Senior Test & Validation Engineer

If you are unable to complete this application due to a disability, contact this employer to ask for an accommodation or an alternative application process.

Full Time
- Salaried Rockford, IL, US 1 Attachments

23 days ago Requisition

Salary Range: $ To $ Annually

The Senior Test & Validation Engineer leads product verification, reliability, qualification, and certification activities for Hydraulic Technologies' high-pressure hydraulic and electro-hydraulic products. This role establishes validation strategies throughout the New Product Development process and provides objective evidence that products satisfy performance, durability, safety, regulatory, and customer requirements.

The engineer works cross-functionally with Design Engineering, Product Management, Quality, Manufacturing, Sourcing, suppliers, and customers. The ideal candidate combines strong fluid-power knowledge with hands‑on laboratory capability, structured problem solving, data acquisition, reliability methods, and clear technical communication.

• Develop and execute Design Verification Plans and Reports (DVP&R) for new products, platform extensions, engineering changes, and major product revisions.
• Translate product and customer requirements into measurable test methods, acceptance criteria, sample plans, instrumentation requirements, and validation schedules.
• Conduct laboratory, field, and customer‑site testing for functional performance, safety, durability, environmental exposure, and intended‑use conditions.
• Generate complete qualification reports and provide fact‑based recommendations for phase‑gate and product‑release decisions.
• Support prototype builds, design iterations, pilot builds, production validation, and post‑launch issue resolution.

• Develop accelerated‑life, cycle‑life, endurance, fatigue, pulse‑pressure, abuse, and environmental test methods.
• Characterize failure modes, document failure progression, and support reliability‑growth plans that improve product robustness.
• Apply appropriate statistical and reliability techniques, including Weibull analysis when sufficient data and test conditions support its use.
• Partner with design teams to mitigate identified risks and verify corrective actions through repeat testing.
• Establish reusable validation standards and reliability methods across product families.

• Lead testing of battery‑powered and electrically driven hydraulic pumps, power units, cylinders, jacks, synchronized lifting systems, bolting and torque tools, valves, manifolds, sensors, wired and wireless controls, embedded controllers, and HMI interfaces.
• Evaluate product behavior under representative pressure, flow, force, torque, load, duty cycle, temperature, vibration, contamination, electrical‑load, and battery‑use conditions.
• Safely test high‑pressure hydraulic products, including systems operating at 10,000 psi or above, using appropriate guarding, pressure‑release, lockout/tagout, and stored‑energy controls.

• Design, build, commission, and maintain hydraulic, electrical, and electro‑mechanical test fixtures and laboratory equipment.
• Select and integrate instrumentation for pressure, flow, force, torque, displacement, speed, temperature, voltage, current, and battery performance.
• Develop automated or semi‑automated test systems using LabVIEW, Python, PLCs, National Instruments data acquisition hardware, or equivalent platforms.
• Improve repeatability, traceability, throughput, data integrity, calibration practices, and laboratory standard work.
• Develop and execute competitive…