Senior Mechanical Design Engineer

Senior Mechanical Design Engineer

£60-80k Base + Benefits

South East | Ref: ABJ7662

Join a leading R&D team as a Senior Mechanical Design Engineer, applying your expertise in mechanical design, industrial design, and design for manufacturing (DFM, DFMEA) to develop innovative, high-performance machinery solutions. You'll be responsible for producing complete manufacturing packages – (Machinery) for mechanical System Elements – including general assembly drawings (GAs), detailed manufacturing drawings, and bills of materials (BoMs) to meet customer testing specifications.

Key Responsibilities

• Collaborate with the mechanical design team to create assemblies for bespoke motion‑control simulation systems.
• Mentor and support junior engineers in detailed design of System Elements.
• Understand and apply the operating principles and performance parameters of components such as actuators, valves, bearings, and other System Elements.
• Perform basic stress analysis (including FEA), select suitable materials, and verify safety in operation — e.g., assessing cylinder stresses, bolt loadings, and bearing sizing.
• Use in-house software (ACE 5) to select valves and size snubbers.
• Take a senior engineering role on project elements, coordinating design activities and deliverables.
• Continuously improve designs using Solidworks by suggesting cost‑saving measures, reducing assembly time, enhancing manufacturability, and improving reliability and performance consistency.
• Conduct fault‑finding and problem‑solving activities.
• Work closely with the supply chain to ensure manufacturability and quality.
• Design moderately complex System Elements (often adapted from existing designs) and prepare full manufacturing and hydraulic schematic packages for procurement.
• Contribute to the creation of innovative new System Elements or complete mechanical systems, including layout, installation, ring main, and power pack designs for projects and sales proposals.
• Apply Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA) principles in all designs.

Qualifications & Experience

• HND or degree in mechanical engineering or a related field.
• Several years' experience in the design and manufacture of hydraulic / pneumatic equipment or precision mechanical systems.
• Experience working within one or more of the following sectors will be advantageous:
• Automotive and Aerospace: Experience with hydraulic/pneumatic systems, motion control, or component testing for vehicles and aircraft.
• Rail and Transportation, Heavy Plant and Construction Machinery, Energy Sector or Industrial Automation and Manufacturing: Background in precision machinery, robotics, automation.

Strong knowledge of product development and manufacturing techniques (DFM, DFA, DFMEA).

Practical background with heavy plant machinery, welded structures, and pipework, or completion of a mechanical engineering apprenticeship.

High attention to detail with strong data management and configuration control skills.

Advanced 3D CAD skills, ideally using SolidWorks.

Thorough knowledge of producing manufacturing drawings to BS 8888 standards.

Proficiency in Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) to BS 8888, and understanding of limits and fits to BS 4500.

Ability to design cost‑effective solutions by selecting suitable manufacturing processes, balancing lead time, cost, and quantity constraints.

Experience conducting tolerance analysis to confirm functionality within manufacturing variability.

Knowledge of DraftSight for updating legacy 2D work is desirable.

Full-time | Permanent | Competitive base salary | Flexible benefits package. To Apply: Contact Alison Basson

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