Principal Test Development Engineer - Contract

Principal Test Development Engineer - electronics

Contract | Excellent hourly rates | 12 month contracts

Frontier Resourcing are partnering with a leading defence and national security organisation developing cutting-edge aerospace technologies.

This is an exciting opportunity to work at the forefront of R&D, designing and developing advanced test solutions for complex electronic systems.

You’ll take ownership of the design, verification, validation, and lifecycle support of test equipment across board, subsystem, and system level products. Working within a highly technical engineering environment, you’ll collaborate across disciplines to deliver robust, scalable test solutions for mission-critical technologies.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Design and develop functional test equipment for PCBs, sub-assemblies, and complete systems.
• Lead the design, quality assurance, and review of test hardware throughout the development lifecycle.
• Mentor junior engineers and support project planning and resource allocation.
• Produce and maintain technical documentation, specifications, and design review artefacts.
• Develop robust hardware and software test solutions to meet complex system requirements.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary engineering teams, customers, and suppliers to define system architectures, interfaces, and test strategies.
• Develop and validate test hardware, software, and procedures to verify product performance.
• Provide ongoing support, maintenance, and obsolescence management for deployed test systems.
• Identify, manage, and mitigate engineering risks and contribute to continuous improvement of test development processes.

What We’re Looking For

• Extensive experience designing automated electronic test systems and test software.
• Strong knowledge of analogue and digital electronics, mixed-signal design, and hardware fault diagnosis.
• Proficient in producing high-quality technical documentation and design specifications.
• Proven experience supporting product introduction, production handover, and manufacturing test.
• Skilled in system integration, debugging, and root cause analysis.
• Experience with NI LabVIEW, TestStand, LabWindows/CVI, C#, PXI/LXI test architectures, and JTAG/Boundary Scan.
• Good understanding of measurement uncertainty, test equipment validation, and lifecycle support.
• Familiarity with Mentor Graphics, RF electronics, high-speed serial interfaces, and power supply design.
• Experience working within regulated engineering environments.

What’s On Offer

• Excellent hourly rates (inside IR35)
• Long term contract - initial 12 months

Please note: Candidates will undergo BPSS clearance which requires minimum 3 years UK residency and referencing.