4893 First Line Trainee Technical Support Engineer jobs near me

Location: Watford

Employment Type: Full-time, permanent,

Company Description

RVM Systems UK is a leading provider of reverse vending and automated recycling solutions, supporting retailers and governments to deliver large-scale Deposit Return Schemes (DRS). Part of the privately owned RVM Systems Group headquartered in Sweden, we operate globally across more than 40 markets and are trusted partners to many of the world’s largest retailers.

Our technology enables millions of consumers to recycle beverage containers every day, contributing to a circular economy and measurable environmental impact. In 2024 alone, RVM Systems technology supported the collection of over 13 billion containers worldwide. With the UK DRS approaching and continued business growth, we are now expanding our UK service capability.

Role Description

The Senior Technical Support Leader leads RVM Systems' Remote Support team and acts as the technical backbone of the service function. The role combines day-to-day team leadership with hands-on second-line technical expertise, diagnosing and resolving complex mechanical and electrical faults on our Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs) remotely, and coordinating closely with our field engineering teams to ensure issues are resolved quickly and efficiently. The role also plays a key part in building and improving the internal tools, apps, and forms that the organisation, including Remote Support and Field teams, rely on every day.

Key Responsibilities:

Team Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop the Remote Support team, setting clear standards for response times, ticket quality, and customer communication.
• Own the team rota to ensure appropriate coverage across service hours.
• Act as the first point of escalation for team queries, workload issues, and performance concerns.
• Support onboarding and technical training of new Remote Support Engineers.

Second-Line Technical Support

• Act as the second level of support for the Remote Support team, picking up cases that cannot be resolved at first line.
• Apply a strong working knowledge of the mechanical systems within RVMs (motors, conveyors, compaction units, sensors) and electrical systems (wiring, control boards, PLCs) to diagnose faults remotely.
• Carry out remote diagnostics, fault-finding, and where possible remote resolution or commissioning of machines.
• Maintain and continually improve a shared knowledge base of common faults, fixes, and diagnostic steps for the wider team to use.

Connectivity & Network Fault-Finding

• Understand basic networking concepts (TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP) sufficiently to diagnose why a machine has lost connectivity to back-office systems.
• Work confidently with routers, firewalls, and customer site IT teams to resolve port and access issues affecting machine connectivity.
• Use remote access tools (VPN, remote desktop/monitoring software) to connect into machines or on-site hardware for diagnostics.

Field Coordination

• Maintain a clear understanding of field engineer roles, skill sets, and geographic coverage in order to coordinate work effectively.
• Triage incoming issues to determine whether they can be resolved remotely or require a field visit, and coordinate scheduling of field attendance with the Lead Field Engineer and regional teams.
• Provide real-time remote technical guidance to field engineers while they are on site.
• Track and report on the status of field jobs, helping ensure engineer time and parts are used efficiently.

Internal Tools & Systems

• Identify opportunities to improve support and field processes through digital tools, apps, forms, dashboards, and checklists.
• Design, build, and maintain internal tools used by the Remote Support and Field teams (e.g. job forms, diagnostic checklists, reporting dashboards), working with IT or external developers where needed.
• Gather feedback from team users and refine tools accordingly to keep them fit for purpose.

Reporting & Continuous Improvement

• Produce regular reports on Remote Support performance, ticket volumes, resolution times, first-time-fix rates, for the Service Manager and senior management.
• Identify recurring machine faults or trends and feed insight back to the wider Service and Engineering teams.
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of RVM Systems' support processes, documentation, and training materials.

Health & Safety

• Comply with RVM Systems' Health & Safety policies at all times.
• Promote safe working practices when providing remote guidance to field engineers on site.

This job description is not exhaustive and you may be required to undertake other duties commensurate with your role, skills, and experience, in line with the needs of the business.

Person Specification:

Essential

• Proven experience in a technical support, service, or field engineering role, ideally involving mechatronic or mechanical/electrical equipment.
• Strong working knowledge of mechanical systems (motors, conveyors, sensors) and electrical systems (wiring, control boards, PLCs).
• Experience leading, mentoring, or supervising a team, or clear readiness to step into a leadership role.
• Confident, clear communicator, comfortable coordinating between office-based and field-based colleagues.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to diagnose faults accurately without being on site.
• Comfortable using, and ideally building or configuring, digital tools such as forms, apps, or dashboards (e.g. Microsoft Power Platform or similar).
• Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office / Microsoft 365.
• Working knowledge of networking fundamentals (TCP/IP, firewalls, DNS/DHCP) sufficient to troubleshoot connectivity issues between machines and back-office systems.

Digital Tools & AI

Confident using low-code/no-code platforms (such as Microsoft Power Apps, Power Automate, or Forms) and AI tools to build, adapt, or troubleshoot internal apps, forms, and dashboards. Formal coding or software development experience is beneficial, and a genuine interest in using technology to solve practical problems is essential. Any experience with basic scripting (e.g. Power Automate expressions, VBA, or similar) would be an advantage.

Desirable

• A relevant IT/networking certification (e.g. CompTIA Network+), not essential, but a bonus.
• Experience within the reverse vending, recycling, packaging, or vending machine industry.
• A formal mechanical or electrical qualification (e.g. NVQ, City & Guilds, or equivalent).
• Experience with CRM, ticketing, or field service management systems.
• Full UK driving licence, for site and customer visits where required.

Our Values:

All RVM Systems employees are expected to demonstrate our company values in their day-to-day work:

• Sustainability First – supporting our mission to reduce waste and drive a circular economy.
• Trust & Integrity – acting honestly and reliably with colleagues and customers.
• Responsibility & Ownership – taking accountability for your work and its outcomes.
• Innovation Together – contributing ideas and improvements and collaborating across teams.
• Value our People – supporting and developing colleagues around you.
• Excellence Always – striving for high standards in everything you do.

Pay: £35,000.00-£60,000.00 per year

Work Location: In person