Production Design Support Engineer

MBDA; Bolton; Hybrid; GBP 53,000 - 63,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading defence organisation in Bolton is looking for a Product Design Engineer. This hybrid role involves supporting production design queries, applying engineering expertise to improve product quality, and managing design data using tools like IBM PLM and SAP. Candidates should have relevant engineering qualifications and problem-solving skills. The position offers a salary of £53 to £63k based on experience, along with various benefits, including a company bonus and flexible working arrangements.

Benefits

Company bonus up to £2,500

Pension contribution of up to 14%

Opportunity for paid overtime

Flexible leave

Enhanced parental leave

Subsidised meals and free parking

Healthcare Cash Plan

Qualifications

• Experience in product development and manufacturing.
• Ability to gather and analyze data effectively.
• Knowledge of PLM tools and documentation.

Responsibilities

• Act as point of contact for production design queries.
• Utilize engineering tools to manage design data.
• Lead technical meetings and manage design changes.

Skills

Methodical approach

Understanding of quality management systems

Problem-solving methods (e.g. 8D investigations)

Effective communication with design authority

Knowledge of engineering disciplines

Education

Level 4 Certificate (HNC or equivalent)

BEng/BSc in a relevant Engineering/Technical Degree

Tools

IBM PLM suite

SAP

Job description

Weapon system equipment is at the heart of our products and is critical to MBDA delivering capability to our front-line users. It is often the part of the product that users interact with the most in training and in operations. As such, it is critical that delivered equipment continues to be of a high quality when it leaves the factory and throughout its in-service life. As part of our expansion plans, it has become necessary to expand our product design support capability within weapon system equipment to enable the manufacturing team to continue to deliver our systems at the quality and rate we require.

Salary: Salary: Circa £53 to £63k depending on experience

Dynamic (hybrid) working: 3-4 days per week due to nature of work

Security Clearance: British Citizen or a Dual UK national with British citizenship

Restrictions and/or limitations relating to nationality and/or rights to work may apply. As a minimum and after offer stage, all successful candidates will need to undergo HMG Basic Personnel Security Standard checks (BPSS), which are managed by the MBDA Personnel Security Team.

What we can offer you:

• Company bonus: Up to £2,500 (based on company performance and will vary year to year)
• Pension: maximum total (employer and employee) contribution of up to 14%
• Overtime: opportunity for paid overtime
• Flexi Leave: Up to 15 additional days
• Flexible working: We welcome applicants who are looking for flexible working arrangements
• Enhanced parental leave: offers up to 26 weeks for maternity, adoption and shared parental leave -enhancements are available for paternity leave, neonatal leave and fertility testing and treatments
• Facilities: Fantastic site facilities including subsidised meals, free car parking and much more…
• Healthcare Cash Plan: The Healthcare Cash Plan benefit provides the option to claim cash back on everyday healthcare expenses such as optical, dental, health and wellbeing and more.

The opportunity:

This role will be embedded within our production facility to be the first line of support and co‑ordination of resolution for production design queries on behalf of the project teams, to improve production yield and ensure programme targets are achieved.

Based on your broad engineering knowledge, you will be supported in accessing expertise across a number of engineering disciplines (systems, electronics, electrical, mechanical and software) to effectively produce root cause analysis for design queries against the defined production standard in build, provide technical insight and reports to aid resolution of the query, as well as oversee implementation of corrective actions.

You will be working with a small team of dedicated engineers in a fast‑paced but friendly and inclusive manufacturing environment. The team has a great mix of people, ranging from apprentices and graduates through to time‑served experienced engineers, all striving to deliver technical excellence across a number of different weapon systems in development and production.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide a point of contact within the manufacturing facility to gather data, run investigations and respond to production design queries with the remotely located weapon system design authorities.
• Establish an effective tracking and control system to support status and progress of the weapon system related production design queries.
• Utilise established engineering toolsets (IBM PLM suite, SAP, …) to correctly locate, convey and manage design data.
• Provide guidance to the manufacturing teams of any deviations to the published design baseline and consider the impact to certification as part of the query resolution process.
• Establish and promote formal diagnosis methodologies to identify the root cause and report corrective action recommendations.
• Gather evidence from the shop floor to provide back to the design authority.
• Lead technical progress meetings with the relevant Project Team and / or Supplier.
• Where necessary, place work packages on the design teams to implement design changes, monitoring the cost at completion and the Unit Production Cost (UPC) impact of the recommendations.

What we're looking for from you:

• An experienced product design engineer, architect, design authority or technician, who has worked in product development across the design lifecycle including the transfer into manufacturing.
• An ability to take a methodical approach using varied knowledge of engineering disciplines in order to elicit the right support from the wider business in diagnosing faults and failures.
• Have a good understanding of quality management systems to enable the control of product through the delivery system.
• Have a good understanding of PLM tools and able to navigate and understand build structures, and supporting documentation.
• Experience of using formal problem‑solving methods such as 8D investigations.
• Able to convey technical design and manufacturing information in a clear and concise way to a remotely located design authority.
• Proactive in responding to requests from the manufacturing team and form ad‑hoc peer‑based teams to respond to short‑term problem solving and ensure a timely resolution.

It is expected that you will have completed formal further education certificate to Level 4 (HNC or equivalent in a relevant subject) with suitable on‑the‑job experience OR hold a BEng/BSc in a relevant Engineering/Technical Degree.

Our company: Peace is not a given, Freedom is not a given, Sovereignty is not a given

MBDA is a leading defence organisation. We are proud of the role we play in supporting the Armed Forces who protect our nations. We partner with governments to work together towards a common goal, defending our freedom.

We are proud of our employee‑led networks, examples include: Gender Equality, Pride, Menopause Matters, Parents and Carers, Armed Forces, Ethnic Diversity, Neurodiversity, Disability and more…

We recognise that everyone is unique, and we encourage you to speak to us should you require any advice, support or adjustments throughout our recruitment process.

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