Senior Failure Analysis Engineer

Halter; Auckland; On-site; NZD 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Halter in Auckland, New Zealand is seeking a highly skilled individual for their Failure Analysis team. The role involves debugging and diagnosing hardware failures to enhance product reliability. You will contribute significantly to understanding failure modes, mentor junior engineers, and collaborate with cross-functional teams. Ideal candidates will possess deep electronics engineering experience, excellent communication skills, and a strong sense of ownership. The company promotes a diverse workplace and encourages all to apply, even if all qualifications are not met.

Qualifications

• Deep electronics engineering experience, with hands-on experience debugging complex hardware.
• Experience with diagnosing field failures and understanding the relationships between in-field events and product failures.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to translate technical findings into clear feedback for cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to debugging high-impact failure modes hands-on.
• Develop processes to improve accuracy and reduce issues.
• Mentor junior engineers in their failure analysis work.

Skills

Deep electronics engineering experience

Experience diagnosing field failures

Excellent communication skills

Natural inclination to share knowledge

Curiosity and principled approach

Strong sense of ownership

Job description

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. We’re looking for a highly capable and first‑principled individual to join our Failure Analysis team and debug failed hardware to root cause, both from the field and lab testing. Halter collars aren’t serviced, aren’t repairable and need to last 6‑10 years, anywhere across the globe. To achieve this, we need to know about every failure in the field and how to eliminate it.

You’ll be responsible for debugging and diagnosing failed hardware, including collars and tower components, to deeply understand the root cause. Halter products are complex, highly integrated electromechanical devices, and debugging and root‑causing the many different failure modes that occur requires an inquisitive mindset and methodical approach. This is both a technical and operational role where you will be central to closing the feedback loop between our lab & field performance and our engineering teams, ensuring that each failure is investigated, understood, and used to improve product reliability.

This is a huge opportunity for the right person – you will have a lasting impact on farmers across the globe.

What you’ll do

• Personally contribute to the highest‑impact or deeply ambiguous failure modes. This is a hands‑on role; you’ll be very close to the product.
• Actively participate in developing the processes and ways of working, to improve accuracy and reduce no‑fault‑founds.
• Mentor and guide junior engineers in their work, with a medium to long term view of expanding their technical knowledge and their approach to failure analysis.
• Work closely with hardware, firmware, production, supplier quality and networking teams to investigate failures and find root cause.
• Actively support the recruitment process for hiring a brilliant team, rooted in excellent process discipline, technical capability and a tenacious curiosity to figure things out.

What you’ll bring

• Deep electronics engineering experience, with hands‑on experience debugging complex hardware.
• Experience with diagnosing field failures and understanding the relationships between in‑field events and product failures.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to translate technical findings into clear feedback for cross‑functional teams.
• A natural inclination to share knowledge, to educate and mentor.
• A deep curiosity and principled approach to finding root causes with clear evidence.
• Strong sense of ownership and a bias for action – you’re not afraid to roll up your sleeves and get stuck into wider challenges when required.
• Low ego, highly collaborative and willing to play for the front of the Jersey.

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!