Production Engineer

Holt Engineering; Southampton; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 48,000; Full time

Job summary

Holt Engineering in Southampton is seeking a hands-on Production Engineer to support and improve automated production lines within our growing in-house site. You will work on machinery, setup, changeovers, RCA and documentation, driving reliability and standardisation across operations.

The role combines process improvement with practical engineering on the shop floor, building manuals, SOPs and training for setters and operators to enhance performance and reduce downtime.

Qualifications

• Experience in a Production Engineer or similar role.
• Background around automated production machinery.
• Strong problem solving and process improvement.
• Able to create SOPs and machine guides.
• Experience with RCA and continuous improvement.

Responsibilities

• Provide day-to-day engineering support across automated production lines
• Investigate production issues and identify practical technical solutions
• Support machine setters with setup, changeover and operating problems
• Help identify causes of downtime, quality issues and poor line performance
• Create and maintain machine manuals, SOPs and operating instructions
• Document setup requirements, standard settings and product changeover methods
• Improve consistency between shifts, operators and production runs
• Lead or support RCA activity for recurring machine and process issues
• Support corrective actions following machinery, process or quality problems
• Improve changeover methods and reduce unnecessary downtime
• Support breakdowns, fault finding and practical repairs where appropriate
• Assist with planned maintenance activity and spare-parts requirements
• Work with suppliers or specialist contractors where additional support is needed
• Guide and train machine setters and production staff on improved ways of working
• Support continuous improvement projects across reliability, productivity and process control

Skills

Automated machinery

Root cause analysis

SOP development

Team training

Job description

Production Engineer

Southampton

Hands‑on Production Engineer salary: £45,000 - £48,250

Please note: only applicants with the full-time, permanent right to work in the UK will be considered.

Hands‑on Production Engineer Overview:

Support and improve automated production lines in a growing in-house manufacturing site

Work hands‑on with machinery issues, setup, changeovers and production performance

Lead RCA, process improvement, documentation and standardisation activity

Create SOPs, machine instructions and repeatable working methods for production teams

Develop machine setters and operators while improving reliability, output and consistency

The Hands‑on Production Engineer role

This Production Engineer role is with a growing manufacturer in Southampton, supporting a newly established in-house production operation. The Production Engineer will work across automated production lines, helping improve line reliability, reduce downtime, standardise machine setup and support day‑to‑day technical issues on the shop floor. This Production Engineer position suits someone who combines process improvement and RCA capability with the hands‑on engineering confidence to work directly with machinery, setters and production teams.

The Hands‑on Production Engineer role

As Production Engineer, you’ll spend significant time on the shop floor understanding how each machine and process works, then using that knowledge to improve consistency, documentation and line performance. The production environment is still developing, so the Production Engineer will play a key part in building better structure around machine manuals, SOPs, setup methods, changeovers, fault finding and training.

This is not a purely desk‑based CI role and it is not a pure maintenance position. The Production Engineer needs to be comfortable investigating production problems, supporting machinery issues, working with operators and machine setters, and turning practical improvements into repeatable processes.

Day‑to‑day responsibilities of a Hands‑on Production Engineer

• Provide day‑to‑day engineering support across automated production lines
• Investigate production issues and identify practical technical solutions
• Support machine setters with setup, changeover and operating problems
• Help identify causes of downtime, quality issues and poor line performance
• Create and maintain machine manuals, SOPs and operating instructions
• Document setup requirements, standard settings and product changeover methods
• Improve consistency between shifts, operators and production runs
• Lead or support RCA activity for recurring machine and process issues
• Support corrective actions following machinery, process or quality problems
• Improve changeover methods and reduce unnecessary downtime
• Support breakdowns, fault finding and practical repairs where appropriate
• Assist with planned maintenance activity and spare‑parts requirements
• Work with suppliers or specialist contractors where additional support is needed
• Guide and train machine setters and production staff on improved ways of working
• Support continuous improvement projects across reliability, productivity and process control

What they’re looking for - Hands‑on Production Engineer

• Experience in a Production Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer, Process Engineer or similar role
• Background working around automated production machinery
• Strong practical understanding of manufacturing processes and shop‑floor problem solving
• Experience with root cause analysis, corrective actions and continuous improvement
• Able to create clear SOPs, work instructions, machine guides or technical documentation
• Comfortable supporting machine setup, changeovers and production issues directly
• Confident working with operators, machine setters and wider production teams
• Practical, analytical and able to bring structure to a developing manufacturing environment
• Able to understand machinery in detail and turn improvements into repeatable standards

Desirable - Hands‑on Production Engineer

• Experience in packaging, filling, capping, labelling or automated line environments
• Background in FMCG, food, beverage, cosmetics, chemical, consumer products or process manufacturing
• Maintenance or breakdown support experience
• Mechanical and electrical fault‑finding ability
• Pneumatics, PLC/HMI fault diagnosis or automated equipment troubleshooting
• Planned preventative maintenance exposure
• Lean Manufacturing, OEE, downtime analysis or structured CI experience
• Experience training or mentoring machine setters, operators or production staff

What’s on offer - Hands‑on Production Engineer

Production Engineer salary: £45,000 - £48,250

A hands‑on Production Engineer role with real influence over how a newer manufacturing operation is structured, supported and improved.

The chance to work across automated production lines, machinery support, RCA, documentation, training and continuous improvement.

A strong opportunity for a Production Engineer who enjoys practical problem solving and wants to help build a more reliable, standardised and efficient production environment.