Assembly and Test Technician

LOCATION: CALMSDEN, CIRENCESTER, UK. LIMITED FIELD TRAVEL AS REQUIRED | 5 DAYS ONSITE

THE LAST FRONTIER

ARD was founded on a paradox. The Arctic is both the next great economic frontier and one of the most hostile environments on Earth. Rich in resources and strategically vital, yet bone-chillingly cold, dark for months, and fundamentally inhospitable to humans. This paradox - an explosion of activity in a place that resists human presence - is why we exist.

Our solution is autonomy.

We build systems that operate reliably and intelligently in the Arctic, so that humans don't always have to.

Founded by record-holding pioneers with decades of polar experience, we take calculated risks on hard problems that matter. If you want to build and deploy ground-up technology with real-world impact, at an inflection point in history that won’t reappear, we’d like to talk.

THE ROLE

ARD is growing and we’re looking for an Assembly and Test Technician to help us build and test our ruggedized hardware - from field-ready energy and battery systems to the autonomous platforms we deploy in the Arctic. Right now, our biggest constraint isn’t design. It’s the time it takes to assemble and test what we’ve designed.

Reporting to our Senior Test Engineer, you’ll join our engineering team, working alongside our Mechanical and Electronics Engineers and across our main hardware workstreams. You’ll take hands-on ownership of assembly and testing, helping with the practical implementation and testing of engineering designs.

Within your first 3 months, you’ll have helped to take assembly and test off the critical path on our key projects, and helped put in place the documentation and test processes that let us build and test consistently, unit after unit.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Assemble mechanical and electronics sub-assemblies, harnesses, PCBAs, and complete units to drawings and build instructions, so they’re ready for test on schedule.

• Run test phases on assemblies and finished units and record the results accurately, so issues are found and fixed before hardware reaches the field.

• Help set up repeatable test processes, from test plans and building test rigs to how results are captured, working closely with our Senior Test Engineer.

• Write and maintain build instructions, test procedures and records, raising the standard of our engineering documentation as we scale.

• Spot and report problems found during build and test, giving engineers the detail they need to debug and improve the next design revision.

REQUIREMENTS

You’re a practical, hands-on technician who takes pride in building things properly and getting the details right. You’re methodical, you like a clear process, and you’d rather write something down than rely on memory. You might come from a technician role in engineering, manufacturing or a test lab, an engineering apprenticeship, the armed forces, or a mechanical or electronics engineering degree with plenty of hands-on build experience.

Essential

• An engineering qualification (such as an HNC/HND, apprenticeship or degree in mechanical or electronics engineering), or equivalent hands-on experience.

• Hands-on experience assembling Electronics and Mechanical hardware in a workshop, lab or production setting.

• Experience with basic soldering equipment

• Ability to work from engineering drawings, schematics and written build instructions.

• Experience running tests on hardware and recording the results accurately.

• Experience or exposure to building mechanical test rigs

• Confident using common workshop tools and electronics test equipment, such as multimeters and bench power supplies.

• Comfortable owning your own tasks with guidance from the engineering team, and raising problems early when a build or test doesn’t go to plan.

Desirable

• Experience with electronics assembly such as wiring looms, crimping or soldering, or working with energy storage systems.

• Experience writing or improving build instructions, test procedures or other technical documentation.

• Experience building hardware in small batches or repeat runs, rather than one-off prototypes.

• Experience with surface-mount PCB assembly

Future Security Clearance Requirements

• As our business scales into the defence and security sectors, the responsibilities of this role are expected to evolve to include projects requiring UK Security Check (SC) clearance.

• While an active clearance is not required to apply or start in this role, candidates must be willing and eligible to undergo UK Government security vetting in the future should project requirements dictate it.

• To meet the standard eligibility criteria for UK standard SC vetting, you must typically have resided in the UK for the past 5 continuous years, hold a valid passport, and be capable of passing comprehensive background, financial, and criminal record checks.

Why ARD

The mission - The Arctic is the fastest-changing region on Earth. You'll build the intelligence layer that helps understand and steward it — an early-warning system for the planet's coldest edge.

Early stage, real influence - ARD is at an exciting early stage. You'll join while our products, team and culture are still taking shape, and your ideas will directly influence where we go next.

Ownership and accountability - We give people real responsibility from day one. You'll own your work end to end, be trusted to make decisions, and be accountable for delivering results that ship and get used.

A small but growing team - You'll work closely with experienced colleagues across science, software and hardware, with no layers in between. As we grow, you'll help build the team and the ways of working that come next.

WHAT WE OFFER

• Competitive compensation

• Private Health Insurance from Day 1

• Dental & Vision

• Equity - meaningful options as an early employee at an early-stage company

• Real field exposure - travel to Arctic sites and Outposts when needed

• Mission-driven culture - focus on impact, not hours logged

ARD is an equal opportunities employer. We hire on merit, based on skills, experience and potential, and welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. We know great candidates sometimes hold back unless they tick every box, so if this role excites you but your experience doesn’t match every point, we’d still love to hear from you, especially if you bring a background or perspective that is under-represented in science and engineering.

If you need any adjustments during the application or interview process, please don't hesitate to let us know at [email protected].

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