Application Engineer - Technology Preparation 100% (w/m/d)

Rieter is the world’s leading system supplier for processing natural and man-made fibers into short-staple and long-staple yarn, as well as for the production of filament yarns, man-made fibers and nonwovens. With its comprehensive technology portfolio, Rieter covers the entire textile value chain - from fiber to yarn, and from polymer melt to texturized filament, synthetic staple fibers and nonwoven. Headquartered in Winterthur, Switzerland, the company designs and engineers complex spinning plants, machines, systems, and components that enable an efficient and economical production. Rieter’s leading technologies ensure minimal resource consumption, making a significant contribution to sustainability across the global textile value chain. Rieter has a history spanning more than 230 years, operates 17 production sites in nine countries, and employs around 4 220 people worldwide, approximately 15.4% of them in Switzerland. Rieter is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange under the ticker symbol RIEN.

As an Application Engineer - Technology Preparation, you will be part of the Technology Preparation Team and support the research, development, validation, and continuous improvement of next-generation preparation machines. You will contribute to technology development activities, machine testing, customer support, and lifetime testing while working closely with cross-functional teams and customers worldwide.
The role combines hands-on machine expertise, textile process know-how, analytical problem-solving, and customer interaction to ensure innovative and reliable solutions throughout the machine development lifecycle.

Your Tasks

• Support the identification and evaluation of technological opportunities for next-generation preparation machines.
• Contribute to research and development activities, including technological trials from carded sliver to yarn.
• Perform machine conversions, modifications, and adjustments on research, trial, and prototype machines.
• Test and validate machine concepts, machine functions, software features, and technology components during research, prototype, and pre-series phases.
• Ensure machine functionality, reliability, and performance while documenting results and recommending product and process improvements.
• Investigate and analyze technical challenges in internal laboratories as well as at customer sites.
• Act as a 3rd-level technical expert for preparation machines, providing support to Service Engineers, Customer Technology teams, and customers.
• Support troubleshooting, optimization, and performance improvement activities for installed machines, including on-site customer visits when required.
• Plan, execute, monitor, and evaluate lifetime testing activities and analyze machine performance and reliability data.
• Provide structured feedback to development teams to support continuous product improvement.
• Collaborate closely with Technical Product Owners (TPOs), Competence Centers, Process Analytics, Digital Solutions, Customer Technology teams, and customers.
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of the spinning system.
• Train and support Service Engineers and Customer Technologists and facilitate knowledge sharing and best-practice transfer across functions.

Your Profile

• Technical background as a Service Engineer, Textile Engineer, or equivalent.
• Practical experience with combing and drawframe technologies.
• Knowledge of blowroom and carding processes is an advantage.
• Experience working with textile machinery and/or within spinning mills.
• Good understanding of textile preparation and spinning processes.
• Fluent English (mandatory).
• German is an advantage.
• Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office applications, especially Word and Excel.
• Willingness to travel internationally up to 30%.

Our Offer

• an international working environment with long tradition
• versatile activity in a future-oriented environment with a lot of self-responsibility
• good development opportunities and fair employment conditions
• a motivated team with mutual respect and good cooperation