Chemical Test Engineer

Do you want to contribute to the future of sustainable milk farming and make a real impact on the hygiene and performance of our milking robots? Do you want to contribute to improve cow health?

The Lely Astronaut is an innovative automated milking system, with over 50,000 units installed worldwide. In this role, you will combine your knowledge about dairy farms and dairy cows with practical experience on the farm. You will use this to test udder health products and hoof health solutions to ensure healthy cows, and hygiene of the milking robot.

We are looking for a practical, all-round test engineer with a strong affinity for the dairy sector, someone who understands working with cows, has basic farming knowledge and understands cow care chemicals or is at least willing to learn about it.

Key responsibilities

• Develop and execute test protocols for teat dips, udder health products, (and cleaning solutions)
• Design lab-scale and field-scale experiments
• Simulate cleaning/ disinfection conditions
• Evaluate effect of cow health products or cleaning/ disinfection agents at different processes
• Perform practical field tests on farms, working directly with cows and farm staff
• Test compatibility of products with equipment and surfaces in dairy environments
• Work together with farmers and field engineers
• Keep accurate records of tests and clearly communicate these results and observations through reports and documentation
• Connect with other teams within Lely. Work together with farm management support, technical service support, hardware test engineers or product engineers.
• Run field-tests with farmers and field engineers to validate solutions on farms
• Ensure compliance with chemical safety and hygiene standards in agricultural contexts

Test environments

• Laboratory: Controlled chemical analysis, material testing
• Workshop: Equipment cleaning trials, mechanical integration
• Field (Dairy Farms): Real-world testing with cows, cow health monitoring, farmer feedback

Skills & tools

• Analytical analyses and basic data analysis skills
• Practical way of working, understanding basic hygienic standards
• Ability to conduct field tests with cows (and the Lely Astronaut milking robot).
• Observational skills to monitor cow behaviour and product effects
• Practical understanding of dairy farm operations
• Strong communication skills with farmers to gather feedback and share findings
• Reporting & documentation (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, AI)

What do you bring?

• Bachelor’s (BSc) or Master’s (MSc) in:
  • Biosystems Engineering
  • Animal science / animal and animal husbandry, or a related field
• A background in or strong affinity with dairy farming
• Experience working with cows, understanding their behavior and needs
• A pragmatic, hands-on mentality: equally comfortable in a lab coat or barn boots
• Curiosity and drive to explore—from the chemistry bench to the milking parlor
• Strong communication skills (Dutch, English) and the ability to collaborate across disciplines

Working at Lely means contributing to sustainable progress within one of the most innovative organizations in the Netherlands. You contribute to making the agricultural sector future-proof - and we make sure that you get all the space, resources and support you need to do so.

• An international working environment with opportunities for own initiative and entrepreneurship.
• Excellent working conditions, including up to 8 weeks of vacation per year and a good pension scheme.
• A salary within the scale of € 4.089 - € 4.964 gross per month, in which we like to see opportunities for growth from your starting salary towards the future
• Good growth opportunities: you are in control of your development and can choose from various training courses through our Lely Academy - from personal development to job-specific training.
• Our modern Lely Campus offers daily access to extensive sports facilities: an indoor gym, outdoor padel courts, an outdoor basketball and volleyball court, table tennis and table soccer. You can join Hyrox workouts or sign up for personal training - and challenge your colleagues during an active break.
• Enjoy fresh coffee and tea from our own barista, with milk straight from our farm, as well as a healthy and affordable company restaurant.
• A healthy work-life balance thanks to our hybrid work policy: you work at least three days a week on Campus, with flexible working hours and plenty of room to spend extra time on site (between 06:00 and 20:00).
• A free shuttle bus will take you to and from the metro in Maassluis, so your workday starts and ends smoothly.
• Successes need to be celebrated: from anniversaries to Christmas parties - at Lely we know how to do it!

We are also proud that our efforts and vision have been rewarded by winning the Rotterdam Entrepreneur Award 2025!

At Lely, we believe in achieving a sustainable, profitable and agreeable future for dairy farmers by combining robotisation, enjoyable and farming expertise.

With a team of 2,500 professional specialists, we work constantly to bring about revolutionary solutions for the agro industry. We are based at our Maassluis Campus, a building which features the highest sustainability performance possible, not just in the Netherlands, but on a global scale. Our overall objective: making dairy farming interesting, also for the coming generations.