Mechanical Design Engineer

Jackie Kerr Recruitment - Engineering and Manufacturing; Carterton; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days annual leave

Training & Development plan

Employee discounts (Perkbox)

Job summary

Jackie Kerr Recruitment - Engineering and Manufacturing seeks an experienced Mechanical Design Engineer to deliver complete products and sub-systems. You will work with Product Management to define requirements, design architectures, perform feasibility studies and develop production-ready parts.

The role emphasizes DFME, ISO 9001 alignment, and collaboration with suppliers and internal teams to ensure high quality and cost-effective solutions.

Qualifications

• Hands-on design of products for mass production.
• Proficiency with 3D CAD software and tolerance analysis.
• Strong mathematical and theoretical analysis of mechanical systems.

Responsibilities

• Write clear Product Brief documents with requirements and scope.
• Design architectures, platforms, and interfaces to meet requirements.
• Identify design risks and perform feasibility studies.
• Detail design of parts using 3D CAD for in-house or external manufacture.
• Ensure DF/MF principles with suppliers to achieve quality and cost goals.
• Create full documentation for parts and assemblies (2D drawings, data sheets).
• Develop prototypes using rapid methods and production-grade parts.
• Test prototypes against requirements at sub-system and full-assembly levels.
• Prepare test reports and action plans to resolve issues.

Skills

3D CAD

SolidWorks

Product design

DFM (design for manufacture)

FMEA

Education

Engineering, Physics or Mathematics degree OR equivalent experience

Tools

SolidWorks

Job description

We at JKR are supporting a well-established UK manufacturer with a strong international presence, designing, developing and manufacturing a wide range of innovative products!

We are recruiting for an experienced Mechanical Design Engineer, who will be responsible for the design and delivery of complete products or product sub-systems. In addition to the design and delivery of new products, the role also encompasses improvements to existing products. For example, addressing changes in regulations, component obsolescence, or performance issues identified by customers.

The Mechanical Design Engineer Role:

• Work with Product Management and the other members of the Research and Development team to write clear and sufficient Product Brief documents, setting out the requirements and scope of new product developments
• Design overall product architectures, platforms, and interfaces to ensure that the requirements of each Product Brief can be met
• Identify design risks, and perform feasibility studies and theoretical analysis as necessary to quantify and minimise these risks early in the design process
• Perform detailed design of individual parts using 3D CAD software, for both in-house manufacture and external suppliers
• Work with the Production Engineering team, toolmakers and external suppliers to ensure that parts are Designed For Manufacture (DFM) to ensure high quality, low cost, vendor independence, and high repeatability of processing
• Create full documentation packages for all parts and assemblies, including (for example) 2D drawings for critical dimensions and tolerances, data sheets, regulatory information etc
• Create prototypes using rapid prototyping techniques, and also using production-ready parts
• Test the prototypes against the documented requirements both as sub-systems and when integrated into complete functional prototypes
• Create clear written test reports and action plans to resolve any issues that are identified
• Keep up to date with relevant technologies and techniques to ensure that our client’s products are at the leading edge of the industry
• Ensure that all designs are implemented and tested rigorously, in line with the company’s ISO 9001 quality processes and the safety-critical nature of the products
• Consider carefully potential failure modes for the product in real life situations – for example by performing full or partial FMEA
• Ensure that all defects and issues are systematically recorded, tracked and resolved

Mechanical Design Engineer Ideal Candidate:

• Hands-on design of products for mass production, including the whole process from idea to volume manufacturing
• 3D CAD skills, ideally experience with Solidworks, but other systems will be considered if willing to learn Solidworks
• Graduate in Engineering, Physics or Mathematics OR equivalent experience
• Confident with mathematics and theoretical analysis of mechanical and fluid systems (desirable)
• Committed to ongoing learning and self-development
• Able to work independently, but also to collaborate within a team
• Able to operate confidently and communicate effectively at all levels of the organisation, both verbally and in writing
• Excellent with detail
• Completer finisher mindset

Mechanical Design Engineer Working Hours & Benefits:

• Standard: 9:00am-5:00pm Monday to Thursday, 9:00am-4:30pm on Fridays
• Flexible working by prior agreement with management, with core hours of 10:00am to 4:00pm on all five days, 34.5 hours total per week
• 25 days annual leave + Bank Holidays
• Training & Development - Career / Personal Development Plan
• Employee discounts platform (Perkbox)