Machine and Tooling Development Engineer

Ingrid West Machinery Ltd; Tewkesbury; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 52,000; Full time

Job summary

Ingrid West Machinery Ltd in the United Kingdom invites applicants to join a hands-on workshop that designs, manufactures and repairs bespoke machinery for high-end clients. You’ll work in a practical setting with real engineering impact, not a corporate office, shaping systems from first sketches to finished machines.

You’ll craft parts using manual lathes and mills, design tooling with 2D/3D CAD, prototype with in-house printers and perform basic electrical maintenance.

Qualifications

• Strong hands-on mechanical background and practical workshop experience.
• Able to draft 2D designs and turn them into finished parts with manual tools.
• Familiar with basic electrical concepts and wiring diagrams.
• No formal degree required; proven skills count more than qualifications.

Responsibilities

• Manual Machining: Operating manual lathes and milling machinery to manufacture parts.
• Tooling Design: Using 2D / 3D CAD software to design and manufacture bespoke tooling to hold bobbins.
• Prototyping: Operating in-house 3D printers for rapid prototyping and temporary tooling.
• Electrical Maintenance: Handling basic electrical work, such as swapping out controllers and motors.
• Testing and Diagnostics: Evaluating sample parts, running material trials, optimising machine cycle times and fault-finding.
• Machine Build: Repairing, maintaining, and supporting coil-winding machinery in-house (with occasional customer site visits).
• Coil Winding: Learning the craft of coil winding to achieve perfect winding.

Skills

Manual lathe

Milling machine

CAD (2D/3D)

Creative problem solving

Tools

2D CAD

3D CAD

Job description

The Role at a Glance:

The Hook: Design, manufacture and repair bespoke machinery used by Formula 1 teams, aerospace industries, and high-tech medical giants.

The Environment: An old-school, practical workshop. No pointless corporate meetings, no endless paperwork. Just pure engineering.

Core Skills Needed: Strong hands-on mechanical background, manual lathe / milling experience, and basic 2D / 3D CAD knowledge. Creative problems solving mindset. No degree required.

About Our Workshop and Team

We don’t do fancy glass offices or trendy tech-hub perks. Our workshop is old-school, and our daily routine is beautifully simple – no pointless paperwork and meetings, you get to actually engineer. Because we are a small team, your contribution has a huge impact – there is no invisible corporate hierarchy here.

If you want a flashy corporate showroom, this isn't it. If you want your engineering fingerprint on the next rocket launch or F1 grid, welcome aboard.

One hour you’ll be working solo in a quiet workshop doing grounded, practical engineering. The next, you’ll be hopping on a technical call with a high-performance team at a Formula 1 supplier or figuring out how to wind specialized suture thread for surgeons.

What You'll Be Doing

Machines arrive from overseas manufacturers in a functional but unfinished state. Your job is to bring them up to standard, customer specific customisation and tooling, improve the wiring, and finish, before they leave our door. You will also be using creative mindset and problem-solving skills to devise, draw and manufacture custom solutions for our customers.

• Manual Machining: Operating manual lathes and milling machinery to manufacture parts.
• Tooling Design: Using 2D / 3D CAD software to design and then personally manufacture, bespoke tooling to hold bobbins.
• Prototyping: Operating in-house 3D printers for rapid prototyping and temporary tooling. Training can be provided.
• Electrical Maintenance: Handling basic electrical work, such as swapping out controllers and motors.
• Testing and Diagnostics: Evaluating sample bobbins, running material trials, optimising machine cycle times and fault-finding.
• Machine Build: Repairing, maintaining, and supporting coil-winding machinery in-house (with occasional customer site visits).
• Coil Winding: Learning the craft of coil winding to achieve perfect winding.

What We're Looking For

Practical competence matter much more to us than formal qualifications. Able to draft a 2D design and then actually manufacture your design with manual tools.

• Machining Skills: Fully comfortable operating a manual lathe and milling machine.
• CAD Skills: Comfort with a 2D or 3D drafting / CAD package or willing to learn.
• Basic Electrical Knowledge: Ability to read a wiring diagram and understand the relationship between controls and motors.
• Mechanical Engineer: Proven background in mechanical assembly, machining, fabrication, or mechanical maintenance.
• A "Figure It Out" Mindset: A natural problem-solver willing to strip a machine down, diagnose the fault, and rebuild it.
• Nice to Have: Experience with servo motors, stepping drives, or a background as a Toolmaker or Maintenance Technician.

Why This Role

You will see a project through from the first sketch to the finished machine, build your own tooling library, and take genuine ownership of engineering problems. If you like designing something one week and getting your hands dirty fixing a machine the next, this role is built for you