Reliability and Test Engineer

Vantage
Aberdeen, City Of Aberdeen, United Kingdom
4 days ago
£55,000 pa

Salary

£55,000 pa

Job Type
Permanent
Work Pattern
Full-time
Work Location
On-site
Seniority
Mid
Education
Degree
Posted
26 May 2026 (4 days ago)

Electronics Reliability & Component Qualification Engineer

The Reality of the Role

We don't build consumer tech or standard commercial electronics. Our hardware is deployed into the most brutal, high-consequence environments on the planet-operating miles beneath the earth's surface under crushing pressures and extreme temperatures exceeding 150°C to 200°C+.

When an asset is deployed downhole, our clients expect it to run flawlessly for decades without a single point of failure. If a component fails miles underground, pulling that tool back up can cost operators millions of pounds in rig downtime. Because of this, reliability isn't a box-checking exercise here; it is our primary product.

We are looking for an investigative, fiercely organized Electronics Reliability & Qualification Engineer to join our R&D hub. Your core mission is simple but incredibly high-stakes: prove our hardware can survive the impossible. When a semiconductor or component manufacturer makes a microscopic change to a part, or alters a silicon fabrication line, you are the final line of defense. You will have the ultimate responsibility to conceptualize, design, and execute rigorous stress-testing pipelines to back up our multi-decade performance guarantees with undeniable, clean, technical proof.

Core Responsibilities

Own Component Qualification: Act as the ultimate gatekeeper for all electronics entering our high-reliability ecosystems. When parts change or new materials are introduced, you will identify exactly what needs testing, why it needs testing, and how to build the test setup to prove its lifetime limits.

Execute Forensic Investigations: Track, review, and investigate complex product and component reliability issues. When an anomaly occurs, you will run failure analyses to diagnose the root cause-evaluating silicon degradation, solder fatigue, thermal expansion rates, and packaging integrity.

Environmental & Lifetime Simulation: Maintain an intrinsic understanding of electronic component and PCB manufacturing methods, failure mechanisms, and accelerated testing methodologies (such as HALT/HASS or thermal cycling) to artificially simulate decades of downhole wear-and-tear in a laboratory environment.

Obsolescence & Risk Management: Conduct critical, proactive component reviews to catch obsolescence or lead-time issues before they threaten production lines, qualifying alternative components to the exact same uncompromising standard.

Meticulous Technical Documentation: Maintain flawless, audit-ready data tracking and technical documentation regarding component testing. You must take complete ownership of communicating engineering risks clearly, backing up your conclusions with robust data that can be proudly presented to senior management and global energy clients.

Supply Chain Collaboration: Partner with internal R&D, production, and quality assurance teams, as well as external semiconductor fabs and PCB suppliers, to continually drive reliability and manufacturing yield improvements.

What is Necessary (Required Skills & Experience)

The Engineering Mindset: An analytical, systems-first mind that naturally questions how and why things fail, with a deep interest in the physical limitations of hardware and silicon electronics.

Academic OR Field-Hardened Pedigree: * A Degree in Electronic Engineering, Physics, or a closely related discipline; OR

Proven, hands-on commercial experience in electronic hardware design, validation, benchmarking, or laboratory test environments where your practical skills override a traditional certificate.

Hardware Validation Experience: Practical experience using laboratory test equipment (oscilloscopes, multimeters, environmental chambers, data loggers) to test and validate electronic sub-systems or circuitry.

Elite Documentation & Organization: Exceptional verbal and written communication skills. You must be highly structured and take pride in transforming raw test data into crystal-clear, definitive engineering reports.

Problem-Solving Autonomy: The confidence to take total accountability for an investigation, working independently to figure out testing protocols for novel hardware challenges.

Desirable Assets (The Premium Extras)

Knowledge of electronic component packaging structures, silicon wafer variations, and high-reliability screening.

Direct exposure to high-temperature or safety-critical ruggedized electronics (e.g., Downhole, Aerospace, Automotive under-the-hood, or Defense systems).

Knowledge of Accelerated Life Testing (ALT), thermal cycling models, and component wear-out mechanics.

Experience creating or optimizing internal test tracking databases to manage massive components matrices.

Ability to travel on an occasional basis to interface with external testing houses or suppliers.

If you are interested please call Liam at (phone number removed) or email at

Related Jobs

View all jobs
Spotlight

Senior Processor Architect

Fractile London, United Kingdom
Spotlight

Semiconductor Test Engineering Team Leader

Fractile Bristol, United Kingdom
On-site

Engineer - Verification and Test

Teledyne FLIR Chelmsford, United Kingdom
On-site

Hardware System Test Engineer

Fractile Bristol, United Kingdom
On-site

Hardware System Test Engineering Team Leader

Fractile Bristol, United Kingdom
On-site

Senior Test Engineer

Teledyne FLIR St Asaph, Cymru / Wales, LL17 0RF, United Kingdom
On-site

Npi Engineer

Theo James Recruitment Durham, County Durham, DH1 3NG, United Kingdom
£50,000 – £70,000 pa On-site

Principal Product Engineer

Graphcore Bristol, United Kingdom
On-site

Industry Insights

Discover insightful articles, industry insights, expert tips, and curated resources.

Where to Advertise Semiconductor Jobs in the UK (2026 Guide)

Where to advertise semiconductor jobs UK in 2026: the specialist boards, academic channels and community routes that actually reach IC, fab and EDA talent. The candidate pool is one of the smallest and most specialised in any engineering discipline — spanning IC design engineers, process engineers, fab technicians, EDA tool developers, compound semiconductor physicists and power electronics specialists. General job boards are largely ineffective for semiconductor hiring. The community is tight-knit, highly academic in its roots and concentrated around a small number of university groups, fab facilities and design centres. Specialist boards, academic channels and direct community engagement are the primary sourcing strategies that work. This guide, published by SemiconductorJobs.co.uk, covers where to advertise semiconductor roles in the UK in 2026, how the main platforms compare, what employers should expect to pay, and what the data says about hiring across different role types.

Semiconductor Jobs UK 2026: What to Expect Over the Next 3 Years

Semiconductor Jobs UK 2026: roles, salaries and the hiring trends shaping UK semiconductor recruitment over the next three years — what to expect now. Semiconductors are the foundational technology of the modern world. Every smartphone, electric vehicle, data centre, medical device, satellite, and AI accelerator depends on them. And yet for much of the past decade, the strategic importance of semiconductor design and manufacturing was something that governments, investors, and employers took largely for granted — until supply chain crises, geopolitical tensions, and the insatiable compute demands of artificial intelligence made the vulnerability of global semiconductor supply chains impossible to ignore. The response has been significant and sustained. The UK's National Semiconductor Strategy, the US CHIPS Act, the EU Chips Act, and parallel investment programmes across Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan have collectively committed hundreds of billions of pounds to semiconductor research, design, and manufacturing capability. In the UK specifically, that investment is beginning to translate into real hiring — across compound semiconductor manufacturing, chip design, semiconductor equipment, advanced packaging, and the growing ecosystem of fabless design companies that are choosing Britain as their base. For job seekers, the semiconductor jobs market of 2026 represents an opportunity that is more commercially urgent, more geographically distributed, and more technically diverse than at any previous point in the sector's UK history. The roles being created span the full semiconductor value chain — from fundamental materials research and process engineering through chip design, verification, and the software that makes silicon useful. The candidates who will thrive over the next three years are those who understand where that value chain is being built, which technical areas are attracting the most investment, and how to position their skills at the intersection of the sector's greatest needs. This article breaks down what the UK semiconductor jobs market is likely to look like through to 2028 — covering the titles emerging right now, the technologies driving employer demand, the skills that will matter most, and how to position your career at the leading edge of one of the most strategically important technology sectors in the UK economy.