Test Equipment Engineer team lead

Job description

Socode are proud to support a key client who are looking to appoint a Test Equipment Engineering Team Lead to take ownership of manufacturing test.

This is a genuinely hands-on technical leadership role. You’ll be leading a small, highly capable team, understanding how products behave on the line, validating build quality, and making sure test systems are doing what they should in the real world.

This is not a role for someone who wants to step away from engineering. The business operates an end-to-end, largely in-house model. Hardware, software, manufacturing, and test all sit under one roof, which means this role sits right at the centre of the product lifecycle. It’s five days a week on site, working closely multi-disciplinary teams.

What will you actually be working on?

• Leading a team of five test equipment engineers, spanning engineer through to senior and principal level
• Acting as the technical authority for manufacturing test systems, not just managing workloads
• Designing, developing, and supporting automated test equipment used in high-volume production
• Staying hands-on with both hardware and software test, including ATE written in C#
• Supporting systems that execute hundreds of thousands of test operations reliably and repeatably
• Working with RF, audio, DMM, and signal-switching test paths in a manufacturing environment
• Validating that products are built correctly and robustly, not simply that they pass a design-level test
• Bridging gaps between design, test, and manufacturing, challenging assumptions where needed
• Supporting new product introductions, pilot builds, and production ramp-ups
• Maintaining and improving existing test systems
• Providing day-to-day technical leadership and mentoring to a collaborative, well-gelled team

What they’re looking for

• A hands-on technical lead, not a career manager
• Strong experience in manufacturing test rather than pure product design
• A solid background in automated test equipment development and deployment
• Experience working in high-volume manufacturing environments
• Either a hardware or software background, with a cross-functional mindset
• Comfortable working close to the tools, the data, and the team
• Someone with the technical credibility to validate build quality and challenge test coverage
• An engineer who enjoys solving real production problems, not just theoretical ones

Extra information

Status

Open

Education Level

Secondary School

Location

Cambridge

Type of Contract

Full-time jobs

Published at

14-01-2026

Full UK/EU driving license preferred

No

Car Preferred

No

Must be eligible to work in the EU

No

Cover Letter Required

No

Languages

English