---
title: 'Software Engineer, Test at Skip'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-test-skip-san-francisco-hbhweafhbqbj'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-12'
---

# Software Engineer, Test at Skip

- **Company:** Skip
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-03-18
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-12
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/skip/f825dad4-c9b5-4b8a-81c7-dc1c81056be6

## Job description

Skip is on a mission to make life joyful through powered movement.

Movement is a powerful way to build physical, mental and social health. Yet it is elusive for 2 billion people due to age, injury, or disability. We are building products that will restore mobility for millions and enable a new frontier of joyful movement experiences. We want to build a future where a grandparent can easily outrun their grandkids and no one is left behind at the trailhead.

Skip is a 22-person early-stage start-up that spun out of Google X in 2023. With deep cross-disciplinary expertise and key partnerships (e.g. with Arc’teryx) we are uniquely positioned to launch the first commercially successful wearable robotic device, the MO/GO, develop a platform to launch future Movewear products and transform millions of lives in the coming years.

## The Role

We're looking for an engineer who can own software quality end-to-end, from a user unboxing the device for the first time to data syncing reliably on Google Cloud. You'll operate across web, mobile, backend API, and device/IoT layers in a fast-moving sprint cycle where 1–2 engineers need to punch far above their weight. This is a hands-on IC role. You'll build the automation infrastructure that makes scaling our test suite possible, design mock environments, and collaborate closely with firmware, app, and cloud engineers to bridge the gap between unit-level coverage and full regression suites.

## What You'll Own

- Design and execute end-to-end test plans covering the full user journey — device unboxing, app onboarding, BLE pairing, charging modes, and cloud data sync
- Participate in EVT/DVT hardware-software integration testing and Hardware-in-Loop (HIL) test planning
- Build and maintain automation frameworks spanning web (Selenium), mobile (Appium), and backend API layers
- Develop and manage mock environments, test data pipelines, and sandbox configurations to isolate and reproduce issues reliably
- Write and own unit and integration test suites in collaboration with firmware and SW engineers to close coverage gaps ahead of scale
- Identify and document edge cases systematically: network unavailability, BLE/WiFi failure modes, data sync retry logic, storage-full conditions, server errors, and app crashes
- Verify data correctness across the full stack — on-device, app, and GCP endpoints
- Define and track test metrics; flag release risks early in each sprint cycle
- Wear prototypes several hours a week for on-body testing, data collection, and feedback

## Basic Qualifications

- 5+ years of software testing experience in a product company, ideally with consumer devices or IoT
- Ability to test e2e features across hardware device, mobile app, firmware, backend/cloud systems
- Strong programming and scripting fundamentals — Python and JavaScript/TypeScript required
- Experience with XCUITest(iOS), espresso(Android) and other native mobile test automation frameworks
- Experience designing and executing API test automation (REST/GraphQL)
- Ability to independently define test strategies from scratch — no pre-built QA infrastructure to lean on
- Familiarity with HIL (Hardware-in-the-Loop) test setups or firmware-level testing at EVT/DVT stages
- Demonstrated skill in creating edge-case scenarios and thinking adversarially about user flows
- Experience building and maintaining mock services, test environments, and synthetic test data
- Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and integrating automated tests into release workflows
- Comfortable working across mobile (iOS/Android) and cloud-connected system testing
- Ability to work from our Bay Area office 3 days/week

Bonus Points

- Background testing BLE, WiFi, or other wireless protocols in consumer devices
- Experience with motor control, robotics, or powered consumer electronics (drones, e-bikes, powered prosthetics, etc.)
- Experience writing or reviewing infrastructure-as-code for test environments
- Strong opinions about sprint velocity and what actually slows teams down
- Personal motivation to improve human movement or experience with adaptive sports/assistive tech
- Sense of humour, tolerant of Aussie & Canadian spelling

Skip is an equal opportunity employer. Our hiring decisions are based on need and competence to satisfy said need. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other legally protected status.

Any and all offers of employment extended by Skip are conditional on candidates’ ability to provide satisfactory proof of eligibility to maintain full-time employment in the United States.

## About Skip

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Skip develops powered movewear (wearable exoskeleton pants) that supports human movement, making walking, hiking, and daily mobility easier for people experiencing age‑related decline, injury, or disability.
- **Entity Type**: Private (seed‑stage; raised $6 M in total funding)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2023
- **Founders**: Kathryn Zealand (CEO & Co‑Founder), Anna Roumiantseva (Co‑Founder & CPO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Wearable robotics / consumer health & wellness / mobility technology
- **Target customers**: B2C (active older adults, hikers, people with knee pain or mobility challenges) – “the missing middle” that is neither fully disabled nor fully able
- **Mission**: “Make life joyful through powered movement” — aiming to restore mobility for millions and enable a future where no one is left behind at the trailhead

## Products & Services
- **[MO/GO™](https://www.skipwithjoy.com/)**: The company’s first movewear product — lightweight, apparel‑integrated exoskeleton “powered pants” that provide assistance on inclines and descents, reducing strain on muscles and joints. Built from learnings in exoskeleton force transfer, AI/ML movement interpretation, comfortable wearable design, and consumer‑tech UX. Released in partnership with Arc’teryx for testing/co‑branding (2024).

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly available
- **Key Metric (Funding)**: $6 M total funding — a $3 M Seed Round and a $3 M Grant, both closed in July 2024 ([LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/skipwithjoy)).  
  *Note: Tracxn lists the company as “unfunded” but is likely outdated or misclassifying grants; the LinkedIn data is more recent.*
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Spun out of **X, The Moonshot Factory** (Google’s moonshot lab). Partnership with **Arc’teryx** for the MO/GO launch. Founding team includes alumni of Google X.
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew +62.9 % year‑over‑year to 16 employees (as of mid‑2026). Three open roles posted (Software Engineer, Test; Firmware Engineer; Founding Marketing Lead). Company featured in National Geographic (CEO Kathryn Zealand named a National Geographic 33 honoree). Active in academic research — published a study on hip exoskeleton assistance for people with Parkinson’s disease in *Frontiers in Robotics and AI*.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Deep tech heritage**: Founders and many team members came from Google X, giving access to years of exoskeleton and force‑transfer research.
- **New product category (“Movewear”)**: First mover in blending robotic exoskeleton technology with stylish, consumer‑friendly wearables — not just medical devices.
- **Strong brand storytelling**: The mission resonates emotionally (“Help a grandparent outrun their grandkids”) and has earned media coverage in NatGeo, CES spotlights, and AARP’s AgeTech Collaborative.
- **Focus on the “missing middle”**: Addresses a large underserved market (billions with age‑related or mild mobility issues) that is ignored by both medical exoskeletons and fitness trackers.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scale manufacturing and distribution**: Moving from prototype/limited runs to broader consumer availability for MO/GO.
- **Build a world‑class engineering team**: Actively hiring firmware, test, and marketing leads to expand the 16‑person team.
- **Clinical validation & partnerships**: Continued publication of studies (e.g., Parkinson’s) and collaboration with organizations like the Michael J. Fox Foundation to establish credibility and open healthcare channels.
- **Expand product line**: Use the Movewear platform to create models for different activities and levels of support.

## Why Work Here
- **High‑impact, mission‑driven work**: Engineers directly improve physical mobility for millions of people.
- **Small, high‑density team**: 16 employees with a strong ratio of technical staff (9 in technical roles). Offers the chance to own large areas of the stack.
- **Culture rooted in moonshot thinking**: Spun out of Google X; employees have backgrounds from X, Harvard, Stanford, and top robotics firms.
- **Hybrid/Office presence**: HQ in San Francisco, California. Recent job posts specify location in San Francisco Bay Area, suggesting an on‑site or hybrid expectation.
- **Perks and environment**: Working on a tangible hardware + software product that users wear and love. The team is described as passionate about movement, joy, and inclusion — events like SF Design Week “Build Your Superpowers” highlight a fun, community‑focused culture.

## Sources
1. [Skip Official Website – About](https://www.skipwithjoy.com/aboutus)
2. [Skip Careers Page](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/skip) (via LinkedIn)
3. [Skip LinkedIn Company Profile](https://www.linkedin.com/company/skipwithjoy)
4. [Skip on DayOne.fm](https://dayone.fm/company/skip)
5. [Tracxn Company Profile](https://tracxn.com/d/companies/skip/__d5pUuD-03STihX3ls-azp7_yxK90CKdZqKMe_5V_ybk)

## Other roles at Skip

- [Mechatronics / Power Train Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/mechatronics-power-train-lead-skip-san-francisco-xhwqnn9yfnk4) — San Francisco, CA
- [Product Design Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/product-design-engineer-skip-san-francisco-wz4q1js4r7f0) — San Francisco, CA
- [Infrastructure Security Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/infrastructure-security-engineer-skip-san-francisco-3mj34y9pndec) — San Francisco, CA
- [Hardware Reliability Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/hardware-reliability-engineer-skip-san-francisco-f77vrymrgqpp) — San Francisco, CA
- [Robotics Generalist](https://feeny.ai/job/robotics-generalist-skip-san-francisco-sbhgas1my2n5) — San Francisco, CA
- [Soft Goods Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/soft-goods-designer-skip-san-francisco-txkrz0fb18r6) — San Francisco, CA
- [Firmware Engineering Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/firmware-engineering-lead-skip-san-francisco-zq25ysz3q2zn) — San Francisco, CA
- [Backend Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/backend-engineer-skip-san-francisco-ss58qjf9g74s) — San Francisco, CA
- [Engineering Program Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/engineering-program-manager-skip-san-francisco-0tzvkvdtzqsn) — San Francisco, CA
- [Motor Control Firmware Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/motor-control-firmware-engineer-skip-san-francisco-y1ha2rnpa2bq) — San Francisco, CA