This opportunity is for a position with the L3Harris Environmental Test Laboratory. We are looking for a thermal vacuum subject matter expert. Candidate will coordinate, prepare, manage, and execute environmental testing projects designed to take L3Harris products to the limit of their functional and structural design. Candidate will operate climatic chambers designed to replicate the freezing temperatures of earth poles, the scorching temperatures of the desserts, the humidity of the jungles, the altitudes of the skies, and the frigid vacuum of space. Similarly, the candidate will operate electrodynamic shakers where harsh vibration environments are reproduced to test products for their survivability to transportation, gun fire, aircraft-carrier arrests, and rocket launch conditions. Candidate will be working in a team orientated environment in a laboratory that runs year-round. Weekend support will be required as needed with paid overtime.
Essential Functions:
+ Assist other engineers understand and execute complex environmental tests.
+ Plan, document, coordinate, and execute, environmental exposure tests on high-technology, high-value hardware produced for the defense industry.
+ Support the documentation and investigation of anomalies and failures.
+ This position may require occasional weekend, off-shift, and overtime work.
+ On-the-job training will be given regardless of experience level.
Qualifications:
+ Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering and minimum 6 years of prior relevant experience. Graduate Degree and a minimum of 4 years of prior related experience.
+ Experience with environmental testing. (Vibration, Thermal and TVAC)
+ Subject matter expert background in the operation and theory of thermal vacuum chambers.
+ Must be able to read and follow written procedures and processes and work with the engineering leadership team to resolve issues.
+ People management/leadership skills. Candidate will work closely with Environmental Test Technicians to accomplish testing.
Preferred Additional Skills:
+ Experience with avionics or space hardware test.
+ Experience performing environmental testing per MIL-STD-810
L3Harris Technologies is proud to be an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. L3Harris is committed to treating all employees and applicants for employment with respect and dignity and maintaining a workplace that is free from unlawful discrimination. All applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, national origin, ancestry, ethnicity, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or other related medical conditions), gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, disability, genetic information, citizenship status, characteristic or membership in any other group protected by federal, state or local laws. L3Harris maintains a drug-free workplace and performs pre-employment substance abuse testing and background checks, where permitted by law.
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How to hire a senior test specialist
Senior test specialist hiring summary. Here are some key points about hiring senior test specialists in the United States:
- There are currently 21,051 senior test specialists in the US, as well as 26,784 job openings.
- Senior test specialists are in the highest demand in Charlotte, NC, with 18 current job openings.
- The median cost to hire a senior test specialist is $1,633.
- It takes between 36 and 42 days to fill the average role in the US.
- Human Resources use 15% of their expenses on recruitment on average.
- On average, it takes around 12 weeks for a new senior test specialist to become settled and show total productivity levels at work.
How to hire a senior test specialist, step by step
To hire a senior test specialist, consider the skills and experience you are looking for in a candidate, allocate a budget for the position, and post and promote the job opening to reach potential candidates. Follow these steps to hire a senior test specialist:
Here's a step-by-step senior test specialist hiring guide:
- Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
- Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
- Step 3: Make a budget
- Step 4: Write a senior test specialist job description
- Step 5: Post your job
- Step 6: Interview candidates
- Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new senior test specialist
- Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist
Post a senior test specialist job for free, promote it for a fee
Identify your hiring needs
The senior test specialist hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.
Determine employee vs contractor statusIs the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a senior test specialist to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a senior test specialist that fits the bill.
This list shows salaries for various types of senior test specialists.
Type of Senior Test Specialist Description Hourly rate Senior Test Specialist $31-50 Quality Assurance Engineer A Quality Assurance Engineer's role is to oversee the overall production and ensure that the product is cost-efficient and aligns with the company's standards. The responsibility mainly revolves around conducting activities that examine and scrutinize the condition of a product or service to identify issues and come up with possible solutions to resolve the issue or attain stronger customer satisfaction... Show more $29-52 Quality Assurance Lead A quality assurance lead, also known as QA Lead, is responsible for conducting necessary quality tests and analyses for software program and development. As a quality assurance lead, they must take the lead in ensuring quality during development by proactively performing critical evaluations, troubleshooting, and providing precise documentation... Show more $34-59 Create an ideal candidate profile
Common skills:- Java
- Test Cases
- Test Results
- Api Testing
- Test Scripts
- Test Procedures
- End Testing
- Test Data
- UI
- API
- QA
- Jenkins
- Regression
- SharePoint
Responsibilities:- Execute and creating testing components to automate in QTP.
- Develop, implement and manage the quality assurance (QA) program for fulfillment & core billing platforms.
- Manage the UAT process and the client demands to ensure a smooth testing period and transition to an operating model.
- Manage execution of manual and automate test cases for functional, performance, load, integration, UAT and infrastructure testing.
- Test the performance of Java API calls make from load runner.
- Guarantee proper implementation and system accuracy through integration, system, regression, load, and user acceptance test activities.
Make a budget
Including a salary range in the senior test specialist job description is a good way to get more applicants. A senior test specialist salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.
For example, the average salary for a senior test specialist in Vermont may be lower than in California, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level senior test specialist. Additionally, a senior test specialist with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.
Average senior test specialist salary
$82,769yearly
$39.79 hourly rateEntry-level senior test specialist salary$65,000 yearly salaryUpdated December 16, 2025Average senior test specialist salary by state
Rank State Avg. salary Hourly rate 1 California $107,431 $52 2 Delaware $88,261 $42 3 Maryland $87,596 $42 4 Virginia $86,316 $42 5 New Jersey $85,006 $41 6 Massachusetts $84,193 $40 7 Missouri $78,811 $38 8 New York $78,336 $38 9 Minnesota $77,856 $37 10 Michigan $77,019 $37 11 Louisiana $75,926 $37 12 Oklahoma $75,735 $36 13 Texas $75,293 $36 14 Iowa $75,234 $36 15 North Carolina $74,908 $36 16 Illinois $74,678 $36 17 Georgia $73,947 $36 18 Florida $73,223 $35 19 Colorado $73,223 $35 20 Rhode Island $73,076 $35 Average senior test specialist salary by company
Rank Company Average salary Hourly rate Job openings 1 Walmart $117,270 $56.38 1 2 InComm Payments $112,799 $54.23 3 AT&T $108,198 $52.02 4 Medical Billing $107,108 $51.49 5 Strategic Staffing Solutions $100,062 $48.11 6 Alight Solutions $99,845 $48.00 7 TISTA Science & Technology $99,330 $47.75 8 Coalfire Systems Inc. $98,367 $47.29 9 Nokia $97,035 $46.65 16 10 Kforce $95,821 $46.07 6 11 NTT Data International L.L.C. $94,893 $45.62 39 12 Wells Fargo $94,818 $45.59 13 Standav Corp. $94,728 $45.54 14 ManTech $94,690 $45.52 3 15 De Lage Landen Financial Services Inc $93,316 $44.86 16 QSSI $93,081 $44.75 17 DXC Technology $92,500 $44.47 18 cloudteam.com $90,661 $43.59 19 Alcatel Networks Inc $90,661 $43.59 1 20 Jacobs Enterprises $90,660 $43.59 Writing a senior test specialist job description
A senior test specialist job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of a senior test specialist job description:
Senior test specialist job description example
Post your job
To find the right senior test specialist for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:
- Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
- Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with senior test specialists they would recommend.
- Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit senior test specialists who meet your education requirements.
- Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.
Interview candidates
Recruiting senior test specialists requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.
You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.
Sometimes, it's not enough to interview senior test specialist candidates, so you can ask them to do a test project. If you are not a technical person and don't know what a test project should be, you can use these websites:
- TestDome
- CodeSignal
- Testlify
- BarRaiser
- Coderbyte
The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.
Send a job offer and onboard your new senior test specialist
Once you have selected a candidate for the senior test specialist position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize the agreement with a contract.
It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.
Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new senior test specialist. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.
Go through the hiring process checklist
- Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
- Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
- Define job responsibilities and requirements
- Establish budget and timeline
- Determine hiring decision makers for the role
- Write job description
- Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
- Promote the job internally
- Process applications through applicant tracking system
- Review resumes and cover letters
- Shortlist candidates for screening
- Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
- Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
- Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
- Conduct background checks on top candidates
- Check references of top candidates
- Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
- Extend offer to top candidate(s)
- Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
- Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
- Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
- Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)
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How much does it cost to hire a senior test specialist?
Recruiting senior test specialists involves both the one-time costs of hiring and the ongoing costs of adding a new employee to your team. Your spending during the hiring process will mostly be on things like promoting the job on job boards, reviewing and interviewing candidates, and onboarding the new hire. Ongoing costs will obviously involve the employee's salary, but also may include things like benefits.
You can expect to pay around $82,769 per year for a senior test specialist, as this is the median yearly salary nationally. This can vary depending on what state or city you're hiring in. If you're hiring for contract work or on a per-project basis, hourly rates for senior test specialists in the US typically range between $31 and $50 an hour.
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Updated December 16, 2025