Principal Engineer - Test and Verification
EDGEEDGE, based in the United Arab Emirates, is a leading advanced technology group working at the forefront of defence and emerging technologies. Spanning more than 35 specialised companies and multiple centres of excellence, EDGE moves fast and gives its people the autonomy, accountability and agility to turn breakthrough ideas into reality.
Based in Abu Dhabi, a globally connected hub at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, EDGE hosts a truly multicultural community where bold ideas are welcomed and the future is shaped. The company is expanding its engineering leadership and is seeking a Principal Engineer to own System Test and Verification for a complex defence programme, onsite in the region.
The role suits someone who wants to work across systems engineering, software, hardware, integration, safety, and security teams inside a regulated defence environment. It’s ideal for someone with at least a decade of hands-on verification experience in defence communications or mission-critical systems who enjoys driving verification strategy in a model-based environment.
Inside the verification cockpit
The core of this role is to plan, coordinate and execute verification activities across the programme lifecycle, ensuring requirements, interfaces, operational behaviours and performance objectives are fully evidenced and traceable. You’ll collaborate with systems engineers, software and hardware teams, and customer stakeholders to align verification evidence with MBSE workflows in Enterprise Architect and Jama Connect. The work spans planning the approach, developing acceptance criteria, and guiding both automated and manual tests to validate that the system meets its objectives in real-world scenarios.
Day to day you’ll shape the verification strategy, craft test plans, and design test cases that cover system and user acceptance, functional and interface checks, network and performance tests, and regression scenarios. You’ll support lab, factory, site and operational acceptance activities, and you’ll record, analyse and report findings through formal metrics, test reports and defect records. Automated tools will play a role in validating HMI, API and network-level interactions, with you steering defect management and issue resolution as they arise.
What you’ll need to bring to EDGE
- A degree in systems or software engineering, electronics, computer science or a closely related field
- More than ten years of hands-on test and verification work within defence communications, C4ISR or other mission-critical systems
- A solid grasp of systems engineering and lifecycle processes, plus experience designing and conducting structured V&V activities
- Strong analytical abilities, meticulous attention to detail and the ability to explain technical issues clearly
- Comfort operating in complex defence engineering environments and collaborating across multidisciplinary teams
- Experience in defence communications, C2 or C4ISR programmes, or mission systems projects
- Familiarity with Jama Connect for requirements and test management
- Knowledge of Enterprise Architect for MBSE and model-based verification approaches
- Exposure to agile or incremental development methods
- Experience using AI to assist with manual and automated test case generation
- Awareness of security and safety verification activities; ISTQB software testing certification at Foundation or Intermediate level
Pay, perks and practicals
EDGE notes that salaries are highly competitive and tax-free. Depending on role and seniority, the package may also include family visas, annual flight tickets, medical insurance for you and your dependents, and education allowances for your children. The position is onsite in Abu Dhabi, and English proficiency is required for all roles unless stated otherwise in the posting.
Tips for applicants stepping into EDGE
Lead with a summary of your most relevant verification leadership for defence communications and mission-critical systems, and make sure your resume places your 10+ years of test and verification experience up front.
Demonstrate your must-have skills with concrete, verifiable examples: show plans you’ve written, verification methods you’ve implemented, complex test cases you’ve designed and the measurable improvements you’ve driven in system confidence and defect resolution.
Expect interview questions to dig into how you’ve worked within MBSE environments and across the lifecycle, including how you’ve used Enterprise Architect and Jama Connect to maintain traceability and evidence for requirements and tests.
When you ask a question, target how the team uses MBSE tooling in practice and what verification challenges they’re facing across the programme, such as ensuring traceability from system requirements through to acceptance tests and deployment.