Electrical and Mechanical Laboratory Engineer (Quality) | De’Longhi Group (De’Longhi, Kenwood and Braun) | Kenwood Global Headquarters, Havant, Hampshire | £Competitive excellent benefits package Drive quality and innovation with De’Longhi Group De’Longhi Group products are a byword for quality, and our Product Quality teams play a critical role in ensuring we keep it that way. We’re now seeking an Electrical and Mechanical Laboratory Engineer (Quality) to validate and approve assigned products, ensuring their quality meets customer demand throughout the product life cycle. You will work across all De’Longhi Group brands, with your work defined along product category lines. Please note: due to the nature of this role, applicants emphatically must possess electrical/mechanical quality test (and not other test) skills. The role You’ll play a vital role testing, evaluating and reporting on products against a set of requirements and standards, also carrying out root cause analysis. As an expert in your field, you’ll recommend improvements to processes and methodologies as well as to products. You’ll work on a flexible project basis, continually adapting and reprioritising where necessary and liaising with Product Quality Owners (PQOs) to get clarity on requirements. Your planning and preparation will extend to ensuring all necessary samples, equipment, activities and defined methods are in place before you begin testing. In this role, timeliness is critical regardless of whether products pass or fail tests. You must bring a proactive and solution-oriented approach to your work, and provide a level of detail about failures that enables the wider team to make adjustments for the next stage of a project. Failures will prompt questions, so you should be confident and prepared for scrutiny, with the ability to self-check as you work. Collaboration is a key part of this role: you’ll work closely with R&D, PQOs and project teams while maintaining responsibility for your own areas of expertise. Beyond testing, you’ll support New Product Development as a contributor, questioning processes and pushing boundaries to ensure the highest-quality outcomes. Your input will shape decisions and drive the success of each project. Key responsibilities Your responsibilities include (but are not limited to) the following: • Planning and executing validation tests for new products, firmware, product improvements and competitor benchmarking. • Compiling clear, concise written test reports and presenting results to global project teams. • Operating, maintaining and repairing product-specific test equipment, including purchasing and installing replacement components. • Evaluating and optimising test methods, equipment and processes. • Coordinating and preparing expense and investment applications for test equipment upgrades. • Collaborating with internal and external teams, including project members and suppliers. • Aligning with Group Quality teams globally to support cross-category testing. • Contributing to training, knowledge transfer and continuous improvement of quality processes. About you We’re seeking a hands-on, technically skilled individual with some demonstrable experience in an engineering environment. A background in NPD or NPI is beneficial, as is a solid electromechanical or electronic skill set. Practical experience—whether from manufacturing, toolrooms, or product investigation—along with qualifications like an HNC or a time-served apprenticeship, is ideal. Skills in Python or basic programming are a bonus as we continue to evolve our products and explore automation. This practical, product-focused role requires curiosity, initiative and a willingness to tackle challenges. You should be self-sufficient, confident and eager to find solutions. While you will need to be independent and highly-focused in your tests, you’ll also be a natural collaborator and communicator who knows when to seek advice and insight from your fellow experts in a close-knit team, some of whom may have expertise that you don’t. We’re looking for someone who brings fresh ideas and adds value, establishing best practices and enhancing what we do today. If you can act as a positive and confident ambassador and advocate for our department and for your own work, all the better. What’s in it for you? You will be working with premium products that you’ll see on sale at retailers, and in homes. You’ll enjoy a family-oriented, sociable and positive culture, with outstanding investment into staff. Our extensive benefits include: • Competitive incentivised salary • Excellent contributory pension • 25 days holiday bank holidays • Superb subsidised restaurant • Free on-site parking • Flexible benefits package • Access to a range of wellbeing activities and events About us De’Longhi Group is home to the De'Longhi, Kenwood, Braun Household, NutriBullet and Ariete brands—all pioneering kitchen and home appliance brands that are internationally recognised and respected. The De'Longhi Group, headquartered in Treviso, Italy, has international operations in more than 30 countries. The location Your reporting office will be Kenwood’s global HQ on the beautiful South Coast between Portsmouth and Chichester, where our products are conceived and tested, and where our UK De’Longhi division is based. As this is a laboratory-based role, you will spend a lot of your time working onsite, but with some flexibility to complete non-laboratory work at home. You should live within commuting distance and hold a UK a driver’s licence.