Product Assurance Specialist - Live Event Control

Role Overview ETC, a global leader in entertainment and architectural lighting, is seeking a seasoned lighting programmer to join our R&D Live Event Controls team as a Senior Product Assurance Specialist. This role is onsite at our Austin, TX location. About the Candidate We are looking for someone who has spent a decade or more behind a Hog console. You know the Hog platform not only from the programmer’s seat, but from the road—festivals, tours, and the real‑world pressure of making a rig show‑ready. You have pushed the Hog family to its limits and can articulate what helps and what hurts the workflows lighting programmers depend on. Your insights are structured, testable feedback that guides product decisions affecting Hog programmers worldwide. Responsibilities Perform hands‑on verification of Hog software and console behavior across current platforms and configurations (e.g., Tour Hog, Flex Hog, Road Hog 4-21 and Full Boar 4), with attention to interoperability and real‑world networked systems. Evaluate new features with a critical programmer’s eye, ensuring they support practical workflows across touring, theatre, broadcast, and large‑venue production, and hold up in a networked multi‑console rig under show conditions. Partner directly with R&D and Product Management to identify edge cases, workflow gaps, and improvement opportunities—your field experience is the asset. Reproduce, document, and advocate for bug fixes with the context of someone who has felt those issues mid‑show. Engage with ETC’s professional user community and bring broad practitioner‑level insight to internal discussions, ensuring feedback reflects multiple disciplines. Help define quality benchmarks that reflect the demands of touring, broadcast, and large‑venue production. Representative Responsibilities Participate in product requirements and design definition, contribute product assurance requirements to project plans and product designs. Interact with engineering team to define, document, analyze, and perform tests for products and system integration. Have an in-depth knowledge of a product line within a product family. Develop and execute product assurance programs for new products and modifications to existing products. Execute system integration test plans involving products interacting on a network. Review product requirements for testability, ambiguity, and consistency. Report product defects via defect‑tracking database, following defects to resolution. Provide task completion time estimates. Investigate defect root causes and report findings back to the appropriate project team members. Provide technical support to internal and external customers. Participate in ISO on‑the‑job training. Produce product assurance program schedules and time estimates with assistance. Acquire and maintain test equipment. Have a working knowledge of commonly used tools and applications in R&D. Learn department and corporate policies, procedures, and plans. Schedule and attend identified training classes. Perform other duties as assigned. Complete special projects and assignments in a positive and timely manner. Demonstrate basic written and verbal skills. Listen and give constructive feedback. Show good group interaction skills. Work effectively in a team environment. Follow directions and project plans. Ask for clarification and direction when needed. Make independent decisions. Systematically solve problems of moderate scope and perform root cause analysis. Create a product assurance program for a specific product. Apply best practices for product assurance. Assist with design or modification of a product, service, or process. What You Bring 5+ years of hands‑on Hog console programming experience—Hog platform fluency is essential. A track record in professional live production (touring, concert, theatrical, broadcast, or large‑scale events). Deep familiarity with networked console systems, show file architecture, and real‑world troubleshooting. Strong instincts for what “correct” looks and feels like from an operator’s perspective. Comfort communicating technical findings clearly, in writing and in conversation with engineers. Working knowledge of DMX and IP‑based lighting networks (e.g., Art‑Net, SACN) — required. Minimum Qualifications Technical associate’s degree with 4–6 years of job‑related experience. 3–5 years of technical theater or industry experience. Experience in a team environment. Demonstrated ability to work independently and perform multiple tasks without general supervision. Benefits ETC offers competitive compensation, excellent benefits, and a collaborative, passionate team culture. #J-18808-Ljbffr