Senior Project Engineer

Thornton Tomasetti; Witney; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salaries

Defined contribution pension scheme

Private healthcare

Life assurance

Canteen and flexible benefits

Job summary

Abbott is seeking a Senior Project Engineer to lead the validation of bespoke automated machines in our Witney Centre of Excellence. You’ll own validation strategy, manage project plans, and coordinate cross-functional teams across production, engineering and R&D.

You will develop new validation tests, gain SME status, and occasionally visit supplier sites to ensure equipment meets medical device production needs. This role is a pathway to senior engineering development.

Qualifications

• Minimum of HNC in Engineering; degree level education preferred.
• Experience in Project Engineering, preferably with Automated Machinery.
• Technical project management of your projects.
• Passion for problem solving.
• Curiosity, technical rigour, and continuous improvement.
• Strong documentation discipline.
• Collaborative mindset and willingness to mentor others.
• Awareness and understanding of regulated environments.

Responsibilities

• Create a project plan outlining timelines, risk assessment and stakeholder communication.
• Deliver validated machines into production and ensure they are validated for medical device production and inspection.
• Develop and validate new tests and validations for process equipment.
• Lead projects, act as a technical voice within cross-functional teams and with suppliers.
• Occasionally visit supplier sites to verify equipment and validation processes.

Skills

Project engineering experience

Automated machinery

Technical project management

Problem solving

Documentation discipline

Mentoring/collaboration

Regulated environments awareness

Education

HNC in Engineering

Degree level education preferred

Job description

JOB DESCRIPTION

Bring your passion, ideas and purpose to life in a company that can truly help you achieve your full potential. As a result of strong business growth, industry-leading product development in the biosensor business and a long-term commitment to high volume manufacturing in our Witney Centre of Excellence, we have an exciting opportunity for someone to join the Operations Engineering team.

About the Role

As a Senior Project Engineer, you’ll have opportunity to introduce significant bespoke automated machines and play an initial step in the validation of them. The role is essential to our business as we bring on board more machines and look to make improvements to existing ones. Your work starts by being connected with many on‑site cross‑functional teams, where you will be a key voice in owning the validation strategy that you and the team will undertake.

Day to day, you will: create a project plan in order to deliver the work to the business, taking into consideration timelines, assessment and minimisation of risks, communication to stakeholders; be connected to and very much aware of what the changes your project is introducing to the business, and aware of the benefits it will be delivering on. You will be responsible for delivering validated machines into production; these are used not just for production of our medical devices, but also critically for the inspection of these devices. A key part in this is learning both the technical aspects of the machines and how we need to test them to validate they are truly functioning as we define needed for the medical device production. From this, you have then opportunity to become a subject‑matter expert, and become a key technical voice within cross‑functional project teams and with our suppliers. You will take the lead on managing your projects, developing new validation tests, and executing process equipment validations for these production machines. As our production machines are complex capital equipment projects, your work will also involve occasionally visiting supplier sites.

Why This Role Is Exciting

This is more than a job – it’s a chance to grow. You’ll work with state‑of‑the‑art automation technologies alongside an incredibly skilled engineering community spanning projects, process, production, systems, software, R&D, and machine vision. Your work will directly shape the future of healthcare by supporting our expanding biosensor manufacturing capabilities. The role offers opportunity to progress through development to senior engineering level – this might be line managing for some, or technical expertise for others.

What We’re Looking For

• A minimum of HNC in Engineering discipline, with preference given to degree level education
• Proven experience in Project Engineering, with preference to Automated Machinery
• Technical project management of your projects
• A passion for problem‑solving
• Curiosity, technical rigour, and an eye for continuous improvement
• Strong documentation discipline
• A collaborative mindset and willingness to mentor others
• An awareness and understanding of regulated environments

Benefits & Perks

As you’d expect from an innovative global health care company, we offer a competitive range of benefits including excellent salaries, a class‑leading defined contribution pension scheme, private healthcare, life assurance, subsidised canteen and a flexible benefits scheme. Here at Witney, we also like to help our employees live life to the fullest, and therefore we offer a range of optional initiatives for you to get involved in, including onsite allotments, couch to 5k campaigns, bee keeping, yoga and more!

About Abbott

Abbott is about the power of health. For more than 135 years, Abbott has been helping people reach their potential — because better health allows people and communities to achieve more. Joining us, you can shape your career as you shape the future of healthcare. With a diverse, global network serving customers in more than 160 countries, we create new solutions — across the spectrum of health, around the world, for all stages of life. Whether it’s next‑generation diagnostics, life‑changing devices, science‑based nutrition, or novel reformulations, we are advancing some of the most innovative and revolutionary technologies in healthcare, helping people live their best lives through better health.

Company Background

World Leader in Blood Glucose Monitoring, Abbott’s Diabetes Care business designs, develops and manufactures glucose monitoring systems for use in both home and hospital settings. We have a Centre of Excellence in Witney for the manufacture of electrodes and biosensors used by patients and healthcare professionals for the day‑to‑day management of diabetes. The Operations group is the largest team in the Witney facility, producing high volumes of test strips and biosensors each year to the high quality standards required by European and US authorities and our internal quality systems.

Location and Working Conditions

Base pay for this position is N/A. In specific locations, the pay range may vary from the range posted.

Location: United Kingdom > Witney : Production Facility

Job Family: Engineering

Division: ADC Diabetes Care

Additional Locations:

Work shift: Standard

Travel: Yes, 5 % of the Time

Medical Surveillance: Not Applicable

Significant Work Activities: Not Applicable