Manufacturing Test Engineer

Are you ready to bridge the gap between cutting-edge product design and flawless mass production? We are seeking a dynamic, hands-on engineering leader to drive the end-to-end manufacturing test strategy for a groundbreaking new product line. Partnering with Aquent, you will collaborate with a premier global brand to turn ambitious product concepts into scalable, high-yield realities. In this highly visible role, your expertise will directly shape the quality, reliability, and success of next-generation hardware that reaches millions of users worldwide.

The Opportunity

Our client is an industry-defining global brand renowned for pushing the boundaries of innovation, design, and technology. By joining this team through Aquent, you will work alongside world-class engineers, designers, and manufacturing partners in a collaborative, fast-paced environment. This is not a sustaining-only role; it is an opportunity to own the manufacturing test architecture from early-stage prototypes through high-volume mass production, making a lasting impact on how cutting-edge hardware is built and tested.

What You Will Do

As a key technical leader, you will connect product design, diagnostics, factory equipment, test software, and production data. Your primary responsibilities will include:

• Developing and executing the end-to-end manufacturing test strategy across incoming, subassembly, PCBA, functional, calibration, system, final assembly, and end-of-line testing.
• Designing and deploying robust manufacturing test fixtures across mechanical, electrical, and firmware interfaces, while defining clear firmware requirements and acceptance criteria.
• Leading Design for Testability (DFT) reviews with cross-functional teams (EE, firmware, mechanical, quality, and manufacturing partners) to ensure test access, coverage, and debug capabilities are optimized.
• Deploying, debugging, and qualifying test stations during EVT, DVT, and PVT builds, rapidly resolving false failures, intermittent issues, and line-stopping defects.
• Isolating failures across hardware, firmware, fixtures, and operator execution to drive root-cause analysis, containment, and verification.
• Managing test software and fixture configurations, including release records, access controls, backups, and change approvals.
• Analyzing yield, failure Pareto charts, and capacity planning to optimize first-pass yield, cycle times, station utilization, and overall factory throughput.
• Serving as the primary technical interface with contract manufacturers (CM/JDM), reviewing fixture designs, establishing clear deliverables, and building local factory capabilities.

What You Bring (Required)

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical, Computer, Mechanical, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Typically 8+ years of experience in manufacturing test, product test, or test development supporting complex hardware or electromechanical products.
• Proven track record of driving hardware products from early engineering prototypes (EVT/DVT/PVT) through high-volume mass production.
• Strong expertise in functional/system testing, fixture design, instrumentation, automation, diagnostics, and production data traceability.
• Hands-on debugging skills spanning hardware, firmware, software, manufacturing processes, and test equipment.
• Experience working directly with contract manufacturers (CM), original design manufacturers (ODM), or joint development manufacturers (JDM) to support factory builds and production ramps.
• Ability to navigate technical ambiguity and translate complex challenges into clear, actionable requirements and recovery plans.

Bonus Points (Preferred)

• Experience working with connected devices, embedded systems, wearables, robotics, consumer electronics, or other complex electromechanical products.
• Familiarity with automated test architectures, Gage R&R (GR&R), correlation methods, statistical yield analysis, and design-for-testability.
• Experience successfully transferring development-owned test systems to factory sustaining teams across global manufacturing sites.