handle it?
• How do you balance the pressure to accelerate testing timelines with the need for exhaustive safety validation?
• Give an example of how you have mentored a junior engineer or improved the testing culture within your team.
• Tell me about a time you disagreed with a senior engineer about the root cause of a system failure. How did you resolve the disagreement?

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Getting Ready for Your Interviews

Preparing for the Senior Flight Test Engineer interview requires a shift in mindset from traditional software QA. You must demonstrate a holistic understanding of how code behaves when deployed on moving, physical assets.

Systems Engineering & Integration – We evaluate your ability to look at a complex vehicle or flight system as a whole. Interviewers will test whether you understand how a failure in one subsystem (like a sensor payload) cascades into another (like flight control software), and how you design tests to catch these interactions.

Test Design & Execution – This measures your core competency in building comprehensive test plans from scratch. You must show that you can define clear pass/fail criteria, design both simulated and live-flight test scenarios, and build automated scripts to process the resulting telemetry data.

Safety & Risk Management – Safety is the foundational pillar of & General Intuition. You will be assessed on your risk assessment methodology, your familiarity with safety-critical compliance standards, and your courage to halt operations if safety parameters are compromised.

Cross-functional Leadership – As a senior engineer, you are expected to lead by example. We look for candidates who can effectively communicate testing bottlenecks to software teams, mentor junior engineers, and drive a culture of uncompromising quality across the organization.

Interview Process Overview

The interview loop for a QA Engineer at & General Intuition is rigorous, multi-layered, and heavily focused on real-world application. You will typically begin with an initial recruiter screen to align on your background, location expectations in Ann Arbor, and high-level technical fit. This is followed by a deep-dive technical phone screen with a senior engineering leader, where you will discuss your past flight test campaigns and systems integration experience.

If you progress to the onsite stage, expect a comprehensive panel of interviews spanning technical, operational, and behavioral domains. You will meet with systems engineers, software developers, and product managers. The onsite process is designed to simulate the collaborative, high-stakes environment of a live flight test. We emphasize data-driven decision-making, so expect to be handed sample telemetry data or hypothetical system architectures and asked to design a test campaign on the spot.

What makes our process distinctive is the intense focus on physical-world variables. We do not just want to know if you can write a test script; we want to know how you handle unpredictable weather conditions, hardware degradation, and sensor noise during a live operation.

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This visual timeline outlines the progression from your initial screening calls through the comprehensive onsite panel. Use this to pace your preparation, ensuring you review core systems engineering concepts early while saving your behavioral and leadership examples for the final onsite rounds. Notice that the onsite stage balances technical whiteboarding with operational safety assessments, reflecting the dual nature of the Senior Flight Test Engineer role.

Deep Dive into Evaluation Areas

Your interviewers will probe deeply into several core competencies. Understanding these areas will help you structure your responses and highlight the most relevant parts of your experience.

Flight Test Planning & Execution

This area evaluates your hands-on experience in bringing a test from concept to the flight line. Interviewers want to see that you can take abstract product requirements and translate them into a concrete, executable flight test card. Strong performance here means demonstrating a methodical approach to test matrices, resource allocation, and timeline management.

Be ready to go over:

• Test Card Creation – How you define specific maneuvers, entry parameters, and success criteria for a flight.
• Resource Coordination – Managing airspace, ground control stations, and support personnel.
• Weather and Environmental Factors – How you factor physical world variables into your go/no-go decisions.
• Advanced concepts (less common) –
  • Designing tests for autonomous swarm behaviors.
  • Integrating hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) simulators with live flight data.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Walk me through a flight test plan you designed from scratch. What were the primary objectives and how did you measure success?"
• "You are scheduled for a critical flight test, but the wind conditions are right at the edge of the acceptable safety margin. How do you proceed?"
• "Describe a time when a live test revealed a failure that your simulated tests missed. How did you adapt your test plan?"

Hardware-Software Integration

As a QA Engineer dealing with physical systems, you must bridge the gap between code and hardware. This area tests your ability to troubleshoot complex electro-mechanical systems and embedded software. A strong candidate will seamlessly navigate between reading software logs and understanding wiring diagrams.

Be ready to go over:

• Telemetry Analysis – Extracting and interpreting data logs to identify anomalies.
• Sensor Calibration and Validation – Ensuring IMUs, GPS, and optical sensors are feeding accurate data to the flight controller.
• Root Cause Analysis – Isolating whether a bug is caused by software logic, hardware failure, or environmental interference.
• Advanced concepts (less common) –
  • Real-time operating systems (RTOS) debugging.
  • RF communication link stress testing.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "During a test, the vehicle unexpectedly drops altitude for two seconds before recovering. How do you determine if this is a software bug or a hardware sensor glitch?"
• "Explain your process for validating a new firmware update before it is flashed onto the flight vehicle."
• "How do you test the redundancy of a critical flight system?"

Safety Critical Systems & Risk Mitigation

At & General Intuition, safety is non-negotiable. This evaluation area focuses on your understanding of risk assessment frameworks and your personal commitment to operational safety. Interviewers will look for your ability to identify hazards before they occur and your willingness to advocate for safety over schedule.

Be ready to go over:

• Hazard Analysis – Identifying potential failure modes and their consequences.
• Mitigation Strategies – Designing fail-safes, geofences, and emergency termination systems.
• Safety Culture – How you communicate risks to leadership and handle pushback.
• Advanced concepts (less common) –
  • Familiarity with specific aerospace safety standards (e.g., DO-178C, DO-254).
  • Designing fault-injection testing frameworks.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Tell me about a time you had to halt a test or delay a launch because of a safety concern. How did stakeholders react?"
• "How do you evaluate the risk of a new, unproven software feature being introduced into the flight stack?"
• "Design a fail-safe mechanism for a sudden loss of communication between the ground station and the vehicle."

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Key Responsibilities

As a Senior Flight Test Engineer at & General Intuition, your day-to-day operations will be a blend of analytical planning and dynamic, hands-on execution. You will be responsible for leading the end-to-end testing lifecycle for new flight software releases and hardware revisions. This begins with drafting comprehensive test plans, reviewing them with systems engineering teams, and defining the precise telemetry metrics required to validate performance.

You will spend a significant portion of your time conducting both simulated and live flight operations. This involves setting up hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) test benches, executing simulated flight profiles, and then transitioning those profiles to the physical test range. During live operations, you will act as a primary test director, monitoring real-time data streams, communicating with flight operators, and ensuring all safety protocols are strictly followed.

Post-flight, your focus will shift to deep data analysis. You will parse gigabytes of telemetry, using Python or similar scripting languages to automate the identification of anomalies. You will collaborate constantly with embedded engineers to reproduce bugs, provide detailed root-cause analysis, and verify patches. Additionally, as a senior member of the team, you will mentor junior QA staff and drive the continuous improvement of our internal testing tools and infrastructure.

Role Requirements & Qualifications

To thrive as a QA Engineer in this highly specialized environment, you must possess a unique blend of systems thinking, technical acumen, and operational discipline. The ideal candidate brings a proven track record in aerospace, robotics, or autonomous vehicle testing.

• Must-have technical skills – Deep expertise in test design and execution for complex electro-mechanical systems. Proficiency in Python or C++ for data analysis and test automation. Strong understanding of vehicle kinematics, control systems, and telemetry parsing.
• Must-have experience – Typically 5+ years of experience in flight testing, systems engineering, or hardware/software integration. Proven experience acting as a test director or lead during live, physical test operations.
• Must-have soft skills – Exceptional cross-functional communication abilities. You must be able to translate complex technical anomalies into clear, actionable insights for product managers and engineering leads. Unwavering commitment to safety and the confidence to push back on timelines when necessary.
• Nice-to-have skills – Direct experience with specific FAA regulations regarding UAVs or experimental aircraft. Familiarity with advanced data visualization tools (like Grafana or MATLAB) and experience building automated HITL testing pipelines.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How much travel is required for this role? Because live flight testing requires specific physical ranges and environmental conditions, you should expect moderate travel. While your home base is in Ann Arbor, MI, you will periodically deploy to remote test sites for multi-day flight campaigns.

Q: What differentiates a successful candidate from an average one? A successful candidate doesn't just execute tests; they actively improve the testing architecture. They demonstrate a deep understanding of why a system failed, not just how, and they possess the leadership skills to drive cross-functional solutions rather than just filing bug reports.

Q: How technical is the coding portion of the interview? You are not expected to be a core software developer, but you must be highly proficient in scripting (usually Python) to parse telemetry, automate test benches, and build data visualization tools. Expect practical, data-manipulation coding exercises rather than abstract algorithmic puzzles.

Q: What is the safety culture like at & General Intuition? Safety is our ultimate priority. The culture empowers any engineer, regardless of seniority, to halt operations if they identify a critical risk. You will be expected to actively contribute to this culture and rigorously document hazard assessments.

Q: How long does the entire interview process usually take? The process typically takes three to five weeks from the initial recruiter screen to a final offer decision. This timeline allows for thorough scheduling of the onsite panel, which involves coordinating with multiple senior engineering stakeholders.

Other General Tips

• Master the STAR Method for Safety – When answering behavioral questions, explicitly highlight the safety implications of the situation. Detail the Task, the Action you took to mitigate risk, and the Result on the overall safety of the program.
• Understand the Physical System – Do not treat the vehicle as a black box. Be prepared to discuss basic aerodynamics, sensor modalities (GPS, IMU, LIDAR), and how environmental factors like temperature and vibration impact electronic components.

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• Brush Up on Data Parsing – You will likely face a scenario where you must explain how you would extract specific insights from a massive, noisy dataset. Be comfortable discussing your preferred libraries (e.g., Pandas, NumPy) and visualization techniques.
• Embrace Ambiguity – Interviewers will often present you with vague symptoms (e.g., "The vehicle drifts left during high winds"). They want to see your structured troubleshooting process. Ask clarifying questions before jumping to conclusions.

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• Show Your Passion for Aviation/Robotics – & General Intuition thrives on innovation. Let your genuine enthusiasm for complex, moving machines shine through during your conversations.

Summary & Next Steps

The QA Engineer / Senior Flight Test Engineer role at & General Intuition is an exceptional opportunity to work at the cutting edge of hardware and software integration. You will be tackling problems that have tangible, real-world consequences, ensuring that our products operate flawlessly in the most demanding environments. This role demands a unique combination of systems engineering knowledge, operational discipline, and analytical rigor.

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This compensation module provides a realistic view of the salary band for this senior-level position in Ann Arbor, MI. Keep in mind that exact offers will depend heavily on your specific years of flight testing experience, your proficiency with automated testing frameworks, and your performance across the technical and leadership interview panels.

To succeed, focus your preparation on demonstrating a holistic understanding of system-level troubleshooting and unwavering safety advocacy. Practice articulating your past test campaigns clearly, emphasizing how your data-driven decisions directly improved product reliability. Remember that your interviewers want you to succeed; they are looking for a trusted colleague who can help them push the boundaries of what is possible. For further insights and to continue refining your approach, explore the additional resources available on Dataford. You have the foundational experience—now it is time to showcase your expertise with confidence.