Customer Support Engineer - Test Systems

Job Title: Customer Support Engineer - Test Systems

Location: Primarily customer site near Cheltenham, UK + Occasional UK and European travel

Salary: Competitive

Job Type: Full time, Permanent

The Role:

We are looking for a practical, technically capable and highly customer-focused Customer Support Technician to become our primary day-to-day representative at a major customer site near Cheltenham.

Key Responsibilities:

Customer and Technical Support

• Act as Averna's primary day-to-day representative at the customer site and build strong working relationships with engineering, production, maintenance and other customer teams.
• Provide first-line support for test systems and associated equipment including both Averna-supplied systems and equipment originally supplied by others.
• Investigate faults and operational issues and establish the appropriate course of action.
• Diagnose faults to module level and, where appropriate, component level using standard electronic test equipment.
• Work closely with Averna engineering specialists to escalate more complex problems and bring the appropriate expertise to bear.
• Develop a strong working knowledge of the customer's equipment, systems and operating environment.
• Help identify recurring issues, weaknesses and opportunities to improve equipment reliability, maintainability, usability and performance.
• Provide a responsive and pragmatic service while recognising the limits of your own knowledge and seeking specialist support where appropriate.

Hands-on Engineering

• Undertake electrical wiring, modification, repair and rework activities in accordance with customer requirements and approved engineering information.
• Carry out wiring, looming, crimping, terminating and soldering activities to an appropriate professional standard.
• Read and interpret electrical schematics, wiring schedules, general arrangement drawings and other engineering documentation.
• Follow calibration, test and diagnostic procedures accurately and use the results to identify potential equipment failures.
• Use standard instrumentation including DMMs, oscilloscopes and LCR meters to support fault diagnosis.
• Undertake basic mechanical and fabrication activities associated with test equipment including drilling, panel modification, removal of damaged fasteners and thread repair.
• Work with the customer and Averna engineering teams where modifications or repairs require additional design authority, specialist knowledge or engineering approval.

Customer Development

• Work closely with the Averna Account Manager to understand the customer's wider objectives, priorities and challenges.
• Identify opportunities where Averna's engineering, test, support or obsolescence capabilities could improve the customer's operation.
• Recognise potential requirements arising from recurring faults, ageing equipment, capacity constraints, process inefficiencies or new programmes.
• Help engineering and sales colleagues understand and develop these opportunities by providing practical insight from the customer environment.
• Support site visits, technical discussions and requirements capture activities where appropriate.
• Contribute to making Averna easier to work with and continually improving the customer's experience of our business.

Wider Field Support

Although the role will be predominantly based at the customer site near Cheltenham, there may occasionally be a requirement to support Averna test systems installed at other customer locations.

This may include:

• Supporting ATEC and other test systems at customer sites elsewhere in the UK.
• Occasional travel to European customer locations.
• Working closely with engineering and support colleagues in France and elsewhere within the Averna Group.
• Occasional travel to Toulouse for technical training, knowledge transfer and team activities.
• Occasional visits to Averna's UK operation, currently based in Bournemouth.

The Cheltenham customer site will remain the principal place of work and travel is expected to represent a relatively small proportion of the role.

Technical Skills and Experience:

We would expect you to have a good foundation in electrical/electronic engineering with practical experience of maintaining, supporting, manufacturing or modifying complex electrical or electronic equipment.

Ideally you will have:

• A HNC/HND or equivalent qualification in electrical, electronic or a related engineering discipline. Relevant practical experience may also be considered.
• Experience of fault-finding on electrical or electronic systems to module level with component-level diagnostic capability advantageous.
• Confidence using standard electronic instrumentation including DMMs, oscilloscopes and LCR meters.
• Strong practical wiring skills including looming, crimping, terminating and soldering.
• The ability to read and interpret electrical schematics, wiring schedules, system diagrams and general arrangement drawings.
• Experience working to recognised wiring and workmanship standards with IPC-WHMA-A-620 certification desirable.
• Good basic mechanical and fabrication skills associated with the modification and repair of test equipment.
• An understanding of automated test systems and the ability to run and interpret test programmes as part of system fault diagnosis.
• Experience in one or more related engineering disciplines such as control systems, power electronics, electromechanical systems, instrumentation, RF or communications would be advantageous but is not essential. Previous experience within aerospace, defence, manufacturing, test engineering or another highly regulated engineering environment would also be beneficial.

We offer:

An attractive salary package with benefits such as generous pension scheme (4% employee / 8% employer, full family health care plan, family health cash plan, 27 days holiday + bank holidays, Life assurance & income protection insurance

Please note: This vacancy is not open to recruitment agencies or other third-party organizations

Please click the APPLY button and to submit your CV and Cover Letter.

Candidates with experience of: Site Account Support Engineer, Technical Service Manager - Embedded Test Systems, Technical Account Specialist - Test Systems, Customer Support Technician, Electrical Engineering Support, may also be considered for this role.