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Test & Quality Engineering Recruiting

Hire Production Test Engineers

Hire Production Test Engineers who own end-of-line and in-process test for electronics, avionics, drones and satellite hardware — test station and fixture design, ATE bring-up, LabVIEW and Python test automation, first-pass yield, HASS and HALT, and the test data systems production runs on — at defense-tech and space manufacturers, gigafactories and semiconductor plants. Verified with the production and quality leaders who watched yield move, not the resume.

Hire Production Test Engineers →How it works
Production Test Engineer - iRecruit.coExample profile
Camila A.
Vetted Specialists
Commissioning & Quality
Production Test Engineer
BSEE · CLAD · IPC-A-610
Sectors
Hardware factories
Defense-tech and space manufacturing, avionics, drones, satellite and RF, battery and power electronics
Role scope
Engineer through Staff
Test station and fixture design, ATE, test automation, yield, HASS/HALT, test data
Geography
US-wide
Industrial, defense and mission-critical network
Placement warranty
Replacement guarantee
Every model, every placement
How It Works

Hire Production Test Engineers in 3 steps

A structured process for the hire who decides whether the line ships units or piles them at the test cell — where a Production Test Engineer who only ran bench tests in a lab writes a sequence with no limits rationale, the fixture wears out at 2,000 cycles, first-pass yield stalls at 70% and nobody can say why.

Step 01

Talk to our team

30-minute call. Align on product and production stage (NPI, ramp, rate), test coverage in scope (ICT, functional, RF, HIL, environmental screen), ATE and fixture ownership, automation stack (LabVIEW, TestStand, Python, PyVISA), yield targets, test data system, ITAR and clearance requirements, reporting line, and start date.

Step 02

Review hand-selected talent

Within 2 weeks we introduce 3–5 Production Test Engineers with verified test-station, automation and yield ownership on comparable hardware at rate — not lab-only or design-verification resumes restyled. References from production managers, quality engineers and test technicians included.

Step 03

Hire with confidence

Every placement carries a replacement guarantee. If the hire fails within the warranty window, we run a no-fee replacement search.

Why iRecruit.co for Production Test Engineer Hires

What makes our Production Test Engineer shortlist different

A Production Test Engineer at a reindustrialization factory is judged by first-pass yield, test time per unit, and whether an escape ever reached the customer. Real station bring-up, fixture scars and yield-improvement history separate an engineer who keeps the line shipping from one who keeps a test log.

01

Test stations verified at rate

Every Production Test Engineer has reference-verified ownership of test stations that were designed, built, validated with GR&R and released to production — functional test, ICT, RF, HIL or environmental screen. We confirm units per shift, test time and escape history with the production or quality manager, not the station list.

02

Hardware-factory fluency

Bed-of-nails and pogo-pin fixtures, boundary scan and ICT, RF test with VNAs and signal analyzers, HIL rigs for flight controllers and avionics, HASS and HALT profiles, ESS chambers, battery pack test, IPC-A-610 and J-STD-001 workmanship, AS9100 and ITAR controls, and the manufacturing-engineering interface on line balance and takt. Matched to your product, not a generic test engineer.

03

Automation, yield and test data discipline

Verified authorship of LabVIEW, TestStand and Python test sequences with limits traced to requirements, test data pipelines into SQL, MES or a test data platform, SPC and Cpk on test parameters, and first-pass-yield improvement measured over months — with Pareto, root cause and corrective actions that survived a customer audit.

Meet Vetted Production Test Engineers

The caliber of Production Test Engineer you’ll interview

Every candidate is credential-verified, reference-checked, and matched to your product and production stage. Anonymized examples below reflect real placement profiles.

Vetted SpecialistsMale Production Test Engineer - drone factoryExample profile

Ramon G.

Production Test Engineer, Autonomous Drone Manufacturing
  • Designed and released 6 end-of-line functional test stations for flight controllers and ESCs — pogo-pin fixtures, HIL sensor simulation, 3.5-minute test time per unit at 400 units per day
  • Raised first-pass yield from 71% to 94% in 7 months by adding limits rationale to 240 test steps and killing 18 false-fail modes with GR&R studies
  • Built a Python and PyVISA test framework with results streaming to SQL and a Grafana yield dashboard used at the daily production stand-up
Functional testPython / PyVISAFirst-pass yield
Vetted SpecialistsFemale Production Test Engineer - satellite productionExample profile

Yuki T.

Senior Production Test Engineer, Satellite Bus Electronics
  • Owned RF and power-board production test for a 20-satellite-per-month bus line — VNA and signal-analyzer stations, TestStand sequences, 100% traceability to unit serial
  • Wrote the HASS and ESS profiles (thermal cycling and random vibe) for 9 avionics boards and cut infant-mortality escapes to zero over 14 months
  • Cleared an AS9100 and customer source-inspection audit of the test data system with no findings
RF testHASS / ESSTestStand
Vetted SpecialistsMale Production Test Engineer - defense electronicsExample profile

Kevin L.

Staff Production Test Engineer, Defense Avionics
  • Led a 5-engineer test team through NPI to rate on a mission computer — ICT, boundary scan, functional and burn-in stations delivered before first-article
  • Cut total test time per unit 42% by consolidating 4 sequential stations into 2 parallel ATE racks with shared fixtures and LabVIEW re-architecture
  • Stood up a test data platform tying 1.2M test records to MES lot genealogy under ITAR access controls
ATE architectureICT / boundary scanTest data systems
Production Test Engineer Specializations

Match the Production Test Engineer specialty to your product line

“Production Test Engineer” ranges from a fixture and station designer to an automation engineer to a yield owner living in the test data, and the right hire depends on where your line is losing units. Below are the specializations we recruit for:

Functional Test Engineer
End-of-line FCT, HIL, limits and sequences
Hire for this specialty
ATE and Fixture Design Engineer
Bed-of-nails, pogo fixtures, rack builds
Hire for this specialty
Test Automation Engineer
LabVIEW, TestStand, Python, PyVISA
Hire for this specialty
RF Production Test Engineer
VNA, spectrum, OTA, radar and satcom
Hire for this specialty
Environmental Screening Engineer
HASS, HALT, ESS, burn-in chambers
Hire for this specialty
Yield and Test Data Engineer
FPY, SPC, Pareto, test data platforms
Hire for this specialty
Battery and Power Electronics Test Engineer
Pack test, cyclers, high-voltage safety
Hire for this specialty
NPI Test Engineer
Test strategy from prototype to rate
Hire for this specialty
Test Engineer (peer)
Design verification and lab test
Hire for this specialty
Integration and Test Engineer (peer)
Vehicle and system-level I&T
Hire for this specialty
Quality Engineer (peer)
NCR, CAPA, supplier and process quality
Hire for this specialty
Manufacturing Engineer (peer)
Process, tooling and line design
Hire for this specialty

Not sure which Production Test Engineer specialty fits?

We’ll help you scope the role on the call — test coverage in scope, station and fixture ownership, automation stack, yield targets, and ITAR requirements.

Hire Production Test Engineers →
Vetting Criteria

What we verify on every Production Test Engineer candidate

Production Test Engineer hires live and die on stations that run at rate, sequences with defensible limits, and yield that moves. Below is what every candidate has documented before you meet them:

Test station and fixture ownership

Reference-verified design, build and production release of test stations and fixtures — functional, ICT, RF, HIL or environmental — with units per shift, test time and GR&R results confirmed by the production or quality manager.

Test automation authorship

Verified authorship of LabVIEW, TestStand, Python or C# test sequences and instrument control (PyVISA, SCPI), with limits traced to requirements and version control on every release.

Yield improvement and root cause

Verified first-pass-yield improvement measured over months, with Pareto, root cause, false-fail elimination and corrective actions documented and tied to test data, not anecdote.

Environmental screen and standards

Verified working history with HASS, HALT and ESS profiles, IPC-A-610 and J-STD-001 workmanship, AS9100 or ISO 9001 test controls, and ITAR or export-controlled data handling where the product requires it.

Credentials verified

ABET engineering degree, CLAD or CLD, IPC certifications, Six Sigma belts, US-person status where ITAR applies, and active clearance where the program requires it — all checked.

Compensation alignment

Engineer, Senior, Lead and Staff comp bands aligned before finalists are introduced, including shift or ramp-period expectations, relocation, clearance premium, and equity where offered.

FAQ

Hiring a Production Test Engineer: frequently asked questions

How long does it take to hire a Production Test Engineer?

Time to shortlist is typically 2 weeks from scoping call. Total time to placement (shortlist through offer acceptance) is typically 3–5 weeks. Seats requiring RF depth, an active clearance, or relocation to a remote factory can run a week or two longer.

What does a Production Test Engineer cost in 2026?

Most US Production Test Engineers at defense-tech, space and electronics manufacturers land between $95K and $130K base at the Engineer-to-Senior level depending on metro and product complexity. Lead and Staff Production Test Engineers with ATE architecture, RF or satellite-rate history typically run $130K–$170K, with test engineering managers above that. These are market bands; we confirm live market bands during scoping. See our test engineer salary guide for the full range.

How is a Production Test Engineer different from a Test Engineer?

A Test Engineer in most hardware companies sits in design verification: qualifying a design against requirements in a lab. The Production Test Engineer owns the test that every shipped unit passes through — stations, fixtures, sequences, yield and test data on the factory floor at rate. The two share requirements and limits; the production seat lives with takt time and escapes.

How is a Production Test Engineer different from an Integration and Test Engineer?

An Integration and Test Engineer works at the vehicle or system level — assembling and testing a satellite, aircraft or launch vehicle through campaigns. The Production Test Engineer works at the board, box and subassembly level, at volume. On a satellite line the two hand off at the point where tested boxes go to the bus.

How is a Production Test Engineer different from a Quality Engineer?

A Quality Engineer owns the quality system: NCRs, CAPA, inspection plans and supplier quality. The Production Test Engineer builds and runs the test that generates much of the quality data, and owns yield. A Manufacturing Engineer owns the process and line the test station sits in; the three share the line-balance and escape reviews.

Do you require a LabVIEW certification or a clearance?

Usually not for the certification. CLAD or CLD is a useful signal, but reference-verified sequence authorship and station releases matter more, and many strong candidates are Python-first. Clearances depend on the program: we confirm the requirement during scoping, verify US-person status where ITAR applies, and verify active clearance directly rather than taking a resume claim.

Do you offer a placement guarantee?

Yes. Every Production Test Engineer placement carries a replacement guarantee. Guarantee terms are confirmed in writing at engagement start.

Can you build a full production test team?

Yes. Multi-hire builds (a test engineering manager plus functional, RF, automation and environmental test engineers for a new drone or satellite line, or a test team ahead of a rate ramp) route through embedded recruiting or RPO. Confidential leadership seats route through executive search.

Ready to hire

Talk to a test engineering recruiter

30-minute scoping conversation. We’ll review the Production Test Engineer role you need — product and production stage, test coverage in scope, automation stack, yield targets, clearance requirements — then recommend the right hire path and start sourcing.

Hire Production Test Engineers →
Related: Test Engineer hiring  ·  Quality Engineer hiring  ·  Test engineer salary guide
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