Principal Quality Test Engineer, Hardware

Rowden

Lead hardware quality assurance for critical national security technology at Rowden. Oversee methodologies, team building, and product delivery standards in a hybrid role based in Bristol.

Posted 6/19/2026full-timeBristol • 🇬🇧 United KingdomLead💰 £75,000 - £95,000 per yearWebsite

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Establish hardware test methodologies, protocols and standards across RF, electronics, networking and mechanical products.
Define test coverage requirements, acceptance criteria and quality gates for all product lines from prototype through production.
Build scalable, documented test processes that enable repeatable quality verification and traceability.
Design and build the hardware test laboratory with appropriate instrumentation, RF test equipment, and automation capability.
Own equipment selection, calibration, validation and maintenance across the test environment.
Develop test automation to improve efficiency and reduce cycle time.
Build and lead a growing hardware QA team, attracting and developing high-calibre test engineers.
Mentor engineers and establish a culture of quality discipline and technical excellence.
Work closely with product, engineering, manufacturing and supply chain teams to translate quality requirements into scalable, practical and repeatable processes.
Lead hardware quality assurance and testing activities across all product lines and stages of development.
Identify issues early, escalate risks and provide the engineering team with actionable feedback.
Ensure products meet specification, reliability and performance standards before shipping.

Requirements

What you’ll need

Extensive experience in hardware test engineering, ideally gained across multiple domains (RF/communications, custom electronics, mechanical products, or similar).
Proven ability to establish test functions, design test strategies and build scalable quality processes.
Strong hands-on experience with RF instrumentation, test equipment and measurement techniques.
Practical understanding of electronics, PCB validation, signal integrity and mechanical product reliability.
Comfortable operating in ambiguous environments, bringing structure, rigour and clarity to complex technical challenges.
Experience leading technical teams and mentoring engineers across multiple disciplines.
Experience in defence, aerospace, communications or similarly demanding technical environments would be valuable but is not essential.
An RF/CEMA/EW background would be useful but is not essential.

Benefits

Comp & perks

We are committed to building a flexible, inclusive, and enabling company. Our aim is to create a diverse team of talented people with unique skills, experience, and backgrounds, so please apply and come as you are!
We also recognise the importance of flexible working and support this wherever we can. We typically operate a flexible, hybrid-working model, with an average 3 days in the office each week (dependent on the role). We welcome the opportunity to discuss flexibility, part-time working requirements and/or workplace adjustments with all our applicants.
Rowden is a Disability Confident Committed company, and we actively encourage people with disabilities and health conditions to apply for our roles. Please let us know your requirements early on so that we can make sure you have everything you need up front to help make the recruitment process and experience as easy as possible.
Finally, if you feel that you don’t meet all the criteria included above but have transferable skills and relevant experience, we’d still love to hear from you!

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

hardware test engineeringtest methodologiestest automationRF instrumentationtest equipmentmeasurement techniquesPCB validationsignal integritymechanical product reliabilityquality processes

Soft Skills

leadershipmentoringproblem-solvingcommunicationteam buildingorganizational skillsattention to detailadaptabilityclarity in complex challengesculture of quality discipline