Lead Design Engineer – Special Purpose Machinery – Dudley

Dudley | £45,000–£55,000 | Full-time, Permanent | Occasional UK & International Travel

You've reached the point in your design career where you don't just want to be handed a drawing and told to get on with it.

You want to own the design.

To take an idea or customer requirement, work out how it should come together and then see it through manufacture, build, testing and eventually installation.

As Lead Design Engineer, that's exactly what you'll be doing.

You'll be designing specialist thermal spray equipment and complete turnkey systems, from standard products through to bespoke machinery built around a customer's process.

And these aren't projects that disappear once you've released the drawings.

You'll stay involved.

You could be developing the initial concept, creating the 3D design and manufacturing drawings, working through calculations and tolerances, then walking into the workshop to help solve something during the build.

Later, you might be supporting FAT, commissioning or occasionally travelling to a customer site to see the finished system through to acceptance.

There's robotics, automation, extraction, cooling, gas and fluid systems, guarding and fixturing to bring together, so there's plenty to get your teeth into.

As Lead Design Engineer, you'll be responsible for:

• Leading the mechanical and electro-mechanical design of standard products, bespoke machinery and complete turnkey systems.
• Taking technical ownership from initial customer requirements and concept design through detailed design, manufacture, build, testing, installation and acceptance.
• Producing and reviewing 3D models, layouts, manufacturing drawings, calculations, specifications and costed Bills of Materials.
• Making sure mechanical designs integrate properly with controls, automation, robotics, extraction, cooling, gas and fluid systems and other third-party equipment.
• Leading design reviews and ensuring risks, technical decisions and engineering changes are properly documented and closed.
• Designing with safety, manufacture, assembly, maintenance and serviceability in mind from the beginning.
• Supporting machinery risk assessments, UKCA/CE conformity and technical documentation.
• Working alongside Projects, Applications, Controls, Manufacturing, Assembly, Quality and Supply Chain.
• Providing technical support through manufacture, assembly, FAT, installation, commissioning and SAT.
• Working directly with customers and suppliers to understand requirements and resolve technical issues.
• Supporting new product development and improving existing designs around reliability, cost, standardisation and ease of manufacture.
• Reviewing other engineers' work, mentoring less experienced engineers and helping raise engineering standards across the team.

What do you need to bring?

This is a senior technical position, so you'll need substantial mechanical design experience.

You'll have a Degree, HNC, HND or equivalent practical experience in Mechanical Engineering, Product Design Engineering or something closely related.

Your background will be within special-purpose machinery, industrial equipment, automation, process plant or a comparable engineered-product environment, and you'll have already taken complex designs from initial requirements and concept through detailed design, manufacture, build and acceptance.

You'll also need:

• Advanced 3D parametric CAD skills and experience producing high-quality manufacturing drawings. Autodesk Fusion would be useful, but strong experience with a comparable CAD package is absolutely fine.
• A strong understanding of mechanical design principles, materials, manufacturing processes, fabrication, machining, sheet metal, tolerancing, fasteners and component selection.
• Experience designing electro-mechanical assemblies and integrating purchased equipment alongside other engineering disciplines.
• The ability to carry out and check engineering calculations and understand which level of analysis is appropriate.
• Working knowledge of machinery safety, risk assessment, design verification, technical documentation and conformity requirements.
• Experience with Bills of Materials, configuration or revision control, Engineering Change processes and releasing designs into manufacture.
• Strong problem-solving, prioritisation and organisational skills, with the ability to manage several workstreams.
• The confidence to lead technical reviews and communicate clearly with customers, suppliers and colleagues.
• Commercial awareness and an understanding of the cost, programme and lifecycle implications of your design decisions.
• A full UK driving licence and willingness to travel occasionally within the UK and internationally.

And the nice-to-haves?

You don't need to tick every one of these boxes, but experience in some of the following would be useful:

• Turnkey machinery, robotic cells, spray booths, extraction systems, special-purpose machines, fixturing, turntables, lathes or material-handling equipment.
• Thermal spray, coating systems, gas systems, combustion equipment or other industrial process technologies.
• Robotics, pneumatics, hydraulics, cooling circuits, process gases, industrial ventilation or extraction.
• Electrical schematics, PLC-controlled machinery, HMIs, sensors, actuators and industrial communication interfaces.
• Site surveys, installation, commissioning, FAT or SAT.
• Prototyping, testing, measurement, workshop processes or manual machine tools.
• Value engineering, supplier development, obsolescence management or product platform standardisation.
• Mentoring, technical leadership, work allocation or design approval.

So, what does the Lead Design Engineer role look like in practice?

It's senior. It's technical. And importantly, it's still hands-on.

You're not moving away from engineering to spend your days managing people and spreadsheets.

As Lead Design Engineer, you'll remain actively involved in design delivery while raising engineering standards, coordinating complex work and helping other engineers develop.

There's no direct line management assumed from day one. That could develop as the team and business grow, but right now they need your technical leadership and engineering judgement.

You'll be primarily based at the Dudley site, with occasional UK and international travel to customer and supplier locations for site surveys, design reviews, installation support, commissioning and technical problem solving.

What's in it for you?

Your package will reflect the experience and technical knowledge you bring to the Lead Design Engineer position and includes:

• Competitive salary.
• Company pension scheme.
• Annual leave plus recognised public holidays.
• Flexible or hybrid working where practical around the role and project requirements.
• Ongoing technical training and professional development.
• Exposure to specialist thermal spray technology, automation and international turnkey projects.
• A supportive engineering environment built around teamwork, innovation, safety and continuous improvement.
• The opportunity to develop your career as the engineering function and wider business continue to evolve.

If you're already a Lead Design Engineer, or perhaps you're a Senior Design Engineer ready for more technical ownership, but you don't want to give up the hands-on engineering you enjoy, this could be worth a conversation.

Please click the ‘Apply’ button.