Testing & Validation Engineer

Company Description

Waikato Milking Systems is a global designer and manufacturer of dairy technology and milking systems, helping shape the future of dairy farming through innovative solutions that improve productivity, efficiency and sustainability. From our headquarters in Hamilton, New Zealand, we develop and manufacture technologies trusted by farmers around the world and supported by a global network of offices, dealers and service partners.   Driven by innovation, quality and a passion for dairy, we're proud to be building the future of our industry and we're looking for people who want to help shape it with us.

Job Description

As our Test & Validation Engineer, you will be a critical link between Product Development and the real-world dairy environment, helping turn new product ideas into proven, market-ready solutions.

Working across hardware, software and complete dairy farm systems, you will play a key role throughout the product development programme, from establishing what success looks like, through on-farm testing and validation, to providing the assurance that a product is ready for commercial release.

You will work closely with the Product Managers, the role requires someone who can be nimble in their thinking, comfortable working in the field, and able to move quickly between technical detail and practical farm outcomes.

A key part of the role will be establishing clear success criteria and validation measures for new products and product improvements, then objectively determining whether those criteria have been achieved. Your findings will directly influence product decisions, development priorities and the path to market release.

You will also be responsible for clearly documenting and communicating test results and findings, ensuring knowledge is captured and transferred through to technical documentation, manuals, training material and commercial release.

This is an opportunity to play a central role in testing, learning, improving and proving new products — ensuring WMS has the evidence and confidence needed to bring new technology to market.

What You'll Be Doing

• Plan and conduct laboratory, workshop and on-farm testing and validation across new products and product improvements
• Establish clear test plans, success criteria and validation measures, and assess whether products meet the required technical and practical outcomes
•  Work with beta customers and end users to trial products in real-world dairy environments, gather feedback and identify areas for improvement
• Investigate faults and performance issues, undertake root cause analysis
• Analyse test results and field data, providing clear, timely feedback and recommendations to Product Managers
• Communicate findings clearly and objectively, providing the evidence needed to support product decisions, development priorities and progression towards market release
• Create and maintain technical documentation, test records, validation reports, manuals and supporting material

Qualifications

What You'll Bring

• A hands-on, can-do mindset, comfortable rolling up your sleeves, getting stuck in and solving problems in the field
• Technical capability across mechanical, electrical, electronic, software or integrated systems, with the curiosity to understand how things work
• A practical understanding of dairy farming and how technology needs to perform in a real-world farm environment
• An agile and nimble approach, able to think on your feet, respond to what you find and quickly turn observations into action
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, able to investigate issues, identify root causes and make sound recommendations
• Clear written and verbal communication, able to capture findings, explain your thinking and turn technical information into clear, useful outcomes
• Strong relationship skills, confident working with Product, Engineering, Technical Services, customers and end users
• Experience in product testing, engineering support, agricultural technology or a related technical field is valuable.
• Experience working with on-farm systems or milking equipment would be an advantage.
• Technical documentation experience, including test reports, validation reports, SOPs or technical manuals, would be advantageous
• A full, clean driver licence and willingness to travel to farms and customer sites as required

Additional Information

Our values guide everything we do:  

People First | Curious & Courageous | Pride | Agile | We Find a Way!