Meet our Senior Test & Development Engineer, Dave Baxter

Dave Baxter joined Technical Services in July 2025 as their Senior Test & Development Engineer. We sat down with Dave to find out what makes him tick – from his love of problem-solving to his surprising life as a champion sailor and swing dance instructor.

What do you like about engineering?

As a child, I always wanted to be an inventor. Engineering is so creative, designing things from scratch, producing innovative ideas and finding diverse ways of doing things. I used to work with LEDs, which I loved, and I really enjoy programming too. I still do it in my spare time for my own projects.

What does your day look like?

I work in a very dynamic environment, so no two days look the same. There is a lot of design work for new systems and integration work, which I thrive on. My job is to make it all work safely together and then see if we can make it fail. In the industry we always say, okay, now we have built it, let’s break it – that way you find all the flaws and work out the fixes.

It’s interesting to generate test ideas and figure out ways to implement them. I really enjoy that discovery process because there are so many outcomes, each presenting a new problem to be solved. That is what makes my role satisfying.

What has been the most enjoyable project to date?

There’s not one project that springs to mind because the R&D side of my role means there are always more modifications to improve a product. However, I am really enjoying my current project, which involves programming the front and back end of human machine interface units. These are touch screen controls for a test rig, allowing the customer to view measurements coming back from sensors about pressure, flow and temperature, and then manipulate that data so the system operates more efficiently.

How do you relax after a day’s work?

I don’t is the honest answer! I am currently writing software in my spare time for one of my other passions, 1950s dancing. I am a Jive dance instructor and run classes and events.

When I am not on the dancefloor, I race high performance sailing dinghies and am a coach for the Royal Yachting Association. It’s exhilarating and I also am lucky enough to be a national champion in my class of boat.

What would you say to anyone interested in becoming a test engineer?

If you have an inquisitive brain, a structured mind and excel at science and maths, then this is a good career path. But like everything, you need to be enthusiastic about what you do if you’re going to get the best from it.