Positioning & Controls Test Automation Engineer

About the role

Trimble is looking for a Positioning & Controls Test Automation Engineer to help accelerate the future of autonomous agriculture. You will migrate physical vehicle testing to automated SIL/HIL environments, speeding up development cycles and improving product quality for global agriculture industries. The role is based in Trimble's Christchurch office.

Key responsibilities

• Set up HIL testbenches and develop automated scripts using platforms such as NI VeriStand.
• Write and maintain model and software test cases in Python and MATLAB to maximise code coverage.
• Build and refine data analysis tools that present positioning and sensor performance baselines to development teams.
• Support engineering teams with in-field vehicle data logging and real-world testing.
• Partner with hardware, embedded software and systems teams to define robust test requirements.

Required profile

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Mechatronics, Robotics, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace or a related technical field.
• 3+ years of professional experience in test automation, systems validation or robotics/controls testing.
• Willingness to travel up to 15% for on-site field testing and data collection.
• Only applicants legally entitled to work in New Zealand will be considered.

Required skills

• Proficiency in Python for automation, scripting and data analysis.
• Familiarity with Linux environments and version control systems such as Git.
• Solid understanding of positioning technologies such as GNSS, IMUs, odometry or sensor fusion.
• Bonus points for up to 10 years of experience in autonomous or semi-autonomous machinery, automotive, aerospace or heavy equipment validation, direct HIL/I/O instrumentation experience, knowledge of Kalman filtering or GNSS-INS systems, and the ability to read, debug and write embedded C/C++.

The Christchurch office is the regional engineering centre with over 450 staff, free parking and an on-site gym, changing rooms and showers.