Principal Test Engineer

Principal Test Engineer   Based in Stevenage | Circa £64,000 | Hybrid, 2 to 3 days on site   You've spent years making sure things actually work before they're trusted with something that matters. Now you want to lead that thinking, not just execute someone else's test plan.   This is a senior test engineering role inside a design team. You won't be testing what someone else designed after the fact, you'll be shaping testability into the design from the start, then owning the equipment, the coverage, and the trade-offs that follow.   What you'll actually be doing You'll specify pass-out tests, in-service checks and BIT routines, and you'll make sure they're built into the product from the design stage rather than bolted on afterwards. You'll lead a small team of test architects, act as a senior voice within the test department, and work directly with the Chief Design Engineer on the cost versus coverage decisions that shape the whole programme.   Day to day, that means:

• Owning complex test equipment specification and delivery, end-to-end
• Generating and managing lower-level test requirements for design teams, including test access, BIT coverage and timing, and factory test functionality
• Analysing and modelling systems to determine test coverage and generate diagnostic instructions
• Leading a team of test architects and providing functional leadership within the wider department
• Working closely with design and manufacturing teams to close testability gaps before they become problems

What you'll need to bring

• Substantial experience in test equipment design, product testability, or electrical/electronic engineering
• Solid grounding in at least one of digital electronics and microprocessor systems, analogue electronics, electronics testing, or ATE/test equipment design
• Proven experience leading and influencing people, not just managing a task list
• Comfort gathering requirements, running projects, and managing relationships with senior stakeholders

If you read that list and thought "yes, that's me", you're exactly who this is for. If you're still building toward it, this probably isn't the right fit yet, and that's fine.   Worth knowing

• Circa £64,000 depending on experience
• Bonus up to 21%
• Pension up to 14% combined contribution
• Due to the nature of the work, this role requires British citizenship or dual UK nationality

Not actively looking? No problem. If this sounds like a better version of what you're already doing, it's worth a quiet conversation, nothing more.