Job Description

BE GREAT TOGETHER WITH US.

Innovation, Efficiency and Ambition: this is what VAT has stood for over 50 years.

With this passion, VAT has grown to become the leading international developer, manufacturer and supplier of high-performance high-end vacuum valves and vacuum sealing technology, employing over 2000 people worldwide. The headquarters are located in Haag (Switzerland), the production centers in Switzerland, Malaysia, Romania and Taiwan.

The Development Engineer serves as the technical and quality interface between customers and internal teams, ensuring robust product performance, fast and structured issue resolution, and full compliance with customer and regulatory requirements. This role combines strong engineering fundamentals with customer quality ownership to drive product reliability, continuous improvement, and customer confidence.

The key responsibilities include but not limited to:

Product Engineering Ownership

• Act as the primary technical experts working closely with Product Manager, Field Engineers, Account Quality Managers, and internal stakeholders.
• Strong command of product knowledge, encompassing design, materials, machining, assembly, and associated processes to provide technical guidance and resolve uncertainties.
• Lead engineering investigations for customer complaints, including root cause analysis and ensure effective technical explanation.
• Ensure high-quality failure analysis (FA) reports supported by strong technical justification; challenge and close invalid or non-reproducible cases with data-driven rationale.
• Strengthen decision-making by identifying the most pragmatic solutions through cross-functional analysis of design, process, and supplier factors.

Engineering & Product Quality Assurance

• Act as technical authority during escalations, challenging design or process decisions based on field data, reliability risk, and customer impact.
• Support failure analysis and laboratory activities; convert findings into concrete design, process, or control improvements.
• Serve as the link between field failures and design robustness, ensuring lessons learned are embedded into future products and updates.

Customer Quality Communications

• Drive fast response, structured escalation, and effective containment actions to improve response time and customer confidence.
• Clearly translate customer complaints into technical, reliability, and risk-based problem statements.
• Review customer quality documentation, including FAI, First Lot Approval, control plans, and inspection reports.
• Ensure out-of-control situations are managed effectively through well-defined OCAPs, including timely containment and recovery actions.
• Maintain high standards for 8D reports and monitor closure turnaround time to meet customer expectations.
• Support regular customer quality reviews and maintain strong working relationships with key customer contacts.
• Drive internal quality improvement initiatives based on customer feedback, field failure data, and risk analysis.

New Product Introduction & Change Management

• Participate in NPI and engineering change control processes to ensure customer quality, CTQ, and Copy Exact compliance.
• Ensure customized or newly developed products fully meet customer specifications, quality standards, and regulatory requirements.
• Provide engineering inputs for design reviews, DFMEA/DFMA, and quality guidelines from a customer and field reliability perspective.

Interested? We look forward to receive your application.

You can expect a dynamic and successful company where innovation, courage, fairness, openness and transparency are encouraged and your ideas are welcome. We offer you challenging, rewarding and multi-faceted leadership position in an international environment and a dynamic and successful company. Your development according to your strengths and aspirations in your career is of great importance to us.