Sales Support Engineer

Skills

The role will report directly to the Sales Manager but will for the most part be expected to work autonomously. The role will also interact with a small team of personnel responsible for running the manufacturing plant on a day-to-day basis. This is a multidisciplinary role requiring a broad range of engineering and technical skills. The typical (but not necessarily complete) scope of the work involved is described below, listed with the most important activities first:

Sales Support

Following a program of internal training on the important design/product parameters and principles the Sales Engineer will be expected to:

1. Interpret customer specifications and requirements to produce outline product designs based on a set of standard product platforms and historical supplies.
2. Pre-prepare and check as required quotations ready for submittal to a customer.
3. Answer customer questions regarding product suitability, performance and the like.
4. Talk to customers and handle general queries in the absence of the Sales Manager.
5. Assist in, or give, customer presentations either on site or at a customer premises (may very occasionally be overseas).
6. Organise and document any product testing that is required and agreed with the customer.
7. Work with the production team where necessary to ensure the customer’s requirements can be met and enable and encourage organic product improvement and capability.
8. General administration of quotations, sales orders in line with the documented ISO9001 procedures.

Quality System

The company has a well-established ISO9001:2015 quality system. This will require various activities, some practical such as:

1. Continuous improvement of the systems and company.
2. Troubleshooting and documenting non-conformances and customer complaints.

External Laboratory Testing and Test Reports

1. Some production orders require the company to carry out tests at external laboratories which on occasion the Sales Engineer may need to represent the company. Mostly this is High Voltage testing which is either required as a type test (one set of proving tests on a specific construction or “Type”), or routine tests carried out on each supplied component in an order. These are carried out in European labs, occasionally in North America, with typically only 1 or 2/year at most, typically lasting 1-3 days. Laboratory testing may rarely require going into a platform or bucket lift up to heights of around 10-15m above ground.
2. Managing new and existing test report data.

On-site Support

1. Very occasionally there may be a requirement to provide on-site support to a customer, normally to assist in solving installation problems or an operational issue with a product. Historically this has only been on the order of one overseas visit every 5 years. This work may typically require some optical testing and/or optical connector installation, and perhaps the need to climb ladders up to a large platform 5-10m above ground. Any training required would be given before a site visit, and suitable safety guidelines would need to be met before such a visit is approved.

The Sales Engineer can expect to be a key part of the team running the day-to-day business of the company. They will need the ability to communicate well (verbally and in writing) with other personnel, customers and suppliers alike.

The Minimum Candidate Requirements Will Be

1. An Honours Level BSc/BEng in a relevant Science or Engineering subject (e.g. Physics, Engineering including electrical).
2. A level Maths (B grade or higher).
3. Ability to generate and modify MS Excel spreadsheets with conditional formulae.
4. Ability to problem solve and communicate professionally with scientifically knowledgeable customers, test engineers and test witness personnel. Practically the candidate needs to be comfortable with scientific/engineering terminology and in particular electrical terminology.

Additional Useful Skills Would Be

1. Knowledge of polymeric materials and ultra-high voltage applications.
2. Ability to use CAD or other product design software.