Job description
About Us
Harmattan AI is a next-generation defense prime building autonomous and scalable defense systems. Following the close of a $200M Series B, valuing the company at $1.4 billion, we are expanding our teams and capabilities to deliver mission-critical systems to allied forces.
Our work is guided by clear values: building technologies with real-world impact, pursuing excellence in everything we do, setting ambitious goals, and taking on the hardest technical challenges. We operate in a demanding environment where rigor, ownership, and execution are expected.
About the Role
As a Validation Engineer, you're one of the founding engineers of Harmattan's new Moroccan team, and you own how we prove our systems are ready. You define the validation strategy, design the test plans and campaigns, and turn what we observe, in simulation, on the bench and in flight, into clear, actionable feedback for the engineering teams. Your primary focus is a new fixed-wing drone developed locally: you'll join early, at the design stage, and build the tools, procedures and test methods that its validation will rely on.
Because the Moroccan team is small and building from the ground up, the role is broad. You'll own validation end to end rather than a narrow slice of it, and you'll work hand in hand with a validation technician who supports test execution and piloting. You'll spend real time in the field, running campaigns at our nearby test range and, when a test needs wide-open airspace, at large testing areas further south. Occasionally you'll also contribute to validation campaigns for our French and Swiss projects that need large test areas, and travel to those sites to stay in sync with the wider group.
What you'll do
Validation strategy & test design: Define what "validated" means for a system, design the test plans and scenarios that will prove it, and decide what to measure and how to judge pass/fail.
Build the validation toolkit: Starting from the design phase of the new platform, create the procedures, tooling and test methods, software and hardware, that its validation will depend on.
Run campaigns & analyse results: Plan and lead test campaigns (in the field and using our simulation/bench tools), then analyse the data rigorously to separate real issues from noise and quantify performance.
Close the loop with engineering: Report defects, anomalies and their frequency clearly, and work with the design teams to drive fixes and product maturity.
Support the wider group: Occasionally contribute to validation trials for the French and Swiss teams that require large airspace, bringing back data and lessons learned.
What we're looking for
Engineering degree (or equivalent experience) in aerospace, mechatronics, electronics, robotics, or a related field.
10+ years of experience in validation, test engineering, flight testing or a closely related discipline, ideally on aerospace or robotic systems.
A structured, systems-level approach: designing test plans, defining metrics, a statistical mindset for noisy flight data, and the ability to reason about a whole platform (airframe, avionics, GNC, RF) rather than a single subsystem.
Comfortable in the field: hands-on setup and execution of outdoor campaigns, with enough piloting interest/ability to work closely with the technician (fixed-wing or FPV experience a plus — piloting remains primarily the technician's role).
Clear communicator, able to document rigorously and feed results back to engineering teams; able to manage a small team and work with varied backgrounds.
Working-level English; French or Arabic/Darija a strong plus.
Valid driving licence and willingness to travel for field campaigns, with occasional trips to France and Switzerland.
Bonus: experience with fixed-wing platforms, autopilots/flight computers, telemetry and log analysis, basic Linux.
We look forward to hearing how you can help shape the future of autonomous defense systems at Harmattan AI.