Job Title: Lead Product Development Engineer

Location: Dartford

Salary: c£40k-£50k

The Job:

The Lead Product Development Engineer position will be mainly focused on leading the development of the company’s core commercial vehicle safety and efficiency product range with a strong bias toward electronic engineering. The candidate will need extensive knowledge of the technologies behind these products with good knowledge of the associated engineering principles.

Provide lead product design capability in the company’s commercial vehicle product range and assist the Product Development Manager in leading new product design & development enhancing Product portfolio and supporting the Quality and Standards Manager in improving the company’s product quality standard.

This position will be predominantly working at product level and require a good understanding of requirements, development & capture, electronic & mechanical architecture and design, software & hardware interaction, product verification and validation. The role requires the utilization of cutting edge technologies and engineering methods keeping the company at the forefront of technology and enabling to better manage and control its’ intellectual properties, whilst enhancing its cost effectiveness. As part of the Engineering team the successful candidate will also be required to support the Application team in the test and development of current products customised to support the application specific requirements of our customers and markets.

The role will be primarily supplier-facing, managing multiple suppliers and manufacturers in both high and low-cost countries, overcoming cultural and language barriers to deliver new products in a timely manner. The position also extends to supporting our customers as needed.

Responsibilities:

• Lead and support the various tasks within the PD team in its day to day work
• Support research and development of innovative technologies and products
• Requirements and engineering specification creation
• Review and approval of technical documentation
• Supplier acquisition, liaison and management & negotiation improving profitability
• Lead product verification and validation
• Product quality improvements and upgrades providing cost savings and implementing Total Quality Cost Management where applicable.
• Product technical support primarily to Engineering colleagues and internal customers
• Preparation of detailed electronic schematics and component technical drawings
• Mechanical interface and design
• Aid the sales and engineering team in translating customer requirements into technical solutions
• Support the engineering team in the development of its working practices and processes achieve better efficiency
• Optical knowledge and image processing and recognition using CCD, CMOS, IR and related technologies
• Video and audio signal and processing e.g. composite video, RGB, digital formats
• Analogue and digital circuit design and development, including micro processing and digital signal processing
• Software & hardware interface and software engineering
• Digital communication protocol e.g. I2C, SPI, RS232 etc
• Digital signal processing
• PCB level troubleshooting and product fault finding
• LCD interface and panel design
• Hard Disk Drive, solid state drive and flash memory
• Implement design for manufacturing
• Lean manufacturing techniques helping our supplier base develop efficiencies.

Qualifications/Skills/Experience:

• Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics product development or similar.
• 5-6 GCSE’s at Grade B or above including Maths, Science (Physics) and English.
• Minimum 8 years practical experience with electronics and mechanical product development.
• Able to demonstrate co-ordination skills.
• Extensive knowledge of analogue and digital electronics including micro processing, DSP, video signal processing.
• Knowledge of camera, optics, acoustics, LCD’s and digital recording technology’s
• Knowledgeable of modern automotive electronic architecture, multiplex communication protocols and systems.
• Computer application skills: Microsoft Outlook, Excel, Word, MCAD & ECAD & PCB development tools, Electronic circuit simulation programs
• Genuine interest in modern technology preferably with in the automotive industry.
• Attention to detail is critical