Technical Support Engineer

At AST, we enhance the efficiency, productivity, and safety of flexible aseptic manufacturing processes for the worldwide Life Science Industry by offering innovative products, services, and solutions.

Do you want to contribute to a shared vision and mission? Would you like to bring your unique talents to have a significant impact at a growing company? At AST we strive to build a workplace that enables every team member to meet and exceed their capabilities. We set our expectations high and provide the environment and resources necessary to bring out the very best. AST is proud of our team. Providing challenging and rewarding work, with opportunities for personal/professional development is our key to this longevity. AST is an equal opportunity employer.
Compensation for onsite WA applicants is $80,000-$110,000 annually. All applicants are welcome to apply. 

Employee benefits include: Medical (HSA & PPO), Dental, Vision, Long/Short term disability, HSA account with employer contribution, 401(K) (Traditional & Roth options) with up to 5% company match, Education Assistance, Paid Time Off (PTO), Paid Holiday, and bonus potential.

What will I be doing?  

As a Technical Support Engineer at AST, you will be a member of the Service Engineering department. Some of your key responsibilities will include working directly with customer fielded equipment, automation programing, troubleshooting customer specific problems, supporting the Service Engineers in the field, performing experiments, machine testing and debug, and being a resource and support for our customers.  

Responsibilities:  

• Work directly with customers on their equipment to solve technical questions and challenges.  

• Efficiently and proactively resolve ongoing technical issues for customers, using good problem-solving skills to get to root issues, and escalate the tickets when appropriate. 

• Become a specialist in our product features and troubleshoot them through testing and collaboration with others. 

• Identify areas of improvement for our support ecosystem (ex. documentation, guides, open-source tools, etc.) and write clear, user-friendly documentation to aid our customers.

• Work directly with the design teams and engineers to influence the product and support capabilities.  

• Contribute code where you see an opportunity/demand from ongoing bugs.  

• Amend/update operations and maintenance manuals in accordance with the designs and equipment.  

• Develop solutions and review technical decisions that have high impact, both internal and external, to AST.  

• Contribute to and have responsibility for the completion of assignments with broad customer relationship impacts.  

• Participate in the installation/startup/testing of machinery, electrical and controls installation and supervision at customer facilities.  

• Perform machine testing, experiments, and debug activities to ensure the products meet the requirements.  

• Execute factory acceptance testing with documented results.  

• Provide estimates for the hours required to accomplish tasks and execute tasks within the timelines/budgets with moderate oversight. 

• Maintain technical records, test results, and documentation in support of design and/or performance history.  

• Embrace AST's Process of Continuous Improvement across the organization.  

Qualifications:  

• Bachelor’s degree in accredited electrical engineering or engineering curriculum with 2+ years of work experience.  

• Experience with common industrial programming languages, HMI designs, industrial communications, smart machine, AI/machine learning, machine automation hardware/software, advanced sensory systems including machine vision.  

• Ability to travel domestically and internationally around 25%, determined by company need.  

• Understand industrial machinery specifications and standards.  

• Knowledge of machine control system design and the testing environment with a strong electrical & mechanical acumen.  

• Skilled with computer software - Allen-Bradley PLC Platform, AutoCAD, MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).  

• A strategic thinker who enjoys innovation, problem solving and pursuing the root cause.  

• Self-motivated, energetic, and disciplined, with keen attention to detail.  

• Character that complements AST's long-standing culture of high integrity throughout all areas of internal and external business activity.  

Eligibility Requirements:  

• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States.  

• Must be willing to take and successfully pass a drug test.  

AST is proud of our team. Providing challenging and rewarding work, with opportunities for personal/professional development is our key to this longevity. AST is an equal opportunity employer. This is a full-time position based in Tacoma. Compensation is competitive, including salary, bonus potential, health plan options, competitive 401K match, and paid time off.