Customer Support Engineer - Test Systems

Averna Powered By Spherea; Cheltenham; On-site; GBP 38,000 - 48,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous pension

Family health care

Life assurance

Income protection

27 days holiday + bank holidays

Job summary

Averna Powered By Spherea is seeking a hands-on Field Service Engineer to support customer test systems at a site near Cheltenham with occasional UK and European travel. You will troubleshoot, repair, wire, modify, and rework complex electrical equipment, reading schematics and using DMMs, scopes and LCR meters.

The role emphasizes customer collaboration, problem solving, and close work with Averna engineering teams to improve equipment reliability and performance.

Qualifications

• Good foundation in electrical/electronic engineering with practical experience in maintaining or modifying equipment.
• Fault-finding on electrical/electronic systems to module level with component-level diagnostic capability is a plus.
• Ability to read and interpret electrical schematics and wiring diagrams.
• Experience with standard electronic instrumentation and basic mechanical fabrication skills.

Responsibilities

• Act as primary day-to-day representative at the customer site and build strong relationships with customer teams.
• Provide first-line support for test systems and equipment.
• Investigate faults and determine appropriate corrective action; diagnose to module level, sometimes component level.
• Work with Averna engineers to bring expertise to complex problems; learn customer equipment and environment.
• Identify recurring issues and opportunities to improve reliability and usability.
• Undertake wiring, modification, repair and rework to customer requirements; read engineering docs.

Skills

Electrical engineering

Fault finding

Electrical instrumentation

Schematic reading

Wiring skills

Education

HNC/HND in electrical engineering

Tools

DMMs

Oscilloscopes

LCR meters

Job description

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

Salary: Competitive

Job Type: Full time, Permanent

The Role

Key Responsibilities

• 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 bring the appropriate expertise to bear on more complex problems.
• 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.
• 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)

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

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