Senior Hardware & Test Validation Engineer
Portugal-based · Porto hybrid preferred — candidates based in Porto will work a hybrid schedule from our hardware development office and lab. Fully remote candidates within Portugal are welcome to apply; all team members are expected to spend several days per month on-site in Porto, typically concentrated within a single week.
Make a measurable and mission-critical impact.
Bring your unique talents and experience to a leading company in Industrial IoT solutions. At Anova, we build connected tank monitors and software that keep essential fluids and gases moving safely and efficiently across industries worldwide. Our hardware is in the field every day, and the engineer in this role is the person who decides what "good" looks like before it gets there.
You'll inherit an existing foundation of test processes and standards — and your job is to raise the bar. You'll assess what's worth keeping, design and build the automated test systems and tooling that replace what isn't and write the validation playbook for Anova's current and next-generation product lines. The team that operates and executes within those systems is already in place; your job is to build infrastructure that makes them faster, more reliable, and more scalable. You'll have direct support from senior engineering leadership, and as the function matures, you'll help shape the team that grows around it.
Job Duties and Responsibilities
Validation Standards & Tooling Ownership
- Assess Anova's current test processes and standards; modernize what's needed and define the validation approach for next-generation products.
- Design and build automated test hardware — including test PCBs and fixture electronics — that enable consistent, scalable validation of Anova's product lines.
- Establish and document the test methodology, tooling, and traceability standards for hardware validation across the organization — and work cross-functionally to drive adoption with firmware engineers, QA, and test technicians.
Validation Planning & Standards
- Define validation plans covering functional, environmental, and regression testing across PCB/electrical, RF/wireless, and firmware behavior on hardware targets — ensuring hardware and firmware are validated together, not in isolation.
- Define and maintain entry/exit criteria, test coverage metrics, and product readiness standards for each phase of hardware development.
- Own validation reporting, test results traceability, and release quality sign-off — the final word on whether hardware is ready to ship. Coordinate with internal engineers and external test laboratories to ensure product readiness.
Defect Investigation & Cross-Functional Partnership
- Own failure analysis for field, production, and test system issues — determining whether the root cause lies in the hardware design, the test system, firmware, or the boundary between them, and partnering with colleagues to drive closure.
- Support factory bring-up during validation builds and resolve test-related issues on the line.
- Set standards for the capture, monitoring, and traceability of test data, and work with colleagues to ensure we are maintaining the source of truth for quality and reliability investigations.
What You'll Need to Succeed
Minimum Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, or equivalent combination of education and hands-on experience.
- 4+ years of experience in test systems engineering, hardware validation, or embedded systems test — including direct experience designing automated test hardware and test PCBs and PCB/electrical validation; hands-on familiarity with environmental and reliability testing (thermal, humidity, vibration, or similar) required; hands-on RF/wireless and firmware/embedded validation experience strongly preferred.
- Experience working across multiple phases of a structured hardware development process — whether formal (EVT/DVT/PVT, APQP) or equivalent practice at a product company where hardware goes through distinct design, validation, and production readiness stages.
- Proficiency with lab instrumentation: oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, signal generators, power supplies, and protocol analyzers (UART, SPI, I2C, etc.).
- Ability to write test scripts and automation tooling (Python preferred); comfort reading schematics, firmware logs, and protocol traces to distinguish hardware from firmware root causes.
- Excellent English communication skills — this role requires clear and effective communication across time zones with a distributed international team, including colleagues for whom English is not a first language. Ability to produce clear documentation for technical and non-technical audiences essential.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with statistics and data analysis.
- Demonstrated ability to operate independently, take technical ownership, and influence cross-functionally without direct authority.
- Experience at a product company or IoT hardware environment, where validation scope spans the full product rather than a single functional module.
- Familiarity with cellular (LTE-M/NB-IoT) or other wireless protocol validation.
- Experience defining or significantly improving test standards, not just executing within them.
- Exposure to IATF 16949, ISO 9001, or other quality management frameworks.
- Experience supporting contract manufacturer relationships and factory bring-up activities.
- Familiarity with environmental and reliability testing standards (IEC 60068 or equivalent).
- Experience building and maintaining automated test tooling and software frameworks that integrate with custom test hardware.
Physical Requirements
- Ability to work in both office and lab environments — including extended periods at a workstation or bench, prolonged standing during hands-on lab work, occasional lifting of test equipment up to 40 lbs, and effective use of standard lab instrumentation.
- Lab work will primarily take place at Anova's Porto hardware development office and on-site lab facility.
- Must be able to travel internationally — primarily to contract manufacturers in Mexico and Czech Republic — up to approximately 20% of the time.
ABOUT ANOVA
We are very proudly “one” Anova — built by integrating the best in IIoT technology and expertise. Anova monitors more than 1,250,000 assets across nearly 80 countries for over 2000 clients, from family businesses to the largest LPG, Industrial Gases, and chemicals companies in the world. Our scale is global. Our service is local. We partner directly with customers, taking a holistic approach and delivering tailored solutions that drive innovation and improvement and make our world safer, more efficient, and reliable.
We believe that rewarding work should reward you. As part of Anova, your work, integrity, and commitment are rewarded through competitive compensation and reward strategies, through sincere appreciation, and through opportunities for growth and advancement. We put people first by providing benefits that support your life and well-being, from health and finance to recognition and reward, and so much more — we've got you covered.
If this sounds like a fit for you, apply to join Anova in connecting the industrial world — for better.
For more information about how Anova is transforming the Industrial IOT industry, visit us at Anova.com.
