At Halter, weâre on a mission to enable farmers and graziers to run the most productive and sustainable operations. Our customers are using Halter to break free from the time-intensive constraints of conventional practices. Imagine watching 500 cattle stand up and walk calmly towards their next break? No quad bikes, no dogs, no fences. Just a group of cattle walking at their own pace. People say it looks like magic. Our customers are revolutionizing grazing with Halter. It's changing lives and transforming an industry. People join Halter to do meaningful work. By joining us youâll be solving challenging problems within a talented team and a culture built for high performance. Our team out-think, out-work and out-care. Weâre committed to delivering real change in the world - this isnât easy, and in truth, we love that itâs hard.
Weâre backed to deliver on a mission that matters by Tier 1 investors including Founders Fund, Bessemer Venture Partners, BOND, DCVC, Blackbird, Promus Ventures, Rocket Labâs Peter Beck and Icehouse ventures.
To find out more, visit our LinkedIn & Instagram.
Halter is flipping the livestock world on its head. Weâre scaling fast across NZ, Aus, and the US, lining up multiple new international markets, and the stakes are high.
We are looking for a Hardware Test Engineering Manager to build and lead our in-house Test Engineering pillar within the broader Reliability Function. Our collar is tough and built for the beating it takes day in and day out on a farm. Weâve iterated it to this point and learnt many tough lessons along the way. Weâre looking for someone who can take testing from a learned art to an applied science at Halter. Someone who can use a test program and evidence to accelerate Halterâs growth as a strategic advantage, to help us move forward confidently on multiple product lines in parallel.
This will be one of the most important roles we hire this year. Hardware is only getting more important strategically for Halter, and youâll be right at the core, making that happen. Itâs a rare opportunity to accelerate your career with unique and valuable experience in a high-performance, fast-paced environment where reliability matters.
This role reports to our Head of Reliability & Failure Analysis and owns the mission of delivering repeatable, trustworthy evidence that drives confident product decisions.
Your team produces the evidence that decides whether we ship, whether we hold, and what we fix next. You will build the systems, data, and operating rhythm that let Halter move quickly and confidently.
Build scalable, reliable test capability:
Own our test infrastructure: environmental chambers, test rigs, DAQ systems, instrumentation, automation, calibration, and procedures. The barrier to running a brilliant test will shrink substantially.
Raise throughput while holding the line on evidence quality and repeatability.
Make test data decision-grade:
Ensure all test data is trustworthy, searchable, and used in real product calls.
Build the foundations for strong test governance: traceability, calibration and versioning.
Ensure test data captured is sufficient to inform the pass/fail criteria pre-determined by the reliability engineering team.
Collect evidence for reliability standards as efficiently and quickly as possible:
Work with Reliability Engineers to help turn reliability requirements into test plans. Convert test plans into sign-off evidence that engineering leadership can rely on, as quickly as possible.
Partner tightly with Reliability Engineering, Hardware Design, Firmware, and Production to ensure sub-systems and full products are reliable from the earliest phases.
Ensure âreliableâ means âproven,â not âseems fine.â Your test evidence will directly determine go/no-go decisions with huge company impact.
Lead and grow a high-performing test engineering team
Hire, mentor, and develop engineers who love building systems and chasing truth.
Set a high-standards, low-ego culture where the goal is the same every time: evidence over opinions.
Halter ships with confidence driven by clear evidence, not hope.
Testing is repeatable, scalable, and fast, and produces data people trust.
Decisions are crisp and documented, and reliability improves with every release.
Proven experience leading test engineering or validation teams in high-reliability hardware (IoT, ruggedised consumer electronics, automotive, aerospace, industrial, robotics, or similar).
Comfortable being hands-on when needed, while still building leverage through people and process.
You know the tools and the reality
Deep experience with environmental testing, accelerated life testing, and reliability stress methods such as HALT/UV/Tumble/Impact etc
Strong knowledge of designing and building bespoke test jigs, instrumentation, DAQ, automation, and calibration discipline.
Strong judgment: you know where precision matters, where âgood enoughâ is actually good enough.
You lead with clarity
You can turn messy, cross-functional problems into an operating rhythm people trust.
You communicate clearly, and you collaborate with high standards and low ego.
You will be at the core of a product that farmers rely on every day, in an environment where reliability is a competitive advantage. This is a rare chance to build a world-class test engineering capability in a fast-scaling company where your work directly shapes what we ship, how we learn, and how fast we can grow.
Delicious snacks and drinks are available for your daily flow.
Healthy body, healthy mind. Weâre partnered with Southern Cross Health Insurance to support your well-being.
We offer 6 months of fully paid parental leave for primary caregivers, 4 weeks of fully paid secondary caregiver leave and many other parental benefits that support you and your family.
Our personal growth is important. Halter offers an annual $1000 self-development budget to be used for anything that fuels personal growth.
Our time to recharge is valued, weâre offered wellness leave and unlimited paid annual leave.
Importantly, we offer an inclusive and attractive remunera
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