The main purpose of the job is to provide a technical support function to both the Operations and Sales departments at Nortech, as well as providing external Customer support on existing products. This will encompass functions that ensure the smooth running of the production area by providing support when technical difficulties are encountered, ranging from alternate component sources to product reliability issues. In addition, short term developments to existing products in line with customer requirements including feature enhancements will also be encompassed in the job.

This function is necessary to ensure that existing products are technically supported, both internally as well as externally, in a professional manner and also ensuring the minimal possible downtime of the production of existing products.

FUNCTIONS OF THE JOB

The purpose will be achieved through the following Functions:

• Technical Support:
  • Provide technical insight into existing products in order to assist in resolving any customer related queries or sales related queries from the Sales department.
  • Raising, investigating and actioning Corrective Action Requests or Change Request Notes to address issues identified during technical support related queries.
  • Assisting the Sales team in raising and actioning product Deviations.
• Production Support:
  • Provide technical insight of existing products in order to assist in resolving any production related problems.
  • Assisting production repairs and warranty departments in identifying root cause failure of warranty returned units when required.
• Product testing and evaluation:
  • Evaluating existing Nortech products to determine reliability.
  • Evaluating competitor products to determine any competitive advantages.
• Technical Documentation:
  • Creating suitable technical documentation to assist in the supporting of existing products.
• Short Term developments:
  • Enhancing existing products through simple hardware and /or firmware improvements.
  • Develop new products, based on existing products, in line with specific customer requirements.
• Component sourcing and evaluation:
  • Finding alternate components to improve purchasing capabilities.
  • Finding alternate/replacement components to those which have become obsolete to ensure continual production of product
  • Evaluating alternate components to determine their suitability for use in existing products.

Activities connected with the Job

The following activities will be undertaken in pursuance of the job functions:

Structure

The Engineering Services Support Technician will report to the Engineering Services manager.

His/her inter-personal roles within the department and organisation will be:

• • To liase with all the engineering departments (Industrial, Test and R&D).
  • To liase with all the operations departments (Purchasing, Production etc.).
  • To liase with all the sales departments.

Requirements of the Candidate

Necessary: The Candidate must :

• Have a minimum of a Higher Diploma in Electrical Engineering L.C (S4 or equivalent) with 2 years work experience.
• Have good communication skills.
• Have an understanding of microcontroller based digital systems.
• Have an understanding of analog components.
• Be able to operate basic test equipment i.e. Oscilloscopes, multimeters etc.
• Be able to read circuit diagrams and be able to logically trace signals and voltages etc.
• Have basic computer skills within the Windows operating environment and associated office applications.
• Be a logical problem solver and be able to explain problems and solutions clearly.
• Have basic soldering skills.
• Be prepared to work under pressure.
• Be a self-motivated and self-disciplined worker.

Desirable:  It would be advantageous if the candidate:

• Has had experience in an electronic engineering environment.
• Has had experience in any computer PCB CAD packages such as Protel or Altium.
• Has had experience in writing firmware for microcontroller’s such as PIC’s or 8051’s.

Accountability

The Engineering Services Support Technician is accountable to the Engineering Services Manager.    

Success in the function is more objectively measured by:

• Timeous delivery of tasks.
• Ability to solve problems.
• Quality of solutions proposed.
• Technical knowledge of company products.

The candidate appointed to this position will be expected to:

• Manage himself/herself with minimal supervision.
• Produce results in line with commitments and agreed objectives.

The candidate will be judged solely on his/her ability to

• Provide technical support
• Analyse existing products and implement basic improvements/ enhancements to products.
• Provide relevant feedback to improve both Products and Processes.                

A copy of the full job description is available on request.

(EE/AA preference will be considered)