Manufacturing Engineer

Manufacturing Engineer

Location: Northampton
Salary: Competitive
Hours: Monday to Thursday, 8:00am – 4:30pm | Friday, 8:00am – 3:30pm
Contract: Permanent | Full-Time

Manufacturing Engineer – Drive Continuous Improvement in a Growing Manufacturing Environment

We're recruiting on behalf of an established and growing manufacturer for an experienced Manufacturing Engineer to join their engineering team. This is an excellent opportunity for someone who enjoys solving manufacturing challenges, improving processes and making a tangible impact on production performance.

Working closely with Operations, Quality, Design and Maintenance, you'll develop, validate and improve manufacturing processes to ensure they are safe, efficient, repeatable and capable of supporting future business growth. You'll also play a key role in advancing digital manufacturing by improving process control, production visibility, traceability and shop floor data capture while implementing practical engineering solutions that increase capacity and maintain product quality.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain and improve manufacturing documentation including PFMEAs, Control Plans, work instructions, standard work, inspection requirements and operator guidance, ensuring documentation is practical, controlled and effective on the shop floor while challenging existing methods where appropriate.
• Review, improve and introduce new manufacturing processes through the change management system, ensuring processes are safe, cost-effective and repeatable, with all tooling, equipment, documentation and operator training in place before implementation.
• Monitor, analyse and improve manufacturing performance using KPIs including OEE, output, downtime, cycle time, scrap and rework, using shop floor data, structured root cause analysis and Lean Manufacturing, Kaizen and continuous improvement techniques to eliminate waste, improve flow and increase production capacity.
• Support the development of digital manufacturing systems including shop floor data capture, digital build records, traceability, manufacturing controls and KPI reporting, while evaluating production times, resource requirements, process constraints and cost drivers to support capacity planning and operational improvements.
• Design and implement tooling, jigs, fixtures and manufacturing aids using CAD software, interpret engineering drawings, tolerances and GD&T, provide manufacturing feedback during product development, and work closely with Design, Quality, Operations and Maintenance to improve manufacturability, equipment reliability, inspection methods and successful process handover into production.

About You

We're looking for a proactive Manufacturing Engineer who enjoys working on the shop floor, collaborating with production teams and driving continuous improvement.

You'll ideally have:

• A relevant engineering qualification (Degree, HNC/HND, ONC, BTEC, City & Guilds, NVQ Level 3 or equivalent experience) with proven experience in a Manufacturing, Process or Production Engineering role.
• Experience with PFMEA, Control Plans, process instructions, standard work, FMEA, Kaizen, A3, Poka-Yoke, root cause analysis and Lean Manufacturing within a production environment.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing performance metrics including OEE, COPQ, DLE, Takt Time, cycle time, downtime, scrap and rework, with experience using data to identify trends, improve process capability and support continuous improvement.
• Knowledge of SPC, Cp/Cpk, Pp/Ppk, MSA and Gauge R&R, together with experience using analytical tools such as Excel, Power BI, Minitab or similar software would be advantageous.
• Experience using CAD packages, interpreting engineering drawings and GD&T, with knowledge of MES, digital manufacturing systems, production data capture, traceability systems and digital build records highly desirable.
• Strong project management, communication and problem-solving skills with the ability to work effectively across Production, Quality, Maintenance, Design and Engineering teams while delivering practical manufacturing solutions.

What's on Offer?

This is an opportunity to join a well-established manufacturer investing in the future of its operations and manufacturing capability. You'll play a key role in developing a more controlled, scalable and data-driven production environment while helping shape future manufacturing standards, digital processes and operational improvements.

Working closely with cross-functional teams, you'll have the opportunity to influence process control, traceability, production visibility and continuous improvement initiatives, making a genuine impact on the future direction of the business. If you're looking for a role where your ideas will be valued and your engineering expertise can deliver lasting change, we'd love to hear from you.