Sr Test Engineer

As a Senior Test Engineer working for the Manufacturing Engineering team at Itron, West Union, SC, you will design and execute test strategies for the profitable manufacturing of electricity meters, gas meters, network products, and battery-powered devices. You will focus on developing and maintaining automated test solutions, improving test processes, and leveraging data-driven insights to optimize test performance. You will also provide technical support to troubleshoot test equipment and applications to mitigate downtime and ensure smooth operations.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and execute effective test strategies and solutions to support the profitable manufacturing of electricity meters, gas meters, network products, and battery-powered devices (BPD).
• Develop and troubleshoot test applications (primarily in C# and C++) and test equipment for loading Itron proprietary firmware into PCBAs, calibrating meters, verifying metrology accuracy, performing functional and final testing, and inspecting assembled components using vision hardware and software.
• Design and interact with database tables (primarily in MS-SQL) to manage manufacturing and test data, generate reports, identify issues, and drive improvement initiatives.
• Enhance Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and reduce Total Manufacturing Cost (TMC) by analyzing test processes, equipment, and code, identifying issues, and implementing improvements.
• Provide onsite and remote technical support to resolve issues with test systems (equipment and applications), minimizing downtime and ensuring efficient manufacturing operations.
• Develop and optimize automated testing frameworks and tools to support continuous integration.
• Collaborate with R&D teams to define testing objectives and methods for New Product Introduction (NPI) programs, representing the Manufacturing Test Engineering team in cross-functional reviews of product design, code, pilot testing, and other activities throughout the Product Lifecycle (PLC).

Required Skills & Experience

• 5+ years of experience in software development (C# and C++), with a strong foundation in Object-Oriented Programming (OOP), test system development, and code design principles.
• Strong problem-solving skills, including the ability to analyze complex issues, identify inefficiencies, and develop and implement effective test solutions to enhance processes, improve OEE, reduce cycle times, and lower costs.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Preferred Skills & Experience

• Hands-on experience with electrical hardware and panel design, including construction of manufacturing test stations.
• Proficiency in using MS-SQL or other database systems to manipulate, analyze, and interpret data.
• Experience with computer or machine vision systems.
• Familiarity with fast-paced manufacturing environments, manufacturing test data, and data analysis.
• Familiarity with Azure DevOps Server (ADS) and Visual Studio.

Education

• Required: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
• Preferred: Master's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.

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