Role: Lead Project Engineer / Technical Manager
Sector: Cutting Machinery, controls, automation, mechatronics
Located: Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire
Salary: competitive approx. £58,000 to £70,000
Travel: Limited – Some travel to client sites for technical support and commissioning.
Benefits: 37 hours per week (we finish at 15:00 on Fridays) and 23 days per annum plus public holidays.
We are looking to hire a lead project engineer to help lead and support 2x engineers who are experienced.
This role is a blend of hands-on engineering with project management and leadership 60% Team/Project Management, 40% Technical Design/Review.
This role is pivotal in a manufacturing environment, as it sits at the intersection of engineering innovation, shop-floor production, and strategic leadership. For a company specialising in extrusion cutting machines the Lead project engineer ensures that the product is not only well-designed but also manufacturable, reliable, and compliant with safety standards.
You must have knowledge of the CE Machinery Directive and EN safety standards.
The ideal candidate is someone who isn't afraid to get their hands dirty on a prototype machine but is equally comfortable presenting a technical road-map to customers at a senior management level.
You should be a \"systems thinker\" who understands how minor changes can impact the physical precision of a cutting machine.
Role Overview:
The Lead project engineer is responsible for leading the engineering and technical department to design, develop, and improve our extrusion cutting machinery.
You will oversee the entire product lifecycle - from initial R&D and CAD design to assembly-line troubleshooting and final quality assurance.
Your goal is to maintain technical excellence while ensuring production deadlines and cost targets are met.
Key Responsibilities:
* Engineering Leadership: Lead a team of mechanical, electrical, and software engineers. Provide mentorship and technical direction on complex projects. Including organising and chairing the weekly technical meeting.
* Product Development (R&D): Drive the innovation of new cutting technologies to keep the company competitive. Machine building background would be useful here.
* Manufacturing Support: Bridge the gap between design and production. Optimise manufacturing processes to reduce delivery times and material waste. Our mechanical design engineer handles a lot of this function now.
* Technical Compliance and Safety: Ensure all machines meet international safety standards (EN/ISO and CE) and industry-specific regulations. The CE/UKCA Tech File should be straightforward given that we have a good library of past projects.
* Quality control - Pre-dispatch machine checks: We have standard check lists to help with this function.
* Creating instruction manuals using PowerPoint however we have a good library of manuals, so this is probably not a critical area.
* Project Management: Oversee technical timelines, budgeting for engineering projects, and resource allocation to ensure on-time delivery of machine orders.
* Supplier and Quality Management: Evaluate and select suppliers for critical components like servo controllers and related components. Implement rigorous testing protocols for finished machines.
* Installing software into old Parker servo drives/HMI etc: Depends on their software skills. We may need to use Iconsys? Or inform customers that parts are obsolete?
* Managing remote upgrades and software installs: Something our existing software engineer can handle with senior management support?
* Onsite visits are occasional, but these visits often need a combination of software/electrical/mechanical knowledge.
* Machine tech problem solving over the phone or via email, We need a \"problem solver\" who can handle this.
Required Skills and Qualifications:
Technical Expertise:
* Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in mechanical, electrical, or mechatronics engineering.
* Industry Experience: Ideally 7+ years in industrial machinery manufacturing, preferably with automated servo motion control systems.
* Software Proficiency: Good knowledge of 3D CAD software (SolidWorks ideally). Familiarity with servo and PLC programming (Siemens) would be a major plus.
* Cutting Tech Knowledge: Some understanding of at least one core cutting technology would be good although not essential.
How to apply?
Please send a CV to danni@cortechtalentsolutions.co.uk