Failure Analysis Technician

Alt; Auckland; On-site; NZD 60,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Halter is seeking a Failure Analysis Technician to join our lab team. You’ll receive returned collars, run incoming inspection and triage, and tear down units to preserve evidence for engineers. You’ll close out known failure modes and hand novel issues to specialists with a clean evidence package.

You will also manage logistics for sending samples to external labs and support high‑volume, detail‑driven investigations to help ensure product reliability and long-term durability.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience in lab, workshop, production or field service.
• Experience with electrical test equipment and basic soldering/wiring.
• Commitment to following procedures, recording data accurately and speaking up when something is off.

Responsibilities

• Perform incoming returns inspection and triage.
• Classify units and close out documented failure modes.
• Carry out controlled teardown and preserve evidence per procedures; record findings, photos, measurements.
• Build, wire and configure test setups; run tests and capture results.
• Package, document and ship samples to external labs.
• Other duties as required.

Skills

Lab experience

Electrical testing

Soldering

Wiring

Process discipline

Ownership

Communication

Documentation

Education

Electronics/Mechatronics/Engineering background

Tools

Multimeters

Power supplies

Job description

About Halter

At Halter, we’re on a mission to enable farmers and graziers to run the most productive and sustainable operations. Our customers are using Halter to break free from the time-intensive constraints of conventional practices. Imagine watching 500 cattle stand up and walk calmly towards their next break? No quad bikes, no dogs, no fences. Just a group of cattle walking at their own pace. People say it looks like magic. Our customers are revolutionizing grazing with Halter. It's changing lives and transforming an industry. People join Halter to do meaningful work. By joining us you’ll be solving challenging problems within a talented team and a culture built for high performance. Our team out-think, out-work and out-care. We’re committed to delivering real change in the world - this isn’t easy, and in truth, we love that it’s hard.

We’re backed to deliver on a mission that matters by Tier 1 investors including Founders Fund, Bessemer Venture Partners, BOND, DCVC, Blackbird, Promus Ventures, Rocket Lab’s Peter Beck and Icehouse ventures.

To find out more, visit our LinkedIn & Instagram.

About the role

We’re changing the way the world farms - and with that comes a responsibility to the producers worldwide who trust us with their animals. Halter collars aren’t serviced, aren’t repairable and need to last 6-10 years, anywhere across the globe. The only way we achieve that is by improving our product based on the root cause of each failure that occurs in the field - those investigations happen in our Failure Analysis lab.

As a Failure Analysis Technician, you'll be the hands at the start of every failure investigation. You'll receive returned collars from the field, put them through incoming inspection and triage, tear down units to preserve the evidence, and run the test setups that replicate failures. You'll close out the failure modes we already understand, and hand the novel failures to our Failure Analysis Engineers as a clean, complete evidence package. You'll also own the logistics of getting samples to external labs.

This is a hands‑on, high-volume, detail‑driven role. We're looking for someone who wants to be genuinely excellent at the craft of getting evidence out of failed hardware. Every root cause Halter finds rests on that evidence being captured correctly, consistently and without contamination - and on knowing the difference between a failure we’ve seen before and one we haven't.

What you’ll do

• Perform incoming returns inspection and triage
• Classify units into the correct disposition and close out common documented failure modes.
• Carry out controlled teardown to the team's defined procedure on standard unit types, preserving evidence for downstream analysis; including recording of findings, photographs, measurements in the team’s Failure Analysis system
• Build, wire and configure test setups; run tests and capture results
• Package, document and ship samples to external labs
• Other duties as required from time to time.

What you’ll bring

• Hands‑on experience in a lab, workshop, production or field service environment - an electronics, mechatronics or engineering background is preferred
• Practical hands‑on skills: comfortable with electrical test equipment such as multimeters and power supplies; basic soldering and wiring.
• Genuine care for accuracy and process discipline - you follow the procedure as written, record data properly, and speak up when something doesn’t look right rather than letting it through.
• A natural organiser. You notice when things are out of place, and you’re motivated by building systems that keep them in place, not just tidying up once.
• Strong sense of ownership and a bias for action - you see what needs doing and get on with it without waiting to be asked.
• Clear, honest communication, and comfort working alongside engineers and asking questions when something isn’t clear.
• A curiosity to understand how the product works and why we debug it the way we do, and the consistency to do that work to the same standard on day 400 as on day 4.
• Low ego, highly collaborative and willing to play for the front of the Jersey.

Join our team

Halter is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive workplace — a place where we can each be ourselves and do the best work of our lives. Research shows that while men apply to jobs when they meet an average of 60% of the requirements, women and under‑represented groups of candidates tend to only apply when they meet every requirement. If you think you have what it takes but don’t necessarily tick every requirement on this job description, please still get in touch and apply to Halter. We’d love to chat to see if you’ll be an epic fit!

Why our team loves working at Halter:

• Work that genuinely matters. Every now and again a company comes along that transforms an entire industry and leaves the world in a better place. Our team gets to be part of something truly meaningful, helping farmers improve their livelihoods, spend more time with their families, and build more sustainable operations.
• Spectacular people solving hard problems. Our culture is designed for talented people to do work that changes lives. The team is filled with diverse, kind, and driven people who push each other to do their best work. You’ll be thrown into the deep end, tackling complex challenges and building something tangible that solves real problems.
• You’ll grow here. Autonomy, mastery, and learning define how we work. You’ll have the freedom to work on interesting problems, master new skills, and continuously develop yourself, both through your role and our $1,000 personal growth fund.
• This isn't easy, and we love that it's hard. Working at Halter will be the most rewarding and the most challenging work of your life. We move fast, take bold bets, and work hard to reshape an entire industry. As one team member put it: "Joining Halter is a bit like strapping yourself to a rocket ship, but it's an epic journey to be a part of!"