Senior Mechanical Design Engineer

Samuel Frank; Rishton; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

Samuel Frank is recruiting a Senior Mechanical Design Engineer for a specialist machinery manufacturer in East Lancashire. You will own complete bespoke machine designs, guiding concepts from initial customer spec through to finished equipment suitable for advanced manufacturing applications.

The role covers leading a small team of up to four design engineers, applying 3D CAD (Autodesk Inventor), conducting design reviews, and ensuring CE/UKCA compliance, with a four-day work week and salary up

Qualifications

• Strong mechanical design experience in bespoke machinery or similar engineered equipment.
• Ability to translate a customer specification into a complete machine design, not just detailing existing assemblies.
• Experience coordinating design engineers and keeping projects on schedule.
• Good commercial awareness, including design hours and manufacturing deadlines, with controlled drawing releases.

Responsibilities

• Take a customer specification and sales layout to develop the overall machine concept and 3D assembly.
• Identify proven designs to adapt and develop new mechanisms or equipment as required.
• Break designs into sub-assemblies and allocate work across a design team of up to four engineers.
• Review progress, drawings and decisions to maintain quality, programme and cost targets.
• Collaborate with manufacturing, controls, purchasing and project teams through build and commissioning.

Skills

3D CAD

Autodesk Inventor

Team coordination

Job description

Senior Mechanical Design Engineer – Bespoke Machinery – East Lancashire - £60-65k - 4-day working week

Samuel Frank is recruiting a Senior Mechanical Design Engineer for a specialist machinery manufacturer in East Lancashire. This is an opportunity to take ownership of complete bespoke machine designs, working on technically challenging equipment for advanced manufacturing applications.

The business designs and builds machinery used in sectors including battery development, carbon fibre and defence. Projects involve genuine engineering variety, from adapting proven designs to developing new concepts for specialist processes. You’ll see your designs progress through manufacture and assembly, often within months rather than years.

Key aspects of the Senior Mechanical Design Engineer role include -

• Take a customer specification and initial sales layout and develop the overall machine concept and 3D assembly.


• Identify proven designs that can be adapted and develop new mechanisms or equipment where required.


• Break machine designs into sub-assemblies and allocate work across a team of up to four design engineers.


• Review design progress, drawings and technical decisions to maintain quality, programme and cost targets.


• Work with specialist colleagues on engineering calculations and FEA, reviewing results and ensuring technical requirements are met.


• Contribute to design reviews, risk assessments, technical files and CE/UKCA compliance.


• Work closely with manufacturing, controls, purchasing and project teams through machine build and commissioning.

Requirements for the Senior Mechanical Design Engineer role include -

• Strong mechanical design experience in bespoke machinery, special-purpose machinery, industrial automation or similar engineered equipment.


• Confidence taking an initial specification and turning it into a workable whole-machine design, not simply detailing existing assemblies.


• Experience coordinating design engineers, reviewing their work and keeping projects on schedule.


• Good commercial awareness, including design hours, manufacturing deadlines and the impact of late drawing releases.


• 3D CAD capability; Autodesk Inventor is preferred.


• Practical understanding of manufacturing methods, mechanical components and machine design.


• Experience in web handling, coating, converting or roll-to-roll machinery would be useful but is not essential.

Why consider this Senior Mechanical Design Engineer role?

• Salary up to £65k, dependent on experience.


• 40-hour working week compressed into four days, with a four-and-a-half-day option.


• Varied, technically advanced projects involving niche industrial processes and R&D.


• Ownership of complete machine designs and the opportunity to see the finished equipment being built.


• A senior technical position with responsibility for coordinating other mechanical design engineers.

This Senior Mechanical Design Engineer position will suit someone who enjoys conceptual design, likes solving unfamiliar engineering problems and wants more variety than a repetitive product design role.

This is an office based role and the office is easily commutable from the following places within Lancashire and Greater Manchester – Bury, Bolton, Rochdale, Blackburn, Burnley & Preston.