Test Engineer - Validation

Why Join Us

At eShepherd, you’ll be part of a fast-moving team building smart livestock technology used by farmers around the world. We’re solving real problems with real hardware - and your work will directly influence how our products perform in the field and in manufacturing.

This is a great opportunity for an ambitious engineer who wants hands-on experience across embedded systems, firmware, and hardware validation. You’ll get exposure to the full product lifecycle, learn from experienced engineers, and build skills that set you up for a global career in IoT and hardware engineering.

Backed by Gallagher, you’ll get the scale and support of a global engineering leader while working in a fast-moving team still shaping its products and future.

Who Thrives Here

As part of Gallagher, we carry forward a legacy of reliability and respect for farming communities. At the same time, we operate with startup energy - agile, ambitious, and always learning.

You’ll Love It Here If You

• Enjoy working close to hardware and seeing your work come to life in real devices
• Prefer practical problem-solving over purely theoretical work
• Get energised by improving how things work in the real world (not just in simulation)
• Are comfortable working across firmware, hardware, and manufacturing environments
• Like collaborating with engineers, production teams, and problem-solvers from different disciplines
• Take ownership and enjoy seeing a product through from prototype to production

What You’ll Do

This is a hands-on validation role, where you’ll be key to bridging design and reality - testing embedded systems and ensuring our hardware performs reliably from prototype through to production.

You’ll

• Validate embedded hardware and firmware to ensure they perform as intended
• Validate embedded hardware and firmware pwork as expectederformance across the product lifecycle
• Work closely with firmware engineers to test and troubleshoot device behaviour on real hardware
• Use lab equipment such as oscilloscopes, multimeters, and debugging tools to investigate issues
• Support development of test approaches for embedded systems running on microcontrollersDesign and execute test cases to verify firmware features
• Contribute to manufacturing test setup and help refine production test processes and SOPs
• Work with production and NPI teams to improve reliability and scalability of testing in manufacturing
• Help ensure products are robust, reliable, and ready for real-world deployment

What You’ll Bring

You’ll come from a hands-on hardware and firmware or embedded testing background, working with physical devices and firmware in real-world environments.

Must-haves

• Experience in hardware testing, embedded firmware validation, or mechatronics (not purely software QA)
• Familiarity with MCU-based systems (such as ESP32, STM32, Renesas, Arduino)
• Working knowledge of C#/C++ and /or Python in embedded or test environments
• Experience using lab tools (oscilloscopes, multimeters, soldering tools)
• Ability to troubleshoot issues across hardware and firmware
• Exposure to manufacturing or production testing / NPI environments
• Practical, hands-on problem solver who enjoys working close to hardware
• Strong collaboration skills across engineering and production teams
• Confluence and Jira documentation experience

Nice To Haves

• Test automation or CI experience (e.g. Jenkins) in embedded systems
• Experience with IoT or connected devices
• Soldering or hardware prototyping experienceExposure to manufacturing or production testing / NPI environments
• Experience using lab tools (oscilloscopes, multimeters, soldering tools)

Benefits We Offer

• Competitive salary + performance incentives
• The best of both worlds - startup energy backed by Gallagher’s global scale
• Real career growth as we scale products globally
• Modern tools, tech, and equipment to do your best work
• A practical, collaborative engineering team that gets things done
• KiwiSaver contributions
• Boost App + staff discounts across NZ
• Life & Disability Insurance for added peace of mind
• Hamilton site perks: free parking, subsidised café, great local eateries nearby
• Employee Assistance Programme + wellbeing support

Applications are proposed to close at 5:00pm on 10th July 2026.

Please note: that we may keep this advert open until the ideal applicant is found, or close it earlier if a suitable candidate is identified. If this opportunity feels right for you, we encourage you to apply as soon as possible - we’d love to hear from you!