Testing Team Lead (Hardware Testing)

Blackwave stands for passion and innovation in aerospace. What began as a small start-up in Munich, Germany with a genuine bottom-up mentality has developed into a leading player in the space and aerospace industry all the way to the USA. Our focus is on the development and production of standardized pressure vessels (COPVs) and complex carbon structures. With our “off-the-shelf” approach to COPVs, we are setting new standards – efficient, reliable, and future-oriented. Progress is what drives us: with courage, creativity, and technical expertise, we are shaping the next generation of space technologies.

Role Mission

The mission of the Testing Lead is to ensure high product quality, system reliability, and release readiness by defining, executing, and continuously improving testing and quality assurance practices. The role ensures that our COPVs (Carbon overwrapped Pressure Vessels) meet functional, technical, and business requirements before release and supports scalable, repeatable quality processes as the organization grows.

Key Responsibilities:

Within the role, the Testing Lead is expected to:

• Ensure timely and high-quality releases with reduced defect leakage into production

• Provide transparent reporting on quality status, risks, and test results

• Improve test coverage, efficiency, and reliability across releases

• Enable strong collaboration between testing, engineering, and other production teams

• Build and sustain a high-quality, on-site testing function

• In charge of testing team members executing the processes

Core Responsibilities

• Own and lead all on-site testing and quality assurance activities

• Plan, execute, and oversee manual and automated testing (functional, integration, system, regression)

• Coordinate testing activities

• Identify, document, prioritize, and track defects through resolution

• Ensure re-testing and validation of fixes before release approval

• Collaborate closely with engineering, quality, and operations teams

• Provide regular quality reports, metrics, and risk assessments to stakeholders

• Continuously improve testing processes, tools, and methodologies

• Mentor and guide testers and quality engineers on-site

Required Qualifications

Education & Experience

• 3+ years of experience in hardware testing or quality assurance

• Proven experience as a Manufacturing Team Lead, QA Lead, or similar role

• Strong understanding of testing methodologies and QA best practices

Technical & Professional Skills

• Experience with both manual and automated testing

• Ability to structure, document, and communicate test results clearly

• Strong coordination and stakeholder management skills

Language Skills

• English: Fluent (required):Must be able to communicate clearly and professionally in spoken and written English in a US business environment

• German and/ or Spanish is a plus

Location & Travel

• Our current facility is located inLockhart, Texas (near Austin/San Antonio)

• Inmid-2026, Blackwave will relocate to a new site in thePort San Antonio aerospace hub

• On-site presence is mandatory

• Ability to collaborate daily with on-site teams and stakeholders

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with test automation tools and frameworks

• Prior experience building or scaling testing processes

• First people leadership or mentoring experience

Equal Opportunity Employer

Blackwave Texas Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to protected characteristics under applicable law.

ITAR Requirement

This position requires eligibility under U.S. export regulations (ITAR). Candidates must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. permanent resident, or otherwise authorized to access export-controlled information.

For this U.S.-based role, your application will be managed by our global People Team in Germany.