HIL & OTA Test Engineer

Role: HIL & OTA Test Engineer

Location: Düsseldorf, Germany

Type: Permanent/ Full-Time

Role Overview

We are looking for an experienced HIL & OTA Test Engineer to support testing and validation of automotive Electronic Control Units (ECUs), vehicle functions, and Over-the-Air (OTA) software update systems.

The ideal candidate will have hands-on experience with Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing, ECU validation, CAN/CAN FD, automotive communication protocols, test automation, and OTA update validation . The engineer will work closely with embedded software, system engineering, cybersecurity, DevOps, and vehicle integration teams to ensure reliable and production-ready automotive software.

Key Responsibilities

HIL Testing

• Develop, execute, and maintain HIL test cases and test scenarios for automotive ECUs.
• Perform functional, integration, regression, and system-level testing using HIL platforms.
• Configure HIL environments, ECU interfaces, I/O models, network simulation, and test benches.
• Analyze ECU behavior against system and software requirements.
• Perform fault injection and negative testing to validate ECU robustness and diagnostics.
• Validate ECU state transitions, timing behavior, error handling, and fail-safe mechanisms.
• Perform automated test execution and analyze test reports/logs.
• Debug failures and collaborate with development teams to identify root causes.

Automotive Communication Testing

• Hands-on testing using CAN/CAN FD, LIN, Ethernet, UDS, and SOME/IP .
• Validate diagnostic services using UDS (ISO 14229) .
• Analyze CAN/CAN FD and Ethernet traces for communication issues.
• Validate diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs), ECU diagnostic sessions, routines, and data identifiers.
• Work with automotive network databases such as DBC, ARXML , and diagnostic specifications.
• Perform network simulation and rest-bus simulation where required.

OTA Testing

• Design and execute test cases for Automotive OTA/FOTA/SOTA update processes .
• Validate complete OTA workflows including:
• Campaign creation
• Software/package download
• Vehicle/ECU authentication
• Package verification
• Installation
• ECU reboot/reset
• Post-update validation
• Rollback/recovery
• Test OTA updates under different network conditions such as low bandwidth, intermittent connectivity, and connection loss.
• Validate update behavior for successful, failed, interrupted, and partially completed campaigns.
• Perform A/B partition, rollback, recovery, and delta-update testing where applicable.
• Verify software version, configuration, calibration, and compatibility after OTA updates.
• Validate backend-to-vehicle communication and OTA campaign status.
• Analyze OTA logs and troubleshoot failures across vehicle, ECU, gateway, and backend systems.

Test Automation

• Develop and maintain automated test scripts using Python and/or other scripting languages.
• Automate HIL, CAN, diagnostic, and OTA test scenarios.
• Integrate automated tests with CI/CD pipelines .
• Generate automated test reports and analyze test results.
• Improve test coverage and reduce manual regression effort.

Tools & Technologies

Experience with some of the following tools is preferred:

• Vector CANoe / CANalyzer
• dSPACE SCALEXIO / MicroAutoBox / ControlDesk
• NI VeriStand / PXI
• ETAS INCA
• MATLAB / Simulink
• Python
• Jenkins / GitLab CI
• Git
• CANoe Test Feature Set / CAPL
• Wireshark
• Jira / Azure DevOps
• Automotive diagnostic tools

Required Automotive Knowledge

• ECU software testing and validation
• HIL/SIL/MIL testing concepts
• CAN / CAN FD
• Automotive Ethernet
• LIN
• UDS / ISO 14229
• DoIP / ISO 13400
• SOME/IP
• Diagnostics and DTCs
• ECU bootloader and flashing concepts
• Automotive gateways
• Vehicle network architecture
• Software version and configuration management
• OTA/FOTA/SOTA concepts

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical/Electronics/Automotive/Computer Engineering or a related field.
• Experience in automotive embedded testing.
• Strong hands-on experience with HIL testing and ECU validation .
• Experience with OTA/FOTA/SOTA testing is highly preferred.
• Good knowledge of CAN/CAN FD, UDS, diagnostics, and automotive Ethernet.
• Programming/scripting experience in Python, CAPL, or similar .
• Strong debugging and problem-solving skills.
• Experience working with requirements, test specifications, defect management, and test reports.
• Good understanding of ASPICE/V-model-based development and testing .

Key Deliverables

• HIL test cases and test specifications
• Automated test scripts
• OTA validation test suites
• Regression test reports
• Defect/root-cause analysis
• ECU communication and diagnostic validation
• OTA campaign validation reports
• Test automation and CI/CD integration
• Requirement-to-test traceability
• Final test and release validation reports