Yeah Jonas,
For my experience, the expectations for prior knowledge and skill in engineering and analysis are very high for any FTE job of any importance. There are courses, though they are costly. The experience is hard to get. Anything can be done, but some things have a really long lead time (many years). Finding work to do helps you to build experience, but for what I have seen, you'll have to be mentored into it by someone who'll take you under their wing.
Just 'cause I'm entirely curious,
student pilot ATPL with +- 160 flying
Student pilot and ATPL seem to be at different ends of the spectrum. I have not seen the two terms used together before. The 160 hours seems closer to the student pilot side of things. I take it you're working toward the goal of the ATPL? Everyone starts somewhere, and 160 hours is an accomplishment to be proud of. It's a foundation for more flying. If flight test interests you, fly as many different types as you can, at least 10 hours in each. Flight test is really a type of flying where you want 1000 hours of flying experience, not an hour a thousand times!
Good luck....